Maruti Suzuki is India’s largest car manufacturer. They have a vast lineup of cars spread across various segments. Getting in and out of a vehicle can be challenging at times for many due to factors like age. In order to accommodate differently abled people, customers often make modifications too. Now, Maruti has come up with a solution to this problem. They are now offering a swivel seat option in the WagonR, which makes getting in and out easy for elderly and physically challenged people.
Maruti has developed this solution in association with TRUE Assist Technology Pvt. Ltd. This project falls under Maruti Suzuki’s startup incubation programme with NSRCEL – IIM Bangalore.
We have all been in situations where we have to travel with elderly people, and getting them inside the vehicle is often a challenge as they find it difficult to enter the cabin. This swivel seat option resolves this issue. The swivel seat can be installed on the front co-passenger seat of the WagonR.
It is designed to make ingress and egress easier not just for the elderly, but also for physically challenged individuals. This can be done without replacing the original or OEM seat or modifying the vehicle structure. The cost of installing this feature is not known at the moment, but we really appreciate the thought.
The kit can be installed on new Maruti WagonR hatchbacks as an optional feature. The same can be fitted onto existing vehicles as well. Interested customers can get in touch with their nearest Arena dealership or service centre to get this swivel seat option.
The seats can be installed within an hour and, as this is a feature offered by the brand, it comes with a 3-year warranty as well.
Maruti has launched this project across 11 cities through over 200 dealerships. Depending on the response, they will decide on expanding this initiative. The swivel seat can slide forward and backward like the usual co-passenger seat. However, it gets an additional rotation feature, which means the seat can be rotated to face the door when it is open. A person trying to sit can easily get inside, and the seat can then be rotated back to its original position and pushed back.
The swivel seat has been tested extensively and is approved by ARAI as well. It also complies with current safety norms. At the moment, it looks like Maruti has launched this swivel seat option only for the WagonR. In the future, they might introduce the same feature for other models in their lineup.
In fact, we hope that Maruti comes up with a swivel or rotating feature even for the rear seats of cars like the Maruti XL6, which comes with captain seat options for the second row. The Maruti WagonR is one of the best-selling hatchbacks in the country, and we assume that is the reason why Maruti decided to introduce this feature in the hatchback.
The tall-boy hatchback is available with petrol and CNG options. It is offered with a 1.0-litre, 3-cylinder naturally aspirated petrol engine and a 1.2-litre, 4-cylinder petrol engine. The 1.2-litre engine comes with manual and AGS transmission options, while the 1.0-litre engine gets only a manual transmission as standard. Prices for the Maruti WagonR start at Rs 4.99 lakh, ex-showroom, and go all the way up to Rs 6.95 lakh, ex-showroom.
Article Credit: cartoq