Front seat airbags are presently made compulsory by the Government
Front seat airbags are made mandatory for the existing models of cars, currently by the government. The facility of dual airbags for front seats in the existing car models has been delayed by 4 months by the road transport ministry, due to the covid situation and it has been extended to December 31st, 2021.
The time extension has been advocated by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers also known as SIAM for the installation of front-seat airbags for the person sitting beside the driver also.
The objective is passenger safety in case of an accident. In India, every day almost 1214 road crashes happen and 20 children under the age of 14 die every day due to this. In the year 2020, there is a 2% decline in the number of people dying in accidents, in the year 2019 the number was 16988 and in 2020 it is 16650, though there was less traffic due to the lockdown.
So the government has taken stringent action this year to ensure the safety of not only the driver but also the person sitting next to him.