The Automotive Industrial Standard (AIS-052), code of practice for bus body designs and approval will be enforced from April 1, 2009, to make it mandatory for body builders to adopt international safety norms while manufacturing bodies for buses. The code defines classification of buses like city bus, intercity bus, school bus, long distance buses and manufacturers would be required to follow the code, while manufacturing bus bodies to ensure international safety standards.
With effect from October 1, all body builders will have to submit the designs of their products to the certifying agencies, including the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) and the Vehicle Research and Development Association (VRDE) to get its approval for rollover test to minimize the impact of the road accidents.
ARAI has also implemented in October 2007 AIS 023 for seats, seat anchorages & head restraint. The AIS 023 Standard has been defined by ARAI to safeguard the safety and comfort of the passengers travelling in the bus. As per the requirement of the standard the seat / vehicle manufacturer shall furnish the information about the seats, its attachment, fittings and adjustments, displacement and locking systems as well as parts of the structure of the vehicle.
The requirement of the standard defines the armrest position, space for seated passengers (clear space between the seats), head room (free height over seating position), seat pitch, seat strength, anchorage test, head restraint and dimensional requirements.
ARAI approves MSL
The Chandigarh-based Mobility Solutions Ltd. (MSL), India’s leading manufacturer of seating systems, has obtained approval from ARAI for its complete range of seats. MSL supplies seats to all the leading OEMs like Swaraj Mazda Ltd., Tata Motors Ltd., Eicher, STUs and leading bus body builders and luxury bus operators in the country. Today, MSL is a proud manufacturer of a wide range of coach components, with a production of over 9500 seats per annum.
MSL caters to leading STUs like the Gujarat State Transport Corporation, Maharashtra State Transport Corporation, Himachal Roadways, Rajasthan State Transport Corporation, PEPSU Road Transport Corporation, Chandigarh Transport Undertaking and BEST Mumbai.
MSL was incorporated in 1998 as an ancillary for manufacturing ready-to-use sub-assemblies of window frames, regular deluxe and semi-deluxe seats. The state-of-the-art plant is located at Lalru on the Chandigarh-Ambala highway.
