New Delhi: In less than 18 months from now, mandatory crash testing norms will become functional in India, making it mandatory for carmakers to add safety features such as airbags and anti-lock braking systems (ABS) to their vehicles. And if sales trends are any indication, Indian consumers are already a step ahead of the norms.

Thus, as much as 62% of Mahindra KUV1OO’s sales have come from variants with airbags. The percentage goes up to 87% for the firm’s TUV3OO, according to Pravin Shah, president and chief executive officer (automotive) at Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd.

In the case of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, more than 50% of sales of models such as Ciaz and Brezza have come from variants with airbags and ABS.

All of Maruti Suzuki’s S-Cross and Baleno variants, and all of Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt. Ltd and Volkswagen India Pvt. Ltd models are sold with these safety features as part of the standard specification.

To be sure, many of these models are first-generation ones designed and developed to meet the first phase of crash-testing norms.

The norms require vehicles launched after October 2017 to go through frontal and side crash tests.

Existing vehicles need to meet the norms by October 2019.

“Customers are welcoming such features. Awareness is catching up. We are ahead of time and meeting regulatory requirements which will become mandatory in 2019," Shah said.

The awareness, though, would appear to be a function of price, and the kind of car in which the customer is interested.

For many people, safety isn’t all that important in an entry-level car.

The contribution of variants with safety features to “sales of models like Wagon R and Alto is almost negligible—around 2%", said a Maruti Suzuki spokesperson.

Indeed, even for models such as the Swift and Dzire, a step up in the consumption hierarchy, the proportion is around 15%, the spokesperson said, adding that will change as awareness increases.

According to an industry estimate, Indian car firms will require as many as eight million airbags every year after the crash test norms come into effect and that may create a severe shortage for the component in the market with almost none of the big airbag makers having an independent operation in the country. Though some, such as Japan’s Takata Corp., have tieups with local manufacturers, they have extremely low capacity.

Still, the very presence of a market could spur local manufacturing.

“You need to build a critical mass to do local manufacturing of such components," said Shah of Mahindra and Mahindra.

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