Are bull bars and crash guards legal in India? What MoRTH's circular and two High Court orders say

Fit a crash guard to an SUV in India and sooner or later someone will tell you it is illegal. Owners then go looking for the actual rule, and the forums are where they go.

What owners are asking

Search listings show this question has run on Team-BHP for years, across more than one forum: an Indian Car Scene thread titled "Are bull bars legal in India?", a Road Safety thread titled "Government to take strict action against bull bars & crash guards", another Road Safety thread called "Bull bars, good or bad??", a Road Safety post on why small cars should not be fitted with a guard, and a Modifications & Accessories thread asking about a rear bull bar on a Mercedes-Benz. Several of those listings point to page 4, 5, 6 and 9 of the same threads, so these are long-running discussions rather than one-off posts.

Those Team-BHP pages would not open for me, so I am only describing what the search listing itself shows. No post counts, dates or quotes from them are used here. The questions owners raise in the titles are the same three every time: will I be challaned, will it hurt the airbag, and what happens to my insurance.

The official side

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways wrote to state transport officials in December 2017. The Tribune, reporting the letter, says the ministry told states that crash guards and bull bars "pose serious safety concerns to the pedestrians as well as occupants of the vehicle", that the fitment violates Section 52 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, and asked states to take strict action against unauthorised fitment. The penalties it pointed to are ₹1,000 for the driver on a first offence, ₹2,000 for a second or subsequent offence, and ₹5,000 for the seller or deliverer.

The Supreme Court has since read Section 52 strictly. In Regional Transport Officer v. K. Jayachandra, decided on 9 January 2019 by Justices Arun Mishra and Vineet Saran, the court held that no vehicle can be altered so as to change the original specification made by the manufacturer. The same judgment distinguishes structural alteration from minor addition or removal of accessories that does not change the vehicle's basic features, which is exactly the gap bull bar sellers have argued in.

The courts have gone both ways on enforcement. On 13 March 2018 the Delhi High Court, hearing a plea by a manufacturer and dealer of crash guards, said there would be no challans till 18 April 2018 and told the ministry to examine the matter and file a detailed reply. Then on 4 May 2023, a bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, hearing a public interest litigation, directed authorities to take strict action against unauthorised fitting of crash guards or bull bars and said government agencies shall implement the law rigorously, noting the risk to pedestrians and to airbag deployment.

Enforcement on the ground has been patchy but real. Chandigarh Metro reported that the city's traffic police challaned over 300 cars for bull bars after revised rules took effect on 1 January 2018, at ₹1,000 for a first offence, after running awareness drives first.

What an owner can do

Check your registration certificate. If the guard is not endorsed there, it is not an approved alteration, whoever fitted it. Ask the dealership in writing whether the guard was part of the homologated vehicle or an accessory sold over the counter, because the seller carries the ₹5,000 exposure too. Remove it before a fitness or inspection visit.

On insurance, be careful with what you read online. I found no IRDAI circular or insurer document specific to bull bars. The safe route is to email your insurer, ask in writing whether a fitted front guard affects own-damage cover, and keep the reply.

If a dealership fitted the guard and now refuses responsibility, escalate to the maker's customer care in writing, then to the National Consumer Helpline.

Over to the club: has anyone here actually been challaned for a crash guard, and in which city?

Sources

• Take crash guards off cars or face penalty, govt to vehicle owners (The Tribune)
• Delhi HC Orders Action Against Unauthorised Fitting Of Crash Guards On Vehicles (Verdictum)
• Ban on crash guards and bull bars stayed by Delhi HC, no challan till April 18 (LatestLY)
• Regional Transport Officer v. K. Jayachandra, Supreme Court, 9 January 2019 (Indian Kanoon)
• Chandigarh traffic police challan 300 cars over bull bars (Chandigarh Metro)