India plans crash test norms for cars, including airbag addition

India plans to mandate crash tests for cars, once facilities are ready, as policy makers seek to reduce deaths in a country where road accidents claim one life every five minutes.

The government will mandate offset frontal and side-impact crash tests and airbags will be required to meet the regulations, Pon Radhakrishnan, junior road transport minister, told the Lok Sabha in New Delhi on Monday. India's roads are the world's deadliest, with 15 per cent of all traffic fatalities and only one per cent of the motor vehicles, according to the World Bank. An improvement in safety standards on highways would boost economic output by four per cent, according to a draft of the ministry's proposed Road Transport and Safety Bill. The draft, released in September, mandates harsher penalties for traffic violations, a centralised licensing authority, and a dedicated road safety authority modeled on National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the US. Presently, cars in India are not required by law to be crash tested or be fitted with airbags.

The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers had agreed to the norms, Deputy Director-General Sugato Sen said in a telephone interview on Monday.

"The auto industry has agreed to the crash test norms and we are waiting for the facilities to be ready," said Sen. "We've been informed that as soon as they are ready, the notification for mandatory crash testing will be issued."