MUMBAI:  The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has issued a Gazette notification making dual airbags compulsory for the passenger in the front seat of a vehicle. The step aims at improving passenger safety in case of an accident for both the driver and the co-passenger.

While this has been a norm voluntarily followed by most automakers in recent years, the new regulation will affect a few companies with entry-level models that will see a small hike in prices. 

While existing cars on sale have time till August 31, new models have to comply with the notifications from April 1. According to experts, this new directive will force the automakers of budget cars like Maruti Suzuki, Renault, Datsun, Hyundai and Mahindra to hike the prices which could be in the range of Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 per car. 

While a driver airbag had become a mandatory fitment for all cars in the country beginning July 1, 2019, the need for a co-driver airbag was left out of the ambit of the regulations at that time however last year the government had floated a draft notification regarding the same.

India records one of the highest road fatalities in the world. According to a report by the MoRTH published in September 2020, there were over 4.49 lakh road accidents in India in 2019, which led to over 1.5 lakh deaths. 

A 2018 World Health Organization report said India topped the world in deaths by road accidents, with more than 400 fatalities per day.