[Aditya]

Maruti Suzuki has announced that it will offer dual airbags and ABS as an option in all variants of Swift hatchback and Dzire compact sedan. The addition of these features is expected to make the cars safer.



With other manufacturers such as Ford, Volkswagen and Toyota providing safety features on all their cars, Maruti is responding by offering them on its cars as well. In September 2015, it launched VXi (O) and VDi (O) variants of the Ciaz sedan and earlier this month, it started providing dual airbags and ABS on all the variants of the WagonR and Stingray as on option.



The Swift and Dzire are among the best-selling cars in India. In FY 2014-15, Swift and DZire maintained an average sale of over 17,000 units each per month.

Prices (ex-showroom, Delhi):
Swift

• LXi (O) - Rs. 4,90,000
• VXi (O) - Rs. 5,60,180
• LDi (O) - Rs. 6,04,341
• VDi (O) - Rs. 6,43,184

Dzire

• LXi (O) - Rs. 5,40,000
• VXi (O) - Rs. 6,14,555
• VXi AT (O) - Rs. 6,93,974
• LDi (O) - Rs. 6,19,450
• VDi (O) - Rs. 7,06,963

[Rajeevraj]

Finally. Excellent news. Safety features on 2 of India's top sellers will definitely help in reducing casualties. With this I think all of maruti's top models now come with option of safety features in any variant. It took a long time coming, but glad that Maruti has finally woken up to the important of safety features.

In my view they should do away with the regular L and V variants.

Of course there is still the matter of build and how the structure can handle crashes. But in any case airbags will do more good than harm.

Hope Hyundai follow suit soon.

[heavenlybull]

Some very welcome news, at last. As we can see, adding 2 airbags and ABS has upped the price by only 20-25K at the most. Even though body structure of Swift was termed unstable in the crash results, at least there will be some peace of mind now for prospective buyers. And no excuse to skip on safety now! (BTW will ABS improve the poor braking of L and V variants in any way?)

Shows what some negative publicity after the crash tests and the impending 2017 Indian safety regulations can do!

[abhik897]

Step in the right direction by the market leader. Starting on mass models like swift and dzire and earlier with wagon R will set the the cat amongst the pigeon in the market. Others will have to follow suit now

[MSC]

This is really a bold and excellent step by the Maruti Suzuki. Finally the giant has woken from it's deep slumber it seems.
I don't want to pick loopholes but it would be much better if entire range is made ABS and Airbag compliant. We don't need an option. We need it compulsory.
When will the slant H wake up? Hopefully soon.

[4x4addict]

After the oldman Bhargava's initial rant against safety features for Indian's, I am glad the company finally has turned this boat around and admitted that some Indian's do value their life and the life of their families and have the option to fork out 25 to 30K for safety features.

Kudo's to Maruti. This should be a lesson to other companies. Mahindra, are you listening about the Bolero? Largest selling SUV in India, how about ABS to start???

[landcruiser123]

Surely a good move by MSIL, but what about structural integrity?

Also, will insurance premiums for V/Lxi(O) be lesser than V/Lxi?

[The Dude]

Kudos - A great step in the right direction by the market leader!

They should turn these into the normal L and V variants and take the normal ones out.

-Adhi

[PrasannaDhana]

A welcome addition!

I guess MSIL understood how base baleno versions stood better value when compared to swift l and v variants. This step will reduce the cannibalisation within the brand. Thanks to NEXA and its limited presence, if baleno and swift displayed together, most people would choose the bigger, more feature-loaded, more fuel efficient car than the cramped, decade-old hatchback.

[carfreak7]

This is definitely a good move by Maruti Suzuki as it will encourage other companies as well to give these additions. However, I feel these should have been as standard additions but I am still content with this move by Maruti Suzuki.

Also, they should provide thicker tires instead of the skinny tires on the optional models which could improve braking as well as stability of the car. A car doesn't become totally safe by just the addition of ABS and airbags, but other factors like structural strength also matter.

I know that addition of thicker tires could reduce mileage but I think the people who go for these optional variants can also let go a few kmpl for their safety.

[saket77]

I think that Mr. Bhargava's statement at that time was more on the lines of defending his then lineup of cars rather than the actual strategic intentions of the company.
Well, coming to the good news, obviously a welcome news. This will multiply the number of takers of safety by an exponential rate because of Maruti's mass market appeal. Quite like the AMT. Something introduced by Maruti for the masses is always accepted by the people with open hands and minds as they have a strong faith in the brand.

Just hope that people will realise the importance of these features and will not skip this variant and move to higher variants because of the price they would be paying. In that case, it will be the people to blame rather than the manufacturer.

Regards,
Saket.

[wrongturn]

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[Sherlocked]

Carwale hasn't incorporated the new variants but a casual glance suggests that VXI(O) with ABS and twin airbags is just 20k dearer than the normal VXi sans the safety features and the VDI(O) with additional twin airbags is just 12K dearer than the normal VDi which comes with just the ABS.

So is it true that adding 2 airbags makes the cars costlier by just 12K and ABS by a merely 8K!

Anyways, a fantastic move by MSIL. They truly are becoming the first one to incorporate new things. First AMT then Hybrid diesel tech and now this and earlier they had also launched their app through which we could track our car's service costs at MASS.

[terra85]

That's a great move. I think now people will start considering the mid model more as they have all safety features and most of the equipment. I am suprised honda has not bitten the bullet yet. There was a time when all their models had airbags and ABS as standard, same is with hyundai how long for them to do the same with grandi10 and the i20..

[W.A.G.7]

While it is great news that Maruti has taken a step in the right direction, I would rather have them as standard on all variants. Those airbags and other safety features make a lot of difference between life and death; why would I want to miss out on my safety, just because I can afford the base variant only? But wasn't the V variant always available with the safety option pack?