ABS Made Compulsory For All Two-Wheelers - What Will Be Its Impact?

Big news coming in from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways as it was announced that ABS (anti-lock braking system) will be mandatory across all two-wheelers, irrespective of the displacement or category from January 1, 2026. This means all scooters, motorcycles and mopeds come under this new ruling. This isn’t the first initiative of the Transport Ministry to improve safety on two-wheelers as back in 2019, it had made ABS mandatory on all two-wheelers above 125 cc displacement. But this time around it’s across all categories. 

Why Is This Done?

The goal is simple: to improve riders' safety. An anti-lock Braking System, as the name suggests, stops the wheels from locking up under hard and sudden braking, thereby decreasing the possibility of a crash by 35-45%. ABS is more beneficial on wet roads or loose gravel. Basically, when the surface grip is low, ABS intervention helps reduce the possibility of a fall. 

Of the total road fatalities in FY25, two-wheeler riders accounted for 44% of the deaths, which is a huge number. The government has been trying to improve rider safety by better adoption of helmets, but then again the decision of wearing one rests with the rider. By making ABS mandatory for commuters (under 125 cc), rider safety will improve for sure, especially since this category constitutes for over 60 % of overall sales in India. 

Will Commuters Become More Expensive? 

Almost all commuter bikes and scooters come with drum brakes on their base variant. 

These will need to be replaced with a disc brake unit at the front and the ABS module will need to be incorporated. The above means, most commuter two-wheelers will lose out on their base variants. 

We expect costs of two-wheelers to go up by ₹2,000-3,000 for vehicles with an existing disc brake and around ₹5,000-7,000 for vehicles which currently run with a front drum brake. A price hike of ₹3,000-7,000 is a lot of money for commuter buyers and the price hike could have a significant impact on sales in 2026. 

While this new announcement is a positive move, manufacturers found a loophole in the 2019 ABS ruling and many 125 cc + bikes still only get single-channel ABS and not dual-channel ABS. We expect the same to continue with commuter offering as well. Also, many commuter riders will need to adapt their riding style as most riders use the rear brakes, which isn’t the correct way of braking and focus more on the front brake now. 

So yes, while this new ABS rule will make commuters expensive, and it comes at the cost of safety, but when it comes to safety there’s no compromise. The above ABS ruling should make two-wheelers safer and also help in reducing crashes and fatalities.