[pshyamsundar]

I would not buy a car which does not have both.

[liberal]

Just saw on star news. Airbag saves MohammadAzharuddin. His CRV collided with ST bus. Other occupants including kids escaped with minor injuries.

Another in a long line of saved by the airbag stories.

[jazzy_2cool]

I booked the 1.6 LT with Option Bag, ONLY because it has ABS & Airbags.
Even though the FE is less as compared to 1.4 & it stretches my budget by a few thousands... I wanted these security features.
No ones the Future. Its better to be prepared than be sorry. Who knows that on some fateful day, these features will save my life !

[powertrain]

Hi all,
Yesterday,myself & one of my friend, who wanted a diesel hachback, went to check out the Swift VDI & Micra Dci. He wanted a car with ABS + AIRBAGS combo. Here's the delimma- the swift is avaliable with ABS option but no AIRBAGS & Micra has AIRBAGS, but no ABS even as an option.
Which got me thinking - why have the manufacturers opted for 1 safety feature, and left the other. What's the logic, if any?????

ABS - Will prevent the accident from happening.

AIRBAGS - Will save you during an accident.

So BHPans, if we had the option of only choosing 1 option, what would it be ABS or AIRBAGS ????
Also would somebody mind explaning me the logic behind this phenomenon ??

[COUNSEL]

First option is both ABS and Airbags.

Last option is at least ABS as we brake more frequently so ABS helps in preventing accidents.

[prithvi_seln]

Originally Posted by powertrain

Hi all,
Yesterday,myself & one of my friend, who wanted a diesel hachback, went to check out the Swift VDI & Micra Dci. He wanted a car with ABS + AIRBAGS combo. Here's the delimma- the swift is avaliable with ABS option but no AIRBAGS & Micra has AIRBAGS, but no ABS even as an option.
Which got me thinking - why have the manufacturers opted for 1 safety feature, and left the other. What's the logic, if any?????

ABS - Will prevent the accident from happening.

AIRBAGS - Will save you during an accident.

So BHPans, if we had the option of only choosing 1 option, what would it be ABS or AIRBAGS ????
Also would somebody mind explaning me the logic behind this phenomenon ??

I seriously dont know what kind of options these OEM's are giving these days ....

At any point of time ABS is the best rather than going in for a airbag only car

[Jyodi Backster]

If you can afford, then both,
otherwise ABS + EBD is 'used' more frequently in day-to-day driving.
EBD in particular improves the braking considerably.

[Chopper]

I would go for ABS in this case. I think seat belt + ABS will work better than seat belt + Airbag combination.

[anonymous]

Ideally I would look for both but as seconday choice, atleast ABS is what I look for, mainly because of the following reasons.
Its the most effective while you are cruising on high speed
Airbags are only affective when person is wearing seat belt or else they are of no use. I may be wrong here but this is what I have read somewhere in this forum itself

[sajo]

Definitely both. However, given a choice, I would go for the Airbags.

Reason : I can probably calibrate my braking based upon the capabilities of my car.


PS : Powertrain , your friend should go for the Figo TDCi Titanium.

[arvind71181]

I would go with airbags as I feel that if its a life threatening situation, air bags/ seat belts combination gives you a higher chance to survive. Not that ABS doesn't but again its my opinion

As already said though, dont know why the manufacturers give one of the two, and dont include the other even as an option

Edit: and yes, the Figo does come equipped with both at a very good price point

[aargee]

Nice topic; here's what I think...
Given anyday, the modern technology on safety are preferred. Generally more the number, lesser the human damage. However on such questions I would prefer an Airbag. Reason?

1. ABS actually prevents the vehicle from skidding during a hard braking; this means, the vehicle does not tilt. However on the same lines, the car's braking distance also increases. Which means, a car equipped with ABS stops farther than a car not equipped with ABS.

2. Let me decide I drive safe with utmost careful; now we all know there're more than exceeding number of morons on road only to keep increase everyday. So no matter however safe I drive, someone knocks me down. So I only need protection on such occassion.

3. Put it this way that I keep driving to my limits & even if I did a mistake, an airbag will not put my life to risk. This means, whether I knock against a truck that doesn't have its tail lights or hazardous lights turned ON in night or some moronic heavy vehicle knocks my car, no matter how much I prevent, unless the air bags deploy on time, my life is still at risk isn't it?

Considering all the above 3 points, I feel ABS is more of preventive, while 2 & 3 are safe guarding our life during the incident.

Can someone correct me if my perception is not right?

[ghodlur]

This is like asking whether you want ears or eyes. Of course both are needed.

It depends upon the manufacturer to provide either one fo them or both in a model until and unless the Govt makes it compulsory for both the safety features to be provided as default. Till then it will be upto the whims of the manufacturer.

Ford Figo for one has both Air bags and ABS int he top end variant. You can try for that.

[MX6]

Yes. I tend to agree with Aargee on that point.

I'm not the only driver on road. I'd rather have Airbags which saves life upon impact than ABS.

For all you know, you are driving at 35 kph on an undivided 2 lane highway and a drunk trucker swerves and runs all over you

My vote for Airbags.

[rajtheindian]

Originally Posted by aargee

1. ABS actually prevents the vehicle from skidding during a hard braking; this means, the vehicle does not tilt. However on the same lines, the car's braking distance also increases. Which means, a car equipped with ABS stops farther than a car not equipped with ABS.


Can someone correct me if my perception is not right?

ABS wont increase the stopping distance, in fact it reduce the distance as with ABS you can break harder with out the fear of skidding or wheel locking.

ABS is an active safety equipment, where as Airbags as secondary safety equipment used along with Seat belts. One prevents accidents by avoiding the wheals locking where as the second protects you from a head on collision ( as most of the Indian hatch backs offers only driver and passenger Airbags except i20)

In my opinion you need both if you want a safer car. Ford Figo/Indica Vista offers both ABS and Airbags on top variants and falls in the same price bracket.