Summary

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways issued a notification on Friday making it mandatory for new models to have dual airbags installed in them for the safety of passengers. The new models of cars will have to adhere to this norm from April 1, 2021, onwards. The Centre has given time till August 31, 2021, for dual airbag installation in older models.

This move is expected to increase car prices in the range of Rs 5,000 to Rs 7,000 on average. Till now, only the driver’s seat airbag was mandatory for all cars. This left the passenger sitting in the front seat completely vulnerable to severe injury or even death in case the car met with an accident.