Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM), the Indian subsidiary of the Japanese auto giant, is one of the early adopters of safety features in their Indian models, much before the Bharat New Vehicle Safety Assesment Program comes into place, probably from April 2017.
With the introduction of the facelifted Etios twins, Toyota has made airbags standard in all of its Indian models.
Alongside Volkswagen India, TKM made airbags standard across its model range in the country. Now, Economic Times reports that the automaker is planning introduce ABS as a standard fitment in all of the products that are sold in India staring form the 2016-17 period.
Talking to the publication, N. Raja, director and senior vice president for sales and marketing, TKM, hinted that the company will incorporate safety measures including pedestrian protection in its Indian models ahead of the introduction of mandatory safety norms to have an edge over the competition.
The company plans to introduce standard ABS in 2016-17 period.
He also stated that, earlier, the Indian customers preferred comfort and entertainment features in their cars over safety equipment such as airbag and ABS but the recent publicity of India-made cars failing spectacularly in international crash testshave resulted in a shift in trend.
India being a big market for affordable cars, the automakers are forced to delete vital safety features to achieve a competitive price point but with the Indian government’s new found intensity in improving the road safety, the cars are bound to be a lot more safer.
The Indian portfolio below the Corolla Altis offer ABS only as a option as of now.
It’s not just about the introduction of ABS and airbags, since the upcoming vehicular safety watchdog will also subject the cars to front and side impact crash tests at 56 kmph which are inline with the European standards. Toyota India is reportedly planning to crash test its India-made cars using humanoid dummies in order to understand and improve the level of occupant safety.
Mr. Raja added that the localization of airbag and ABS manufacturing would certainly help keep the costs at bay. The Toyota group companies are currently in the process of defining a manufacturing road map for this purpose.
Source: ET Auto
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