6 is the new fix

India’s largest-selling carmaker, Maruti Suzuki, has been known to make vehicles that are affordable, easy to maintain and cheap to run. To recapture some of its lost market share over the years, the brand has turned its attention towards safety, the one critical area where it has been accused of not giving enough attention. This includes equipping some of the country’s most affordable cars with enhanced safety features, across all variants.

Over the past few weeks, Maruti Suzuki has announced that some of its popular products, including Alto K10, Celerio, WagonR, Eeco, Brezza and the Grand Vitara, are now being sold with six airbags as standard, which means that even the base variants of all these cars get the important safety upgrade. These cars have also been fitted with three-point seatbelts for all passengers, another key addition when it comes to rear-seat safety. Previously, the rear middle passenger would only get a lap belt, which provided limited safety.

Until now, mass market buyers only had the option to purchase basic cars, first with just a driver airbag and then with two airbags, including one for the front passenger. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in 2021 announced the measure. However, unlike many countries where the six-airbag rule is mandatory in all passenger cars, India has still not implemented a similar rule. This means the second row occupants in many cars sold in the country still do not have access to airbags.

Manufacturers across the board have voluntary added six airbags in their range cars, but these vehicles mostly cost upwards of Rs 10 lakh. A huge chunk of market lies below this threshold, and this step by Maruti Suzuki has ensured that most first-time car buyers have access to much safer cars.

The CNG or cab models, which are usually based on lower variants, are also getting additional safety. This update, though, has come at a cost. India’s highest-selling car, for many years in a row, Alto K10, equipped with six airbags, is now more expensive, up by Rs 16,000, while the price of another small hatchback, Celerio, has gone up by as much as Rs 32,500. India’s best-selling car in the previous fiscal, WagonR, with six airbags, has now become dearer by up to Rs 14,000. Brezza now starts at Rs 8.54 lakh, up by nearly Rs 20,000.

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari in 2023 had spoken about making six airbags mandatory in passenger cars being sold in the country, but later retracted from his statement, saying the government will not mandate the same. Providing six airbags is, thus, a voluntary step taken by carmakers to improve sales at the time when growth is stagnant across many segments in the automobile sector.

Safety assessment

The Bharat New Car Safety Assessment Program (NCAP) was started by the government in 2023 with an aim to give cars star ratings based on their safety performance. Since then, many carmakers have sent their cars for testing and have also scored the highest 5-star rating, including many products from homegrown giants Tata and Mahindra, as well as compact cars from the Volkswagen Group. This programme, too, is voluntary and doesn’t mandate a compulsory crash test for cars that are made to be sold in the country.

Though not all cars from Maruti Suzuki get six airbags as standard just yet, this is indeed a step that might help in ensuring lesser casualties in a country that has the highest number of fatalities in road accidents in the world. Other affordable cars like Tata Tiago and Renault Kwid, too, can take a leaf out of Maruti’s book and provide six airbags as standard and give the safety-conscious buyer a wider choice while making this all-important purchase.

Global standards

Safety standards for cars sold in India are still not up to global standards. Many cars made in India but exported to other countries are manufactured with enhanced safety features to be eligible to be retailed in their designated markets. The made-in-India Suzuki Swift, exported to Japan, is equipped with Advanced Driver Assistance System or ADAS, apart from a few additional features. Similarly, Hyundai Verna is exported to several markets with enhanced safety.

— The writer is associated with carandbike.com