Maruti Ready To Change Safety Norms: Maruti Executive Director

The Maruti Suzuki Swift, after failing the crash test conducted by Global NCAP, has Maruti saying it will upgrade the safety of the car if the government asks it to.

R S Kalsi, the Executive Director of Maruti Suzuki said that the company is currently following all the safety norms set by the Indian Government.

The Executive Director said, "The crash test was carried out as per the international standards, while we follow safety norms laid out in India. We are meeting all the requirements related to car safety in India. However, we are also willing to change if government asks us to do so."

Nitin R Gokarn, IAS officer and CEO of National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project (NATRiP), voiced his opinion as well. He said, "Those tests were carried out at a speed of 64 km/h. While here, we carry out test at 56 km/h, and all the Indian cars are designed to meet safety norms as per that speed limit. Thus, such cars may not give similar results when crashed at higher speeds."

One thing the automakers don't seem to understand is that in a real life scenario, accidents also occur at much higher speeds than 64 km/h. If vehicles do not protect occupants at 64 km/h, how will they deal with crashes at higher speeds?