Nitin Gadkari Reaffirms Policy For Mandating 6 Airbags In Recent Lok Sabha Session

The Minister of Road, Transport and Highways has brushed off manufacturer’s concerns about the resulting increase in costs

The next big change in Indian automotive safety regulations will involve an increased number of airbags to be offered as standard. While official paperwork for this new mandate is still pending, the Minister of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), Nitin Gadkari has announced that six airbags have been made mandatory for all cars.

We have made a minimum of 6 Airbags mandatory in all vehicles carrying upto 8 passengers, irrespective of the model, variant and cost of vehicle. It will ensure safety of poor consumer. : Union Minister Shri @nitin_gadkari ji pic.twitter.com/lOdqr3JcXL

— Office Of Nitin Gadkari (@OfficeOfNG) March 22, 2022

Gadkari has been advocating that all cars should be fitted with a minimum of six airbags. The ministry issued a draft notification in January 2022, stating new rules that would make it mandatory for all cars to offer six airbags as standard. According to the notification, this rule would be applied to all new cars starting October 1, 2022.

The notification was met with expected resistance from the automotive manufacturers for a variety of reasons. The most obvious issue with the new rule would be the added costs, which would inherently be passed onto the final buyer and raise the purchase price of each car. Making even the entry-level cars more expensive by a few tens of thousands would likely result in a drop in demand.

From a practicality standpoint, the bigger issue with this mandate is that it is not going to be the most effective means of improving road safety in India. Our in-depth analysis of the derived benefits of six airbags, against other more pro-active safety features, discusses some of the shortcomings of this new mandate.

In his most recent statement during the Lok Sabha session on March 22, 2022, Gadkari stated his response to the concern of increased costs as “Badne do”. He reiterated that his primary concern was the safety of the citizens on the road, irrespective of the model and cost.

There has been no official document released by MoRTH following Gadkari’s Lok Sabha announcement at the time of publishing this article. We believe the exact details of the new regulation are still being worked out, but expect the new regulation to be announced soon.