The government has made the driver airbag a compulsory fitment on all motor vehicles used for the carriage of passengers, comprising not more than eight seats, in addition to the driver’s seat, manufactured on and after 1st July 2019. An airbag is a vehicle occupant-restraint system that interferes between the driver and the vehicle’s dashboard during a collision. That prevents serious injuries.
Subsequently, the government has made it mandatory to have front-seat airbags other than the driver in all M1 category vehicles effective from 1st January 2022.
To enhance the safety of occupants of the motor vehicle against the lateral impact, the government has decided to boost safety features by amending the Central Motor Vehicles Rules (CMVR), 1989. The recent draft notification mandated all vehicles of the category, manufactured after 1st October 2022, to have two side torso airbags – one each for the persons occupying front-row outboard seating positions, and two side curtain airbags, one each for the persons occupying outboard seating positions.
The side torso airbag is an inflatable occupant restraint device that is mounted to the seats or side structure of the vehicle interior, and that is designed to deploy in a side-impact crash to help mitigate torso injury and occupant ejection for the persons occupying the front-row outboard seating positions. A side curtain airbag is an inflatable occupant restraint device mounted to the side structure of the vehicle interior. That is designed to deploy in a side-impact crash or rollover to help mitigate primarily head injury and occupant ejection for the persons occupying the outboard seating positions.
