Volkswagen India have announced that every car offered by the brand will now be be equipped with ABS and at least two front airbags in a move to further automotive safety.
Volkswagen, Europe’s leading car manufacturer, have already emulated global standards by offering their rock-solid build quality on every car from the Polo to the erstwhile Touareg, including the procedure of laser-welding the roof on to the body of everything from the Polo and Ameo to the Vento and its sibling the Škoda Rapid. The company has now announced the introduction of ABS as a primary safety feature along with dual front airbags, as standard fitment for all variants of the Polo and Vento. Cars with the new standard fitments are available across all Volkswagen dealerships in India.
While these features were offered in higher variants, the entry-level Trendline variants were missing out on ABS. This move ticks the box for every single variant on offer. To sum up, the Polo, Ameo and Vento now have two front airbags, the Beetle has four, the Polo GTI and the Jetta each have six airbags, including dual front, side and curtain airbags. ABS with EBD is, of course, standard.
Following our visit to the Volkswagen plant in Chakan near Pune, we were pleased to learn that the attention to detail and build quality have earned the Vento a four-star safety rating from the NCAP, and this is just for the body. With airbags, it earns a full five-star safety rating in adult occupant protection.
Toyota are another manufacturer to offer upgraded standard safety equipment. We hope the rest of the manufacturers in India follow suit and upgrade their entry and mid-level models with better safety equipment as standard, in the interest of safety and to benefit the driver and passengers.
Story: Jim Gorde
