Under Rule 138(3) of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, passengers in front-facing rear seats must wear seat belts. In a survey in 11 cities by the SaveLIFE Foundation and Nissan, reported in January 2019, only 7 percent of motorists wore rear seat belts regularly. Observers counted 1.8 percent of rear passengers wearing them.
In September 2022 the industrialist Cyrus Mistry died in a car crash. Police said that both people who died had not worn seat belts. The transport minister, Nitin Gadkari, said: “Already, it’s mandatory to wear seatbelt at the rear seat but people are not following it.”