Not Making Six Airbags Mandatory For Cars, Says Nitin Gadkari
Gadkari said there is 'no need' to make six airbags mandatory for cars. Last year, the government proposed to make airbags mandatory from October 2023. Gadkari spoke at the Annual General Meeting of the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association.
Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has said that the government will not make six airbags mandatory for cars.
Speaking at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association (ACMA) on Wednesday, Gadkari said that there is 'no need' to make six airbags mandatory for cars.
"We don't want to make six airbags rule for cars mandatory," Gadkari said.
Addressing 63rd ACMA Annual Session, New Delhi
¡ª Nitin Gadkari (@nitin_gadkari) September 13, 2023
https://t.co/izH89H0UyK
What government said in 2022
Last year, the government proposed to make six airbags mandatory for cars from October 2023.
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) had said that in order to enhance the safety of occupants of a motor vehicle, it has been decided to enhance safety features by amending the Central Motors Vehicles Rules (CMVR), 1989.
REPRESNTATIONAL IMAGE
The new rule was originally supposed to come into effect in October 2022, but in September 2022, it was deferred by a year, citing supply chain issues.
Lack of airbags and seatbelts cost many lives
The lack of airbags and the reluctance to wear seatbelts, especially by passengers in the back seats, are blamed for the high number of deaths in India in road accidents.
According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, more than 1.55 lakh lives were lost in road crashes across India in 2021.
BCCL/ File
Death of Cyrus Mistry
The issue of seatbelts and airbags triggered a lot of debates in India in 2022 following the death of former Tata Group Chairman Cyrus Mistry, who died in a car crash in Maharashtra earlier this month.
Mistry, seated in the rear seat of the Mercedes car, was not wearing a seat belt when the speeding car met with the accident.
AP
Even though the car had six airbags, they only get activated if the passenger wears a seatbelt.
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Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
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