In India, more than 150,000 people are killed each year in traffic accidents. That’s about 400 fatalities a day and far higher than developed auto markets like the U.S., which in 2016 logged about 40,000.

Now, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is trying to curb the carnage on Indian roads caused by everything from speeding two-wheelers to cars not equipped with air bags. A bill introduced in August 2016 – proposing harsher penalties for traffic offenses and requiring that automakers add safety features – has passed the lower house of parliament and is expected to go through the upper house this year.

The wide-ranging changes are likely to boost manufacturing costs for domestic and foreign carmakers in India. The South Asian country will be the world’s third-largest car market after China and the U.S. by 2020, according to researcher IHS Automotive. The World Health Organization estimates that traffic crashes cost most countries about 3 percent of their gross domestic product.

DEATH AT 40 MPH

The U.K.-based non-profit Global NCAP, which studies the quality of vehicles, has over the years assigned a zero star rating to many small vehicles sold in India – an assessment that there could be life-threatening injuries in a crash at 40 mph. Past efforts in India to boost road safety haven’t taken off, and the success of this one will depend on how strictly it is implemented.

India “has delayed 20 years in making safety features mandatory,” said Dinesh Mohan, a professor at Noida-based Shiv Nadar University. Globally, manufacturers haven’t usually added such safety elements “until and unless they were forced to do so by mandatory government regulations,” he said.

Advertisement

Indian consumers are famously price sensitive when it comes to car purchases. Low-cost and no-frills compact cars have long been sold by companies like Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki India, a unit of Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corp., Renault and Hyundai.

These budget vehicles are usually priced below $6,300, and the new law is likely to require that their manufacturers add a string of features such as airbags, audio speed warnings and anti-lock braking systems.

In 2015, Renault sold its Kwid in India without a frontal airbag or anti-lock braking system, earning the model a zero rating from Global NCAP at the time. The next year, it got one star for adult occupant protection after some safety features, including an airbag for the driver, were added. The brand in Latin America earned a higher three-star rating last year.

WORLD’S CHEAPEST CAR

Maruti Suzuki’s popular Alto car and the Tata Nano, which was launched as the world’s cheapest car, are among those that have received a zero rating from the group. The Global NCAP tests are not mandatory for vehicles to be sold in India. All the models meet local safety standards, which are presently far more lenient than global ones.

CV Raman, head of research and development at Maruti Suzuki, said car makers are investing in facilities, testing and equipment to build advanced safety features into vehicles, ahead of the deadlines set by the government. For each model, Maruti has test crashed 35 to 40 cars to ensure they meet the advanced standards, he said.

About 75 to 80 percent of Maruti Suzuki’s cars will become compliant with Indian safety norms about a year before they are mandatory, the company said.

Some companies like Toyota and Volkswagen haven’t made a distinction between their Indian and export versions, and have already exceeded Indian safety norms.

Rajan Wadhera, president at the automotive sector of India’s Mahindra & Mahindra, said his company offers the same safety features on both domestic and export models.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.