On January 11, the Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari, while speaking at a SIAM function to open the Road Safety Week, said that airbags are to be made mandatory fitment on all cars in India. However, he did not mention any specific timeline for this life-saving equipment in passenger cars.

Maruti Suzuki India, the largest carmaker in the country, has today announced that it is offering an airbag – albeit as optional fitment – in all variants of the Alto 800 and the Alto K10, which has been the largest selling car in India for 10 years in a row. In FY 2014-15, the Alto sold a total of 264,492 units. Between April-November 2015, 175,984 Altos have been sold.

The fitment of an optional airbag will cost close to Rs 10,000 on every such variant of the Alto. 

R S Kalsi, executive director, Marketing & Sales, Maruti Suzuki, said: “With a driver airbag being offered from the base variant upward as an option for the Alto, a very large number of car customers in India will feel reassured. We have offered enhanced safety features, from the base variants, across our model range, ahead of regulations.”

With this latest equipment update, the Alto become the sole model in the entry level segment to offer the option of a driver airbag across all variants, as competitors like the Renault Kwid and the 800cc Hyundai Eon only offer this feature on the top variant. Earlier, only the top VXi (O) trim of the Alto K10 came fitted with a driver airbag, while the top VXi trim of the Alto 800 offered the same as an add-on option. Other features remain unchanged.

The Alto 800 is powered by a 796cc three-cylinder engine which develops 47.3bhp and comes with the factory-fitted option of a CNG kit. The larger Alto K10 uses the 998cc K10 engine – also used in the Wagon R and Celerio – and gets the factory-fitted CNG option. The engine is capable of developing 67.1bhp and 58.2bhp in the petrol and CNG guise respectively. Both cars use a five-speed manual gearbox with the Alto K10 additionally getting the option of an AMT gearbox.

In recent months, Maruti Suzuki India has introduced safety equipment in many of its models. Dual airbags with ABS and EBD are offered as standard across variants of the S-Cross crossover and the premium Baleno hatchback. This exercise was followed by making dual airbags, ABS with EBD available as an option in all variants of the Ciaz, Ertiga, Dzire, Wagon R and Celerio.