Nitin Gadkari Calls Out Indian Carmakers For Compromising Safety Standards

Nitin Gadkari, the Minister of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), has called out select carmakers for compromising safety standards as compared to the same offering in global markets. This comment comes after the MoRTH issued a draft to implement six airbags as standard across all models from October 2022. Moreover, MoRTH also approved a draft to introduce Bharat NCAP, India’s own crash test agency, in April 2023.  

Gadkari said, “We have taken a decision for mandatory provision of six airbags in cars, even in the economic models. Now some of the companies are making cars in India which are not up to international standards. But they are making cars of the same model, which comply with the international standard, for the foreign market. I can never understand this. We need to understand the importance of such decisions. When India reports maximum road crashes and deaths, why are they not taking it seriously?”

There are plenty of real-life examples based on Gadkari’s comments. Case in point is the Kia Seltos, which just managed to secure three stars in the Global NCAP crash test. But the same model, that is manufactured outside India, tested for the Australian and New Zealand market, aced the more stringent Australian NCAP (ANCAP) crash test with full five stars. Yes, safety features will differ from market to market, but the India-spec model’s structure was unstable while the international model had a stable body structure. 

Recently, the MoRTH introduced a draft to make six airbags standard for all models. But even that doesn’t seem to work as the Carens, which gets a lengthy standard safety feature list including six airbags and ESP, managed to secure just an average score of three stars due to an unstable body. So this proves that not just safety features are important, but the overall vehicle structural integrity matters a lot too. 

Gadkari also added at the conference that certain manufacturers are opposing the six airbags rule. Understandable, as implementing them in smaller cars will require plenty of re-engineering, which will drive up the costs. But with India being one of the largest car markets across the globe, safety does matter a lot, and Gadkari’s recent comments about disparity in models sold overseas make plenty of sense. 

We do hope that carmakers do take things seriously and beef up safety standards as lives do matter a lot – especially considering that our market is notoriously known for its poor road safety and sadly, deaths as well.