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View Poll Results: Whats your pick? | |||
European Cars | ![]() ![]() ![]() | 211 | 43.78% |
Japanese Cars | ![]() ![]() ![]() | 219 | 45.44% |
Others (Indian, Korean, American etc.) | ![]() ![]() ![]() | 22 | 4.56% |
Prefer both equally | ![]() ![]() ![]() | 30 | 6.22% |
Voters: 482. You may not vote on this poll |
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![]() | #286 |
Distinguished - BHPian ![]() ![]() | ![]() Rather than choose between either Asian or European/American cars for better safety standards, it's more to do with driving skills of the brain behind the steering wheel, and the situation around him on the roads. A good, safe and reliable driver has the best chance of being safe, even when inside a tin box, while a careless driver will always crash, even if he's driving a cast-iron vault. I can quote numerous instances of people driving an ABS-less, Airbag-less thin sheet of metal all their lives and retiring happily into old age, while newbie drivers crash heavily built SUVs with full safety features. In case people forget, 90% of road accidents occur due to human error. In our country, given the state of roads and traffic conditions, I dare say the percentage rises to 95%. (SOURCE) So, rather than blaming the country of origin for the safety standards (or lack of) for a particular car, the wider picture needs to be taken into account. Disclaimer: I am not a brilliant driver, nor claim to be 100% alert on the roads, neither do I favor any particular country's cars. In the end, all cars, regardless of being European/Japanese/American/Korean/African, when launched in India, are "Made In India, for India". That's the final fact. Last edited by RavenAvi : 15th May 2014 at 11:52. |
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![]() | #287 | ||
Senior - BHPian ![]() Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Hyderabad
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Wish we get NCAP results every 1 year so that it will help buyers in choosing the right car that has everything in it. | ||
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![]() | #288 | |
BHPian ![]() Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: bangalore
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![]() | #289 | ||
Senior - BHPian ![]() | ![]() Quote:
![]() Watch the video again though: it says clearly that the variant without Honda's acronym for esp which is Vehicle Stability Control, scored 4 stars. I do concede it did slightly better than the Vento in adult occupant protection. I am just pointing you to the exacts out there that's all. You don't want some fanboy catching the error and pointing it out now do you ![]() Also while these cars, especially the City without ESP and Vento with dual airbags are relevant to India, does that mean they are the same exact car? Considering the City and Vento are locally manufactured here in India, couldn't they be different on some scale? All I'm wondering is, is there any proof we can source that the Honda City with dual airbags, abs, ebd and no vsc, manufactured in India, is the same as the Honda City with dual airbags, abs, ebd and no vsc manufactured in Malaysia and used for the test? Thanks Quote:
![]() The SX4 as I mentioned in my post above, is a Suzuki product http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ml#post3434218 Fiat was only responsible for co-styling the exterior and providing diesel engines. Nothing else. ![]() You can go ahead and conduct your tests on the 2006 Swift, Baleno, Sienna/Petra, Uno. However, know that they will be completely irrelevant as those products are not manufactured and sold anymore. Last edited by Vid6639 : 15th May 2014 at 12:34. Reason: merging posts. Please use edit option within 30mins. | ||
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![]() | #290 | ||
BHPian ![]() Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: BLR/PTA
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And sorry for being sarcastic, but I seriously think that India does not need any crash testing. We have enough people who can just look at the car and decide how safe they are. For me, a car is safe if 1) The crumple zones do their job and absorb the impact energy by self destruction and 2) the passenger cabin remains intact, with minimal intrusions and least impact energy transferred to the occupants' body (survivability). Body damage does not bother me in an accident. If I press the hood and the metal bends, even then I'm not worried, because if the above criteria are met, I don't care. Quote:
Build Quality - How do you define it? How do you measure it? Do you have a scale or measurement criteria? Crash Evidences - Do you have a statistical analysis report? I mean, proof that in the event of a similar crash, a Honda City is less safer to the passengers than say a VW Vento? Track record of Indo-Japanese manufacturers in dishing out under-engineered cars - Again, do you have compiled information/evidence suggesting that only Japanese/Korean manufacturers are skimping on safety of cars and Europeans and American ones not? For example, Ford admitted that they are making stronger Ecosports to be sold in EU than the Indian ones. Others also might be doing that, I don't deny. But can you point me to news articles etc? Actually, I'm glad to be proven wrong because I also have the same suspicion. Only thing different is that I believe all manufacturers does it, irrespective of their nationality. | ||
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![]() | #291 |
Senior - BHPian ![]() Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: P00NA
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| ![]() Can anyone on this thread elucidate how much sheet metal thickness is "good enough" for the vehicles that we are talking? And how does one determine such thickness? |
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![]() | #292 |
Team-BHP Support ![]() ![]() | ![]() Another example to allay this japanese vs European cars is the Suzuki Swift and the Renault Duster. At the recent Auto Expo Maruti showcased the Euro spec Suzuki Swift Sport. This was an imported car. I had a chance to closely check out the car inside out. After that I was disappointed with Maruti. The sheet metal thickness, weight of boot and the way the doors shut would put even VW/Fiat to shame. A tap on the door/fenders resulted in a solid thunk rather than a ting. It did no feel like any Maruti and was on par with the best euros. Then you have the Renault Duster. Call it Euro or Romanian but it's still Euro car. The sheet metal is probably on par with Maruti. Doors feel hollow. Super easy to dent the fenders with a slight tap. |
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![]() | #293 | |
Senior - BHPian ![]() | ![]() While I agree with you on the bolded part in your statement, its unfortunate that its not just the sensible driver that is on the road and there are careless drivers, reckless drivers, cows, dogs, trees and more than what one can imagine and cause a situation that is totally unpredictable. While there is such a situation that is out of the reliable driver's control, the european cars simply listen and react better to the driver inputs than the asian/japanese cars because of the stronger handling dynamics. Be it a tin-box or cast-iron vault matters only if things go out of hand. But to avoid such a situation, my vote is always for the europeans. Quote:
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![]() | #294 |
BHPian Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: gurgaon
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| ![]() A fact, since our discussion has become claim against counter-claim: A 2014 Linea t-jet with all-four disc brakes on all variants, and 205mm wide, 16 inch tyres (emotion), stops from 80 to 0, according to Autocar/Whatcar? as much as 2.7m before a topend 2014 new Honda City, which has 15 inch, 165mm tyres. The City also has extremely thin sheetmetal. I hasten to point out that the Honda is a superstar in the marketplace, and the Linea an also-ran. Now, either Fiat India is stupid, wasting resources on useless heavy guage sheetmetal, and great brakes+tyres that have little to do with safety, or Honda is deliberately skimping on the Indian City since its percieved brand values here do not require it to maintain decent standards of braking+tyres. Last edited by desdemona : 15th May 2014 at 14:37. Reason: error |
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![]() | #295 | ||||||
BHPian ![]() Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: bangalore
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![]() | #296 |
Team-BHP Support ![]() ![]() Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: S'pore/Thrissur
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| ![]() In my opinion, a blanket statement that the European cars are better than Japanese/Korean brands (for safety) does not hold much value in the current scenario. For example, the recently launched Hyundai Santa FE was voted as the best-in-class Large SUV by Euro-NCAP (2012 rating). Safety concerns should be more on those made for India (or developing markets) models, which are tailor-made to exploit the lack of regulations in our country. Japanese cars are deemed unsafe because most of these market-specific compromises are coming from them. And unfortunately the portfolio of international models from the Japanese brigade (in India) is getting thinner and thinner. For example, a manufacturer like Honda now has just one global model (CR-V) in their India line-up. |
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![]() | #297 | |
Distinguished - BHPian ![]() ![]() | ![]() Quote:
What is the benchmark stopping distance? | |
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![]() | #298 | |||
BHPian ![]() Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Pune
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The moment you add two airbags to the Polo it goes from a rating of 0 to 5 in the Indian model. Can you say the same about the Alto? Quote:
But the moment it comes to a Japanese bike locally manufactured in India, the quality is not essentially the same. (e.g. is a Honda cbr 250r). The Japanese customization of cars for India is not directed on safety but more on cost and reliability. This means that the cars are different from the same models they export to Europe. This also means that you cant just take a EURO NCAP and plonk it on the same model sold in India. Quote:
Ever till we have an Indian NCAP or crash test all we can do is see the pictures of accidents and be a keyboard warrior (as some call it) and decide on which car is safe. The pics of the accidents suggest only one thing for sure. If you are involved in a serious accident and would like to come out of it alive, be seat belted in a European one with airbags. Last edited by JayKis : 15th May 2014 at 14:48. | |||
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![]() | #299 | |
Distinguished - BHPian ![]() ![]() Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Ranchi
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And about the miser comment: Technology has advanced much in the last decades and words like thick=strong=heavy do not exist anymore. Don't judge books by their covers. Thanks. Last edited by saket77 : 15th May 2014 at 14:54. | |
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![]() | #300 | |
Team-BHP Support ![]() ![]() | ![]() Quote:
More than sheet metal I would opt for the safety features. Usually the european car is more expensive than the Jap counterpart. In the budget you can either get top spec Japanese with ABS/airbags or mid variant Euro with only ABS. In which case I would go for the top spec Japanese. I bought a Figo Titanium for a little more over the Swift ZDi only for the ABS/airbags. I did not worry about Euro/Japanese. Last edited by Vid6639 : 15th May 2014 at 14:56. | |
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