Airbags, rear cameras: Make your vehicle more secure with these safety features

From October 2017, certain safety features will be made mandatory in cars. These include airbags, anti-lock braking system (ABS) and rear view cameras. This could increase the price of entry-level cars by Rs 25,000-30,000, says Kamal Soi, of the National Road Safety Council. Entry level cars, such as Alto or Hyundai i10, currently account for 60-70 per cent of all cars sold.

Maruti Suzuki introduced safety equipment comprising dual airbags with ABS and electronic brakeforce distribution (EBD) option across all variants of models like Celerio, Wagon R, Wagon R Stingray, Swift, Swift DZire, Ertiga, Ciaz and now the Vitara Brezza. Also, the base variant of Alto now comes with an option of driver side airbag. The S-Cross and Baleno come with dual airbags and ABS with EBD as standard. Overall, the company has 14 models and 11 have airbags as an option in all variants.

“The price increase is in the range of Rs 6,000 to Rs 20,000. In higher segments, this price does not include only safety features but also a few other features,” says a Maruti Suzuki  spokesperson.

Mandatory safety features 

Airbags: About Rs 10,000 for five airbags. Every car will need to have have a minimum of  five airbags. Some bigger vehicles like SUVs could have airbags on the sides as well, to provide cushion during a collision.

Rear view camera: Rs 5,000-10,000

A high-end camera can record movement of the car. A rear view camera will be made mandatory for large cars like SUVs and large sedans where due to the length there are ‘black spots’. This means the driver is not able to see the rear of the vehicle and this is one of the main causes of accidents, says Soi.

Anti-braking system: Rs 5,000-10,000

This will be made mandatory in both two- and four-wheelers to prevent skidding on roads, Soi says.

How price affects safety measures in vehicles