NEW DELHI: More carmakers are queuing up to offer 6 airbags as a standard feature amid growing preference of consumers towards safer four-wheelers. Once seen only in luxury cars and top-end variants of select models, six airbags are now fitted in cars priced as low as `6 lakh.
Skoda Auto India on Tuesday said it will be offering six airbags as standard across all variants of its popular Kushaq and Slavia models. Just a day before, Mahindra & Mahindra made this a standard feature across all variants on SUV XUV3XO.
“We always offered frontal airbags in our base variants and six in our higher variants, each as safe as the other. As part of our FY24 updates we now offer six airbags across all variants of the Kushaq and Slavia,” said Petr Janeba, brand director, Škoda Auto India.
Industry experts said there has been a rise in inquiry regarding safety features such as number of airbags and crash test results. “Indian customers are buying expensive cars (average selling price has doubled over the last six years) loaded with features and safety featuring very high in buying decisions. As per Deloitte’s GACSurvey, nearly 72% of the buyers are going to buy cars with good quality and safety. This works well for the OEMs as well as they are able to pass on the price increase due to increased cost of fitting six airbags,” said Rajat Mahajan, Partner, Deloitte India.
Mahajan explained while the government didn’t make six airbags mandatory, sales of these vehicles rose multi-fold.While Hyundai and Kia have been doing the same for quite some time now, Maruti Suzuki is working on offering six airbags as standard on some of its models.
The updated hatch Swift is expected to be the first small car from MSIL to get six airbags in all its variants. French carmaker Citroen is also offering six airbags as a standard fitment. Honda Car India has also started fitting six airbags as standard across Elevate and City models.
Prefering safety over price
Industry experts said there has been a rise in inquiry regarding safety features such as number of airbags and crash test results. As per Deloitte’s GACSurvey, nearly 72% of the buyers are going to buy cars with good quality and safety.
Who is offering 6-airbags as standard ?
Hyundai: All models/ variants
Kia: All models/ variants
Skoda: Slavia and Kushaq
Honda: City & Elevate