Government wants to make Airbags & ABS standard on new cars

[SumitBahl]

Finally!!!
Government has made it mandatory to all cars to have Airbags, ABS, child restraint system, seat belt reminders and reinforced body structures by October 2015.

Government will give manufacturers two years to quip all cars sold before 2015 with these features, i.e till 2017.

Source & Full Article:

Entry level car prices will rise by Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 35,000 from October next year as the government will make it mandatory for all new passenger cars in India to have basic safety features such as air bags, anti-lock braking systems, child restraint systems, seat belt reminders and reinforced body structures.

Road transport and highways secretary Vijay Chhibber told HT that India’s first vehicle safety standard, the India New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP), based on the widely accepted United Nations NCAP, will be notified early next year.

[zenren]

Waking up to some good news finally!

Knowing our manufacturers, I'm expecting things to be ready only by 2017. Since 2015 October is the timeline for new vehicles, most of the mass market products are likely to be launched by September 2015 to ensure they still get some time to sort out the logistics from airbag suppliers and other vendors since the requirement is increasing exponentially.

Would a cosmetic face lift qualify as a "new" car launch by this definition, forcing the manufacturers to comply with these requirements when they add more chrome to their front grill and bumper?

[Soumyajit9]

I remember when I bought my first car in 2011, I had skipped the safety features that were provided with an Options pack of my car, just due to money constraints.

In reality, when an average Indian buys a car, a general thought comes - 'Oh, its gonna cost an additional 50k for safety features, so skip it'.
Atleast that is what I had done. Now I sometimes feel foolish about it.

Now with the safety features included in the base price of the car, even though the base price increases a bit, the thought of spending an additional amount to get safety features would go away.

A thoughtful and welcome move by the authorities.

But hey, one thing that ran up my mind is, how would the variants then be differentiated ? Debatable !!
The prime feature of a higher variant were the safety features. Now the manufacturers would be left with luring customers only with Alloys, ORVM Blinkers, ACC, Roof Rails and Fog Lamps. Can't think of any other major features they can use to lure customers into buying higher variants.

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by SumitBahl

...
Government will give manufacturers two years to quip all cars sold before 2015 with these features, i.e till 2017.

Wonderful decision. But the last part doesn't make sense. So mandatory for older cars too? Does that mean I have to go and get my dashboard and steering changed to those with airbags and add sensors to the front? And I'll be a criminal if my car doesn't have airbags? I don't trust the a.s.s. To be able to do it well. This will just be another way of siphoning off money and door for the traffic cops to hold the old car owners for ransom. Funny how decisions can never be simple and beneficial for the commons.

[punto_]

Finally! This is a great change. Now manufacturers should make other features for various variants instead of the safety equipment.

I still feel bad as I have not selected Airbags on my car and went with ABS alone. My next car will have all safety equipment in place for sure.

[ToyotaFan]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

Wonderful decision. But the last part doesn't make sense. So mandatory for older cars too? Does that mean I have to go and get my dashboard and steering changed to those with airbags and add sensors to the front? And I'll be a criminal if my car doesn't have airbags? I don't trust the a.s.s.

I think you did not understand the news correctly. It says the models already on sale will have additional 2 years to provide these features. All existing car owners will be able to use their cars as it is.

[joybhowmik]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

But the last part doesn't make sense. So mandatory for older cars too? Does that mean I have to go and get my dashboard and steering changed to those with airbags and add sensors to the front? ...Funny how decisions can never be simple and beneficial for the commons.

That's precisely what's got my antenna up. Even ABS is not an easy aftermarket fitment AFAIK.

Not sure if this rule of pre-2015 cars will be notified without seeking public opinion. It was a different matter with retrospective fitment of seat-belts - those are relatively low tech parts.

It might actually be easier for the government to stipulate a time-period (say a period of 7-10 years) by which all such pre-2015 cars (that don't have ABS, Airbags, seat-belt warning) would be de-registered automatically (i.e. fit for scrap).
With increasing computerization of RTO records, that may actually make it easier to identify such cars.

[CoolCarNi]

I welcome the move but I agree with Reinhard. How far back in time is the government going to go to implement the rule? With less than a year to go, how are the manufacturers going to make structural changes to their infrastructure?

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by joybhowmik

It might actually be easier for the government to stipulate a time-period (say a period of 7-10 years) by which all such pre-2015 cars (that don't have ABS, Airbags, seat-belt warning) would be de-registered automatically (i.e. fit for scrap).
With increasing computerization of RTO records, that may actually make it easier to identify such cars.

I'm totally against any retrospective government orders putting me in trouble. Fine go ahead and implement the wonderful decision of mandatory safety features. However, once I buy stuff it's mine and nobody tells me what to do with it. There are more important things that the government should pay attention to.

Don't even get me started on the post 15 years green tax and PUC . All know both are resulting in headache for non polluting and law abiding citizens and are self contradicting.

So no, I'm against retrospective update to my car because the government was impotent in 2010.

[Dry Ice]

Welcome move.

Originally Posted by Reinhard

Wonderful decision. But the last part doesn't make sense. So mandatory for older cars too? Does that mean I have to go and get my dashboard and steering changed to those with airbags and add sensors to the front? And I'll be a criminal if my car doesn't have airbags? I don't trust the a.s.s. To be able to do it well. This will just be another way of siphoning off money and door for the traffic cops to hold the old car owners for ransom. Funny how decisions can never be simple and beneficial for the commons.

Originally Posted by joybhowmik

That's precisely what's got my antenna up. Even ABS is not an easy aftermarket fitment AFAIK.

Not sure if this rule of pre-2015 cars will be notified without seeking public opinion. It was a different matter with retrospective fitment of seat-belts - those are relatively low tech parts.

It might actually be easier for the government to stipulate a time-period (say a period of 7-10 years) by which all such pre-2015 cars (that don't have ABS, Airbags, seat-belt warning) would be de-registered automatically (i.e. fit for scrap).
With increasing computerization of RTO records, that may actually make it easier to identify such cars.

I think this rule is for Manufacturers only. Not for the public to go and retrofit these systems in their cars. Suppose Hyundai launches the Compact SUV after Oct'15 - that will need to come with airbags and ABS. But the older models on sale, say, i10 has till 2017 till it comes with airbags and ABS.

--------------

Govt should give this some more thought. Most of the cars today come with Airbags and ABS in their top variants. So there is no question of adopting this technology to existing cars. They will just need to reshuffle their production lines to get the safety features in place for the lower and mid variants. At max give them time till Mar'2016. 2017 is too far!

[Reinhard]

Originally Posted by ToyotaFan

I think you did not understand the news correctly. It says the models already on sale will have additional 2 years to provide these features. All existing car owners will be able to use their cars as it is.

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

Welcome move.

I think this rule is for Manufacturers only. Not for the public to go and retrofit these systems in their cars. Suppose Hyundai launches the Compact SUV after Oct'15 - that will need to come with airbags and ABS. But the older models on sale, say, i10 has till 2017 till it comes with airbags and ABS.

Yes guys that makes sense and I'm hoping that's what the order means too. Certainly.

OT - this suddenly makes Sumo Gold a better package for my needs compared to the Safari !!!

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Good. Finally some good news. With these features being made mandatory, we should see the associated costs come down drastically.

I hope they implement crash tests soon as well. The article says the Indian NCAP program will be announced early next year. Good news indeed.

[raksrules]

What seriously ? I thought I woke up in some other country. This is a super welcome move.
But call me pessimist (at times), I really hope they don't roll back this decision after bulging to pressure from manufacturers. I do not mind paying extra for safety of my family.

[aniketi]

Whatever it may be, finally government woke up & taking some good decisions for common mango man. I will prefer paying extra amount for my safety when i am buying a car.

Different angle: Lets assume that average car price will go up by 30000 - 50000. Considering most people buy cars on EMI, it will translate into 600-700 to 1000-1200 per month extra. I guess that is not a big amount for your & your family's safety

[zenren]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

But the last part doesn't make sense. So mandatory for older cars too?

"New cars" that they mention for 2015 October refers to any new models launched after that date. So, if Maruti S-Cross or Hyundai ix25 gets launched after October 2015, they need to comply to these rules.

"Existing cars" that they mention refers to the models that are already in production. So, the Swift or Datsun Go for example would get time till 2017 to make these changes and be compliant. These rules would not be applicable for the cars that are already sold till the time they become compliant. If they are unable to make any model compliant by the 2017 date, they'll have to discontinue that model.

Originally Posted by joybhowmik

Not sure if this rule of pre-2015 cars will be notified without seeking public opinion. It was a different matter with retrospective fitment of seat-belts - those are relatively low tech parts.

Even in case of seat belts, there is no retrospective rule that I'm aware of. If you are using a car registered before the seat belt was mandated at manufacturer level, you would still be okay to use it and would not be fined.

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

The prime feature of a higher variant were the safety features. Now the manufacturers would be left with luring customers only with Alloys, ORVM Blinkers, ACC, Roof Rails and Fog Lamps. Can't think of any other major features they can use to lure customers into buying higher variants.

Touch screen music system with Navigation and reverse camera, rear wiper and defogger comes to my mind as possibly part of top variant feature. Even the electrically adjustable/foldable mirrors and ORVM blinkers might become exclusive.