Maruti Suzuki Alto K10 Now Offers 6 Airbags as Standard Across All Variants

In a significant move toward enhancing vehicle safety in India's entry-level car segment, Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) announced today that its popular Alto K10 model will now come equipped with six airbags as standard across all variants. This makes the Alto K10 the first vehicle in its segment to offer this comprehensive safety feature as standard equipment.

The safety upgrade also includes additional features such as a three-point rear center seat belt and improved rear seat safety with luggage retention crossbars. These enhancements complement the existing safety technologies in the Alto K10, including Electronic Stability Program (ESP), Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) with Electronic Brake-force Distribution (EBD), and over 15 advanced safety features.

Partho Banerjee, Senior Executive Officer of Marketing and Sales at Maruti Suzuki, emphasized the company's commitment to making advanced safety accessible to all consumers. He highlighted that the Alto has been a trusted choice for nearly 25 years, with over 46 lakh (4.6 million) units sold, and remains particularly popular among first-time car buyers, who constitute 74% of Alto K10 customers.

The Importance of Airbags in Vehicle Safety

Airbags have proven to be crucial safety features in automobiles, significantly reducing the risk of serious injuries and fatalities during collisions. While front airbags primarily protect the driver and front passenger during frontal impacts, side and curtain airbags provide additional protection during side collisions and rollovers.

The implementation of six airbags as standard equipment represents a substantial safety enhancement, especially in the entry-level segment where cost considerations have traditionally limited such offerings. Typically, most vehicles in this category come with just two airbags (driver and front passenger) to meet basic safety regulations.

The move positions the Alto K10 as a safety-focused option in the highly competitive entry-level segment. While adding premium safety features to affordable cars usually impacts pricing, Maruti Suzuki appears to be banking on safety-conscious consumers who are willing to pay a slight premium for enhanced protection.

The move comes as Indian consumers increasingly prioritize safety features when making purchasing decisions, and as regulatory bodies consider mandating additional safety requirements in all vehicles. By proactively offering six airbags as standard, Maruti Suzuki is positioning the Alto K10 ahead of potential regulatory changes while reinforcing its market leadership.

The Alto K10 continues to offer various powertrain options, including petrol and S-CNG models with manual and automatic transmission choices, appealing to different customer preferences while maintaining its core value proposition of being an accessible, reliable, and now significantly safer entry-level vehicle.

The addition of four extra airbags to the Alto K10 inevitably adds to the production costs. According to the press release, the base STD variant with manual transmission is priced at ₹4,23,000, with the top-end VXI+ AGS variant reaching ₹6,09,500 (all prices ex-showroom). This represents an increase in the ex-showroom price by up to Rs 16,000.

Earlier, the government proposed mandating six airbags in cars and introduced a draft notification in this regard. However, the rule was not mandated after the Bharat New Car Assessment Programme, or BNCAP, protocols were rolled out, which demands six airbags as a basic requirement for a car to be eligible for testing for a 4- / 5-star crash score.

Several carmakers such as Hyundai Motor India, Kia and Volkswagen have made six airbags standard across all models. While the six-airbag proposal was welcomed by most of the OEMs, particularly in the mid-size and larger cars, some of the carmakers were sceptical that mandating six airbags in small cars would further weaken the demand in the segment due to the impact on prices.

The sales of small cars, or entry-level cars, have been on a declining trend for a long time. Buyers in the entry-level car segment are susceptible to acquisition and running costs. Substantial increases in the price of these cars over the years have been disproportionate to the rise in income levels for the buyers in this category after the BS-VI emission and safety norms.

The share of hatchbacks and sedans has declined to around 31% now from 61%, with a considerable decline in entry-level cars, as most carmakers are now focusing on improving their play in the SUV space. Many carmakers have vacated the segment under the Rs 5 lakh category due to weak demand. However, Maruti Suzuki has been of the opinion that entry-level cars are necessary for the sustainable growth of the industry as it has been the segment that brings a lot of first-time buyers to the passenger vehicle market from the two-wheeler market.

Safety star ratings have been gaining popularity in recent times, with many automakers increasingly leveraging their star ratings as a key marketing strategy to showcase their built quality. Also, many say star ratings have a role in influencing the customer's choice to an extent. While deciding not to mandate six airbags in cars, the government said the requirement of six airbags for a higher rating in BNCAP automatically pushes OEMs to offer them.

With Maruti Suzuki making six airbags as standard in all variants of Alto, the cheapest car in India now comes with six airbags. The automaker recently made six airbags standard in all variants of Celerio as well.