Toyota India has announced plans to include Antilock Braking System in all variants produced locally, becoming the first carmaker in India to do so. No timeframe has been mentioned, but the company is expected to offer ABS as a standard fitment from sometime in FY 2016-17.
Volkswagen India was the first carmaker in India to make Airbag as standard feature across all variants. Toyota India followed since October, 2014.Further, Toyota plans to ensure safety of its locally manufactured vehicles by testing those with humanoid a.k.a. THUMS (Total Human Model for Safety). They intend to follow similar crash tests as NCAP (New Car Assessment Programme) in India, keeping in mind occupants’ safety. The Japanese carmaker also has plans to work on improving pedestrian safety.
All these will not only make Toyota cars safer, but will also make them more competitive in this cut-throat competition, says N Raja, Toyota Kirloskar Motor’s Director and Senior Vice President for Sales and Marketing.
India has the world’s largest road accident death toll, of 1.4 lakhs, which can be significantly checked by making cars safer. New Bharat Safety rules are being drafted, which is expected to mandate frontal and side impact crash testing at 56 kmph, similar to European rules for car safety. This policy is expected to be enforced by April, 2017.
With increasing carmakers in India standardising Airbag and ABS across all variants, suppliers who are presently exporting these kits to India can be expected to set up operations here, soon. After all, India is one of the largest auto markets in the world.
Via – Economic Times
