Safety Must: Govt Proposes Mandatory Airbag For Front Passenger In All Cars From Next Year

In a major move to make the commute on the roads safer for passengers, Nitin Gadkari headed Union Ministry for Road Transport and Highways has proposed to make it mandatory for co-driver, or front passenger, seat in all cars to come equipped with airbags, reports Economic Times.

The ministry has proposed that along with the steering-mounted driver airbags, the front passenger seat should also have the airbag protection in the cars.

As per the proposal, for all the new, the compliance would be mandatory starting 1 April 2021. For the existing models, the compliance will be mandatory starting 1 June 2021.

The ministry has invited suggestions from all stakeholders within the next 30 days.

Earlier, the ministry had mandated the airbags for the driver's seat in all cars from 1 July 2019.

According to Jato Dynamics, an automotive business intelligence firm, out of the 970 unique variants presently on sale in the market, 905 already come equipped with front passenger airbags.

The lower variants of the affordable cars are typically the ones that come equipped with only one airbag.