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View Poll Results: Would you like your car to have ABS and Airbags
Want ABS 146 78.07%
Want Airbags 105 56.15%
They dont help, not required 2 1.07%
Cost too much, otherwise I like to have them fitted 41 21.93%
Not sure 3 1.60%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 187. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 9th December 2010, 09:51   #226
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Re: Would you like to have ABS and Airbags

Overall the highways have improved.
And cars have become more and more powerful.
Average speeds overall have increased from 10 years ago.
Hence my submission is that Airbags and ABS are an absolute must.

I havent driven on an internal highway in Kerala recently but I ve driven recently to Coimbatore and out onto the Palakkad road.

I definitely think that to drive peacefully and safely on our Indian roads we MUST use our seat belts, and MUST have ABS and Airbags.


Quote:
Originally Posted by sureshkishore View Post
Have you visited Kerala in the near future. From BAD it has gone to worse.
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Old 9th December 2010, 10:42   #227
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Re: Would you like to have ABS and Airbags

My say is ABS is a must! especially in a country like India, where -
1) cattle/dogs etc stray freely on highways (even at times, on Pune Mumbai expressway).
2) Pedestrians with no sense of road crossing.
3) Lane cutting and swerving along while driving/riding is considered to be heroic

One can just imagine/understand the importance of an efficient braking system.
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Old 9th December 2010, 11:08   #228
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Re: Would you like to have ABS and Airbags

The poll results are shocking

Over 26% feel that ABS and Airbags cost too much and not worth the price. God!
If this is the opinion of TBHPians, just imagine what the normal public will feel.
No wonder the variants with ABS and Airbags don't sell much!
Just goes to show how much importance Indians give to safety features.
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Old 9th December 2010, 11:13   #229
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Re: Would you like to have ABS and Airbags

Quote:
Originally Posted by adimicra View Post
The poll results are shocking

Over 26% feel that ABS and Airbags cost too much and not worth the price. God!
If this is the opinion of TBHPians, just imagine what the normal public will feel.
No wonder the variants with ABS and Airbags don't sell much!
Just goes to show how much importance Indians give to safety features.

What is shocking in this? There are people out there who just cannot afford more than a basic car. That is the idea of budgeting. Safety features, no matter however much we want to think otherwise, are indeed a luxury as long as there is a price tag associated with it.

You are inadvertantly assuming that all the members have that extra cash to shell out, and that is a very wrong thing to assume.
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Old 9th December 2010, 11:23   #230
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Re: Would you like to have ABS and Airbags

Quote:
Originally Posted by anilisanil View Post
What is shocking in this? There are people out there who just cannot afford more than a basic car. That is the idea of budgeting. Safety features, no matter however much we want to think otherwise, are indeed a luxury as long as there is a price tag associated with it.

You are inadvertantly assuming that all the members have that extra cash to shell out, and that is a very wrong thing to assume.
Dude, someone has cash to spend 5-6L on a car and he/she doesn't have 50-60 grands extra for safety features! You want me to believe that. That happens only because people don't give enough importance to safety features.

The results are shocking to me, may not be the same to you!
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Old 9th December 2010, 11:23   #231
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Re: Would you like to have ABS and Airbags

Quote:
Originally Posted by adimicra View Post
The poll results are shocking

Over 26% feel that ABS and Airbags cost too much and not worth the price. God!
If this is the opinion of TBHPians, just imagine what the normal public will feel.
No wonder the variants with ABS and Airbags don't sell much!
Just goes to show how much importance Indians give to safety features.
The poll was conducted in 2007 when Air bags and ABS was indeed a luxury which only few could afford who were opting for top end variant of a model.

If the poll were to be conducted now, I think that option would not have been there at all. Most of the cars launched post 2007 had either ABS or Air bags in most of the variants.
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Old 9th December 2010, 11:28   #232
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Re: Would you like to have ABS and Airbags

Quote:
Originally Posted by ghodlur View Post
The poll was conducted in 2007 when Air bags and ABS was indeed a luxury which only few could afford who were opting for top end variant of a model.

If the poll were to be conducted now, I think that option would not have been there at all. Most of the cars launched post 2007 had either ABS or Air bags in most of the variants.
Thanks for the information. I was not aware of that.
The poll results might be different now.

But, if the results are the same, I would indeed be shocked.
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Old 9th December 2010, 11:33   #233
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Re: Would you like to have ABS and Airbags

Quote:
Originally Posted by adimicra View Post
Dude, someone has cash to spend 5-6L on a car and he/she doesn't have 50-60 grands extra for safety features! You want me to believe that. That happens only because people don't give enough importance to safety features.

The results are shocking to me, may not be the same to you!
They are not shocking to me may be because I respect others' financial status among many other things and do not tend to think that since I did it, everyone else must be doing it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ghodlur View Post
The poll was conducted in 2007 when Air bags and ABS was indeed a luxury which only few could afford who were opting for top end variant of a model.

If the poll were to be conducted now, I think that option would not have been there at all. Most of the cars launched post 2007 had either ABS or Air bags in most of the variants.
Ghodlur, it is still the same thing. ABS and Airbags are available not as a standard but as a top end or a trim below that. I am waiting for the days where all the variants have these safety features.
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Old 9th December 2010, 11:34   #234
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Re: Would you like to have ABS and Airbags

I have a fleet of oil tankers and all our tankers are equipped with ABS. Its a norm with HPCL.
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Old 9th December 2010, 11:42   #235
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Re: Would you like to have ABS and Airbags

Quote:
Originally Posted by anilisanil View Post
Ghodlur, it is still the same thing. ABS and Airbags are available not as a standard but as a top end or a trim below that. I am waiting for the days where all the variants have these safety features.
It is very rare these days for a prospective car buyer (esp who is a member of Team BHP atleast) to opt for a base variant of any model. Atleast I have not come across any one from "I booked a car" Thread who has done so. Most of the buyers do these days opt for variants which have atleast ABS as a std feature if not the airbags. Atleast BHPian would be aware of the safety requirements.

So if the poll were to be conducted now, I am sure most of them responding would either be having ABS or Air bags or both but very few who would not be having either one of them.
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Old 9th December 2010, 11:57   #236
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:) Re: Would you like to have ABS and Airbags

Quote:
Originally Posted by ghodlur View Post

So if the poll were to be conducted now, I am sure most of them responding would either be having ABS or Air bags or both but very few who would not be having either one of them.
Completely agree!! I am not against ABS or Airbags per se; but if someone says they cannot afford it, may be they cannot- is my point.

Very much true that most of the "I booked my car" posts are not the base variants
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Old 9th December 2010, 12:48   #237
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Re: :) Re: Would you like to have ABS and Airbags

if you see the general sales trends, people normally go for the middle variants which costs 50-60K more than the base variants and have cosmetic features like power windows/audio system/remote lock etc.
My point is - if people can spend extra money for these features, then they can definitely spend extra money on safety features.
Also, if the budget is limited, you can always opt for a car from a segment lower or little cheaper with all the safety features now that almost all the B segment cars have those.

The fact is - people do not have safety as their top most requirement. This is not a hypothesis but a fact. I really don't care if anyone accepts it or not.

Budget is always a constraint. Otherwise,we would have everybody buying a Merc or Bimmer.
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Old 9th December 2010, 13:25   #238
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Re: :) Re: Would you like to have ABS and Airbags

Quote:
Originally Posted by adimicra View Post
The fact is - people do not have safety as their top most requirement. This is not a hypothesis but a fact. I really don't care if anyone accepts it or not.
Budget is always a constraint.
Not always. What safety priority can a buyer have when he has a budget for Alto K10 lets say VXi top end variant which does not have either ABS or Air bags.

Now if he was to increase his budget so that he can fit in a car which has atleast ABS as the bare min safety feature then further down the line he has grapple with the car loan EMI, increasing fuel prices, maintenance costs etc thereby forcing the poor chap to rethink safety priorities. He might as well live with the fact that there are hundreds of other fellow people who dont have the safety priorities.

Thats where the govt should in fact force the car manufacturers to provide the bare minumum safety features in their car variants starting from the base models. Otherwise people are bound to assume that Clear lens headlamps is a great safety feature provided in the base models and live with it.
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Old 9th December 2010, 13:26   #239
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Re: Would you like to have ABS and Airbags

There are people who genuinely believe that they are good drivers and can manage without them. They feel it is a waste of money. I know many persons who can afford it, but won't go for them. Safety is not yet priority number one for the average Indian.

They will rather prefer to buy an LCD TV , with the money they save.

Murthy
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Old 9th December 2010, 13:51   #240
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Re: Would you like to have ABS and Airbags

Maybe some of them are "upgrading" from taking their entire family on a bike. How much safer must a car feel to those people?

I'm sure that we all feel safe in our cars: that steel box is a comforting thing. We need to really consider that it is not as safe as we think. Checking out the accidents thread helps me to remember.
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