ABS Compulsory For New Cars From April 2019

Safety is an important aspect of making a vehicle today. Manufacturers pay close attention to keeping the occupants safe in case of an accident. Buyers have become more aware about their safety when buying a vehicle. Keeping this as one of its focal points, the Indian government has mandated the use of ABS on all new cars by April 1, 2018. Also, by April 1, 2019, every vehicle in a manufacturer's lineup will be required to have ABS as standard.

This move comes as a result of an amendment to the Motor Vehicles Act. Also, this move covers not just cars but light commercial vehicles (LCVs) too. However, while it covers cars across all classes, in case of LCVs, the restriction is that the vehicle should not weigh more than 8 tonnes. You may say that this move was not needed as manufacturers have been adopting this practice voluntarily. Almost every new car launched today comes with ABS as standard equipment. However, pay attention to the “almost” bit in the previous statement.

There are a few cars in the market today that do not come with ABS as standard fitment. For instance, the most affordable cars in India - the Tata Nano and the Maruti Suzuki Alto don’t offer ABS at all. Similarly, budget offerings such as the Datsun redi-GO and the Renault Kwid do not get the safety tech, even as an option. Going by how popular these cars are, the omission of a crucial safety feature such as ABS impacts a big chunk of auto buyers.

We think the announcement is a step in the right direction towards making Indian roads a tad safer. With the introduction of Bharat NCAP, we expect vehicle safety norms to only get stricter.