Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) on Tuesday said all its products are now available with six airbags as standard, across all variants, and as part of its ‘safety for all’ campaign, the vehicles will have no additional cost.
The company already had six-airbags as standard on vehicles starting from Exter, the small sports utility vehicle (SUV) to its largest SUV Tucson. The only two cars – Grand i10 Nios and Aura – had four airbags as standard.
“At Hyundai ‘Safety-for-all’ is our utmost priority and we have been benchmark creators in standardisation of vehicle safety features...Additionally, HMIL has achieved a key milestone in its roadmap for safer mobility, with Hyundai Verna being rated as five-Star, for adult and child occupant protection by Global NCAP,” Unsoo Kim, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, HMIL, said here.
HMIL also announced that it has decided to voluntarily participate in the recently introduced Bharat NCAP with three models to begin with, and more vehicles will follow for the safety tests.
Under the Bharat NCAP programme, car manufacturers can voluntarily offer their vehicles tested as per the Automotive Industry Standard (AIS) 197. Based on the performance of the car in the tests, the vehicle will be awarded star ratings on a scale of 0-5, for adult occupants (AOP) and child occupants (COP).
Potential car customers can refer to these star ratings to compare the safety standards of different vehicles and accordingly make their purchase decision.
Meanwhile, the carmaker also announced that its mid-size sedan Verna has received a five-star rating in adult and child occupant protection by Global NCAP.
Companies such as Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors have been also advertising on getting five Stars in crash tests from Global NCAP for some of their products.