In a move to make cars safer and reduce accident fatalities, the Union road transport ministry of India has announced that all cars manufactured after July 1, 2019 will have to be equipped with airbags, seat belt reminders, alert systems for speeds beyond 80 kmph, reverse parking alerts and a manual override system for the car’s central locking system.

The ministry has approved the timeline and an official notification will be sent out in the coming days.

At present, only luxury cars come with the features mentioned above. Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari has given the nod for the move. “The new cars will be fitted with a system that issues audio alerts when the speed crosses 80kmph. The alert will be sharper when the vehicle crosses 100kmph, and non-stop when it’s over 120 kmph,” said a transport ministry official.

Manual override for the central locking system should help passengers escape the vehicle in times of an electrical failure during an accident.  “To reduce the possibility of accidents while parking in reverse gear, the provision of reverse parking alert is being introduced. When the car is put in reverse gear, the feature will give an indication to the driver whether there are objects in the rear monitoring range,” the official added.

Transport ministry sources also said thatairbags and reverse parking aids would also be made mandatory for light commercial vehicles, which primarily run in urban areas.

Source