Why do Indian car manufacturers skimp on airbags?

[phamilyman]

I was just browsing the Chevrolet site from the SRV thread (http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ming-soon.html (SRV Diesel is coming soon)) and then i came upon this:


DRIVER AIRBAG for TWO THOUSAND?!

For something as cheap as that - why do our mfrs not give us the option across all models or heck, as a safety feature by default? I hope some court makes it mandatory like crash tests and seat belts.

Today, in cars, only top end model comes with airbags, else, middle models just have bells/whistles like body colored bumpers, power windows, tacho etc, which are all good, but nothing as important as airbags! Swift VDI has no options for an airbag! Is someone listening?

[lamborghini]

phamilyman - I think there was a mistake on the Chevy website.
The Airbags definitely cost more than rs2000.

[bottle]

yup my friend took a logan td and the top end model has airbags and he was happy , but nearly had a stroke when he heard the replacement costed 35k

[PatienceWins]

There is no way you can get airbags for 2K. Must be polythene bags..

[Ram]

The airbag in the steering wheel, the passenger-side one on the dash, and the side-curtain airbags are all fired by explosive squibs (like Deepawali firecrackers) which are ignited by electronics. Substantial R&D expenditure on engineering and testing go into designing the airbag system. Its design must be tweaked, tuned and tested for each car model.
Money goes into:
1. the car-model-specific 3D safety geometry
2. its embedded computing control system

Then, costs definitely depend on manufacturer perception of the brand.
An airbag system on a Bentley would cost different from that on a Logan.
Airbags cost about Rs. 20,000+taxes and levies per vehicle.
The purchase price for the manufacturer is typically under Rs. 4,000.

[lurker]

Airbags cost around Rs.50,000 each. But with dollar declining can't say latest prices are. Airbags have to be imported.

[dadu]

This is not the official site, its some carscomplete.com, so probably a mistake in the pricing.

ABS/Airbags costs and since its not a regulation here its given as an option.

[nitrous]

For replacing airbags, U need to replace the dash board and the steering wheel.

[Thad E Ginathom]

But back to the question...

And the answer is: because Indian customers don't care about safety and won't pay for it.

Why would someone who doesn't even use the supplied seat belts care about airbags?

In some cases, it may be a blessing in disguise. That child sitting on its mother's lap in the front seat would probably be decapitated if the air bag was activated.

[eflanker]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

But back to the question...

And the answer is: because Indian customers don't care about safety and won't pay for it.

Why would someone who doesn't even use the supplied seat belts care about airbags?

In some cases, it may be a blessing in disguise. That child sitting on its mother's lap in the front seat would probably be decapitated if the air bag was activated.

Exactly, how come some are people coming out of nowhere demanding air-bags? None of you demaded airbags 10 years ago. Everyone was happy showing off there M-800

Economy has grown (circulation of money, in other words) but road conditions still remain the same.

Secondly, Indians dont have habbit of wearing seat belt anyway, so air bag is not going to help!

All I am going to see is, a new thread by someone complaining how someone had an accident and the airbags didnt deploy on time etc, and how he forgot to wear seat belt and blame everything on the Manufacturer.

[ashutoshb]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

And the answer is: because Indian customers don't care about safety and won't pay for it.

Why would someone who doesn't even use the supplied seat belts care about airbags?

Well said my friend! It should be the Government which should make the airbags mandatory across all variants in all cars. So that a buyer, even if he is not willing, has to buy one.

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

In some cases, it may be a blessing in disguise. That child sitting on its mother's lap in the front seat would probably be decapitated if the air bag was activated.

My brother in Canada tells me that children there are not allowed to sit in the front. Smaller kids have to be tied to a child seat. But it will take years for our authorities to figure this out!

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by ashutoshb

Well said my friend! It should be the Government which should make the airbags mandatory across all variants in all cars. So that a buyer, even if he is not willing, has to buy one.

And, complain that airbags caused minor burns on deployment, and are as expensive to replace.

Wearing seat-belt was made compulsory, here in kerala. A month after the rule, less than 10% of the people wear it. The reason given by many are that 'its uncomfortable'.

[Thad E Ginathom]

It is true about the decapitation, by the way.

It took time to find out that a certain combination of child car seat and air bag could be lethally dangerous.

Haven't I already seen a thread here where someone complained that their airbags didn't deploy during his accident?

Anyway, if the demand is there now, the manufacturers will respond. But, along the way, there's going to be a lot of conversations that go like this...

"There's no air bags. I want a car with airbags."

"Easily available, sir, but it adds Rs.nn,000 to the price."

"OK... forget the airbags".

"Yes, Sir, that is what most of our customers say, and why they are not fitted as standard".

How about auto-tensioning seatbelts? Fitted to any Indian car? Do you get them even on imports? Would, say, a Honda Accord have them? Civic? Ford? They would in UK, I'm pretty sure.

Total waste of money, though --- when nobody wears the belt anyway!

[dadu]

Not to mention that in the west and europe the government regulations on road and car safety coupled with "class action lawsuits" by individuals and a strong and faster legal system keeps the car manufacturers on their toes.

India has lots of good laws only if they could enforce them

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

It is true about the decapitation, by the way.

It took time to find out that a certain combination of child car seat and air bag could be lethally dangerous.

Haven't I already seen a thread here where someone complained that their airbags didn't deploy during his accident?

Anyway, if the demand is there now, the manufacturers will respond. But, along the way, there's going to be a lot of conversations that go like this...

"There's no air bags. I want a car with airbags."

"Easily available, sir, but it adds Rs.nn,000 to the price."

"OK... forget the airbags".

"Yes, Sir, that is what most of our customers say, and why they are not fitted as standard".

How about auto-tensioning seatbelts? Fitted to any Indian car? Do you get them even on imports? Would, say, a Honda Accord have them? Civic? Ford? They would in UK, I'm pretty sure.

Total waste of money, though --- when nobody wears the belt anyway!

[ac 427]

becase they car manufacturers want to make MORE & MORE MONEY. SImple.