Dual Front Airbags Now Mandatory Effective April 1 - Which Cars Will Be Affected?

The new safety mandate will affect many entry-level cars and increase their prices

• The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has now made a co-passenger airbag a standard fitment.

• All new cars sold after 1st April 2021 will come with dual front airbags.

• Existing models sold will be required to have dual front airbags from August 31.

• Cars affected by this move will soon see a price hike.

In the latest notification by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), the government has made dual front airbags as a standard fitment. All new cars sold after 1st April 2021 will come bearing dual front airbags. Existing models sold will have time till 31 August to get a co-passenger airbag fitted.

Till now, it was mandatory for every car to have a driver-side airbag as standard. Now, the co-passenger airbag should also come as a standard fitment. As per the government, it is an important safety mandate and is also based on the suggestions of the Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety.

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Most of the entry-level cars come with a driver side airbag as standard. The list includes the likes of Hyundai Santro, Maruti Alto, Maruti S-Presso, Maruti WagonR, Maruti Celerio, Renault Kwid, Datsun Redi-GO and Mahindra Bolero. Some of the variants (Top-spec variant in some cases) of these cars came with a single airbag, missing out on the other one.

So, these cars will soon see a price hike which can go up to Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000. Mostly the base and mid-spec variants will be affected by this rule. Other standard safety features on a car include seat belt reminder, rear parking sensors, speed alert system, pre-tension seat belts and ABS.