Anti-lock braking to be mandatory from 2008

29 September 2007

New Delhi: Starting 2008, Indian car manufacturers are likely to compulsorily install an anti-lock braking system (ABS) in all vehicles.

ABS provides for better braking, by preventing a car from skidding if it brakes at high speeds, especially on a wet surface.

Current safety guidelines do not mandate the installation of ABS on new vehicles, though the top-end variants of most vehicles provide this as an additional feature.

Say officials of the National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project, installing ABS could be mandated in coming months as talks between vehicle manufacturers, governments and other stakeholders in the auto business have moved to an advanced stage of discussion.

As part of the National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure project, a facility for testing ABS brakes is to come up at the Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (VRDE) at Ahmednagar, which will most probably be operational by 2009.

Till now, cost escalation has been the main reason for opposition by vehicle manufacturers for the mandatory upgrade to ABS. ABS is one of the mandatory safety features in European nations, which see wet weather most of the year round. For that reason, ABS has been a value-added feature for top-end variants in cars in India.