Government makes 6 airbags in cars mandatory from October next year

mangaloretoday.com

New Delhi, Sep 29, 2022: Keeping the safety of passengers in mind, the Centre has made a minimum of six airbags in passenger vehicles mandatory from October 2023.

 

Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, on Thursday stated that the safety of all passengers travelling in motor vehicles, irrespective of their cost and variants, is the foremost priority.

He took to Twitter and wrote, "Considering the global supply chain constraints being faced by the auto industry and its impact on the macroeconomic scenario, it has been decided to implement the proposal mandating a minimum of 6 Airbags in Passenger Cars (M-1 Category) w.e.f 01st October 2023."

In the aftermath of the fateful road accident of former Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry, experts and critics pointed out lacunae in the transport and traffic control system. Amid never-ending speculation over the laws governing seatbelts for car passengers, the government made seatbelts mandatory for all passengers in a car earlier in September. Defaulters and violators of this rule will be punished with a fine.

The scion of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, who also headed the Tata Group as the chairman between 2012 and 2016, Cyrus Mistry, died in a road accident on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway. Mistry, along with three others, were travelling from Gujarat to Maharashtra when their car rammed into a divider in the Palghar district.

Cyrus Mistry and his friend Jahangir Pandole died on the spot, while the other two passengers - gynaecologist Anahita Pandole and her husband Darius Pandole - suffered major injuries and were rushed to a hospital. Anahita Pandole was driving the car.

The impact of the collision was severe. The police said that the airbags in the front seats deployed but the ones in the rear did not pop out since the seatbelts were not engaged.

Courtesy: India Today