Cheapest car in India to give you 6 airbags

As we all know, Indian car market is not a safety conscious market. There are no rules in India for providing basic safety as of now but from October 2017, all the cars sold in India should be equipped with ABS and driver side airbag, among other passive safety features like rear parking sensor. Even though there are many safety devices to make the car safer, secondary safety devices like airbags are one of the most important features that can save lives.

Till now, more than two or multiple airbags in a car remained restricted to premium vehicles while budget vehicles offered bare minimum features of dual airbags. Car manufacturers are now equipping  the budget cars with high-end safety features and there are many new cars below Rs. 15 lakh, that feature as many as 6 airbags. Of all of them, the Ford Figo is the cheapest car with 6 airbags. Only the top variant, Titanium+ gets the 6 airbags and the petrol variant is priced at Rs. 6.29 lakh, while the diesel variant is priced at Rs. 7.17 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).

Why multiple airbags are important?

When a car is involved in an accident, the occupants go through severe shock and their body is pushed around in the car even when the seat belt is fastened. The highly powerful forces after an accident makes the body hit against interiors of the car like dashboard or the window of the vehicle. Having airbag at front only works when the car is involved in a frontal crash. If the car is hit sideways, the front airbags become useless during the situation.

But 6 airbags?

Yes, the Ford Figo comes with as many as 6 airbags in the top-end variant. The front airbags of the car saves the front passengers from head-on accidents. Apart from the front 2 airbags, there are 2 side airbags, which saves the front passengers from the side impact. There are also 2 curtain airbags, that run across the length of the window and saves front and rear passengers during side impact by making sure that their head don’t hit the window of the car. Even though the new Ford Figo has not been tested by Global NCAP for safety yet, it sure is one of the safest cars in India.

Other safety features?

The Figo also gets Anti-lock Brake System (ABS) along with Electronic Brake Distribution (EBD), that work as primary line of defence and helps the car to brake safely during emergency situation. The EBD distributes the braking force evenly to all the four wheels to make sure that the car gets maximum braking power when it needs it the most. The Figo also comes with Electronic Stability Program (ESP), Traction Control System (TCS) and Hill Launch Assist (HLA) with the petrol automatic model.

One of the most unique feature about the Figo is the Ford Emergency Assist. It is only available with the top-end variant, Titanium+. The safety feature automatically connects with the emergency services when it senses a crash and sends the location to the authorities so that the rescue operation takes less time to arrive on the scenario.

What are other options? The Ford Figo being the cheapest one with 6 airbags, there are many other vehicles with 6 airbags in place below the Rs. 15 lakh mark. The Ford Figo Aspire, Hyundai Elite i20, Ford EcoSport, Volkswagen Vento, Hyundai Verna, Hyundai Creta, Mahindra XUV500 and Hyundai Elantra are few cars with 6 airbags option in India.