Pedestrian safety norms to be programmed in all cars from October: Safety has become a mantra and India is aspiring towards the same to be in the same brackets of developed countries. Pedestrian safety is one of the attributes the cars should keep and from October this year, the cars will be manufactured with the pedestrian sensors.

Not only does this increase safety but also abide by the global automotive norms. All the passenger cars, SUVs manufactured from October will be programmed with the pedestrian safety feature. Earlier in October 2018, the government has regulated all the cars to comply with the safety norms to reduce the accidents, especially to save the precious life of the pedestrians.

It is alarming to study statistics. In India, every year 1.5 lakh people are killed by accidents, and 60% of them are pedestrians. In order to reduce the fatal level injuries, the cars will be engineered with pedestrian safety sensors.

The pedestrian software consists of peripheral sensors in the frontal part of the vehicle. The airbag control unit uses the infrared technology to detect the accident-prospect and thereby triggering the actuators which in turn lift the engine hood and pedestrians would be saved from hitting the rigid and hard engine block.

It is much needed in countries like India, where traffic rules are still taken easy. This is supposed to be one of the luxury attributes but the government is taking measures to bring this as a mandate to save the lives of pedestrians.

The 2019 year for the automotive industry should be termed as "Safety Year" as a number of safety norms like active and passive norms like crash test norms, compliance, anti-lock braking system, speed warning system and airbag.

Not only consumer minds are tilted towards quality, brands, fuel economy but also safety to a very large extent. Electronic Stability Control (ESC) and Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) are the other safety features to be implemented by 2022.

However, the major catch for the automotive manufacturers is to increase the safety with zero increase in cost. Cost Vs Safety "Tug of war" let us see how they are balancing.

Pedestrian Safety Norms in India

Pedestrian Safety Norms India From October 2020