[Garth]

I voted for Safety. When I bought my first car (Swift), I bought the Vxi with ABS model which was available back in the day in 2006. My acquaintances and relatives tried their level best to dissuade me from spending extra for ABS. Surprisingly the salesman was also insisting not to unnecessarily waste money.

But I stuck to my guns

[krishnakarthik1]

Safety first for me hence bought the Hexa. If I were to choose between a Skoda and a Maruti it will be the Skoda that I will choose.

But give me a 5 star safe Alto and I will choose it over a Merc because that's how comfortable I feel with a Maruti. But till that day i think Toyota Fortuner balances both.

[audioholic]

Well for me safety is important but not at the cost of reliability. It depends on the use case. I would not blindly buy the safest car out there if its going to leave me stranded somewhere and the long term ownership is going to be a pain in the back, and then to sell it is going to be another problem/economic disaster. Also, until the Indian government mandates a standardized crash testing process and ratings which are done during homologation, I personally would keep aside ratings by third party organizations. You can throw brickbats at me for that. Safety for me is also in the form of the equipment on offer(number of airbags, ESP feature pack, other features) as well as how well the car behaves, be it the handling, braking and so on. I do not want to get into a crash as much as possible in the first place, than to think of what happens after that. Of course, its not always in our hands, but over the last few years of working exclusively for automotive safety, I can reaffirm my priorities.

When we got the Innova home, I was completely aware that the car is overpriced, not feature loaded for that price, and what not. But that was the only car which offered me decent safety features as well as a reliable track record. Since I have been outside of India for a good amount of time, my parents use the car and the last thing I would want them to do is to get stuck somewhere remote and/or keep visiting the ASC for niggles. If it was a personal buy, I would have even got the XUV500 since I think it is a competent product at the price it sells for.

Similarly, when I got the Celerio I was completely aware of its build issues, but for my use case, that had to be a compromise. Except for its clutch issue, it reached the 50k mark after withstanding severe abuse from three different drivers, in the worst of traffic conditions and also on the road almost every single day. If Maruti really improves on that aspect of its safety consciousness, then I would vouch for their products again. It is just that in 2009 when we got the SX4, the safety features it offered was on or above par for that segment. But in 2016, the Celerio felt like a compromise and in 2021, two airbags and ABS is not sufficient.

So I would vote for other, since I can never blindly buy a car just because it has the strongest structure or whatever. It can only be one of the factors. And regarding reliability, it depends on use case, I would be ok to do with an unreliable car if I am the sole user. But maybe not if I intend to pass the car to parents, our driver and so on.

[gmhossain]

Originally Posted by gkveda

My friend, your post is in itself a testimony of Maruti's reliability. You say you have driven estillo for 10 years and have taken it to toughest terrains of India. Is this not a solid evidence of Maruti's reliability?

I agree with you. A Maruti car is reliable but only so much that occasionally it can leave us stranded on the road few hundred kms away from home. I am pretty sure occasionally this would be the case with any other modern car, including our new Nexon.

Originally Posted by gkveda

Can these just two minor instances of moisture getting into brakes hose pipe and car not starting due self starter wear and tear be considered to decide whether car is reliable?

Please allow me to disagree here. A moving car with a non-functional brake is not a minor incident, by any yard stick!

BTW, in last 10 years our Estilo had never missed any schedule service. In fact, I got it serviced in the middle of pandemic/lock-down last year (in June 2020) Frankly, I felt sad to let our Estilo go away from home last month.

However, given a choice, personally I would always buy a safer car as most modern cars are reliable up to certain extent with occasional glitches! BTW, Nexon drives, rides bumpy road, way better than any Maruti that I have driven, even if we forget safety aspects.

Cheers,

[Govardhansupra]

Wait guys, reliability here is meant for the reliable working of an engine and drivetrain, but not of the brakes or airbags.
Airbags and brakes work reliably in most cars, nowadays.
Answer with regard to the reliability of the whole car, as in engine, gearbox and other drivetrain parts.
For example, between a Baleno and a Polo, what would you choose?
A Baleno for the reliability, or Polo for the build quality.
Thats what the OP meant, I guess

Originally Posted by Garth

When I bought my first car (Swift), I bought the Vxi with ABS model which was available back in the day in 2006.

Isn't it the ZXi variant that came with ABS and Airbags?

Because, someone I know owns a Swift VXi of the same vintage, but I don't think it has neither ABS nor Airbags.
But, in a used car dealership, I saw a ZXi with ABS, Airbags, and even Automatic Climate Controls.

[GTO]

Would ideally love both, but one has to choose between the two when it comes to some automotive dilemmas. I would go with safety, as long as the reliability is acceptable (but not 100%). Am okay living with a few small niggles if the product is otherwise vastly superior (typical trait of European cars). I have become a full-on Japanese -> European car convert.

I have to admit that Team-BHP & its posts have made me a lot more safety conscious than I was, even 3 years ago. Today, if I'm reviewing an untested / suspect rating / poor NCAP rated car, I don't push the car, especially on my favourite mountain roads or the expressway. I'm like ultra-cautious with these kind of cars. From my garage, the Jeep & Sunny are now strictly prohibited from highway usage.

[Flash777]

Originally Posted by doxinboy

But XTA, the automatic avatar, never came with EPS functionality that was available in manual trims. It was a nerve wracking decision to make. I was almost on the verge of gauging my eyeballs out.

I have driven my Hexa for 65k kilometers. My driving style is pretty quick too. Not once did the vehicle feel out of control due to the lack of ESP.

In fact, Hexa being a Rear Wheel Drive, it is a lot of fun in loose gravel, dirt kind of roads and it always felt in control even when the real wheels stepped out.

ESP is a relatively new age electronic which is nowadays a common feature. But for the most part of 2 decades, our cars were more mechanical without any electronic intervention.

Don't be so caught up with them. Just enjoy your car with the occasional reasonable fun you can have with it.

And a final word on the Safety Vs Niggles.

Niggles are easy to fix by a manufacturer/owner over the course of the Vehicle life cycle.

But neither manufacturer/owner can do sh!t about safety once the first car rolls out of the factory line.

It's a easy choice to make.

[V.Narayan]

Could not resist chiming in with my two paisa worth :-)

This is like asking which leg should you amputate and which leg can you live with.

Both matter up to a point where diminishing returns set in with respect to price & practicality. We would be perfectly safe in a Arjun main battle tank but it is off the charts in both price and practicality. Similarly at a certain price point you can take safety to a theoretical seven star NCAP rating but still not be able to safe yourself from the irresponsible drivers we have on the road in India. Like with all things in life it is a balance.

Where safety goes 75% of safety comes out of the drivers driving style and alertness and skill in handling difficult nick of time situations. That is active safety. The built-in safety features of the car are the passive safety defences that clutch in after you get into a situation of a collision or violent evasion of some sort. And then reliability is a form of safety in it self - the safety of not getting stranded on a lonely road at night or while on an inter city run. This latter is important for some like me given that my wife and I both travel to nearby towns by road for our respective work requirements.

Speaking only for myself based on the brands I've owned - for safety Volvo standards are desirable, Toyota standards are fully acceptable and Maruti Alto standards are not. BMW, Mercedes, Tata, VW, Skoda too would be fully acceptable here. For reliability Toyota/Lexus is desirable and I find Volvo, Honda, Maruti fully acceptable. It is unlikely that I'll go for a Skoda again. Other brands I have not experienced ownership with.

[ron178]

I don't think this is really an either-or situation. There are three factors that seem to increase the cost of a car in a given segment - reliability, safety and overall finesse (perceived quality, equipment, tech etc.). I see manufacturers are willing to provide two of the three for cars around the B and C segments. If I had to skip one, it would probably be the finesse part. It is definitely possible to have reliability and safety at the same time. Just ask pre-Suzuki Toyota, or recently, Honda.

Based on this poll, I would assume the question is - What would I choose if I had to choose between reliability and safety?

I'd pick safety. It's fair to assume that no car today is so unreliable that I'll skip it even if it is extremely safe. Now, even within reliability, it depends on what exactly we're talking about. Minor issues like rattles and failing plastics, I can live with. Gearbox failures are more serious. Issues like repeated brake failures or failure of essential safety systems - that demands serious attention.

Originally Posted by Govardhansupra

Airbags and brakes work reliably in most cars, nowadays.

If recent incidents are anything to go by, this is not necessarily true. The Takata airbag recalls, the Hyundai/Kia brake failures and other incidents have shown that these safety systems may not really be as reliable as one would want them to be.

Another point to note is that I include crash avoidance in safety. Crashworthiness is very important, and many Indian cars seriously lack it. But if you ask me to choose between two equally crashworthy cars, one with tyre-pressure monitoring, ESC, et al but not stellar reliability, and the other with great reliability but sparse crash avoidance technology, I'd pick the former.

Bottom line, if I had to choose between safety and reliability, I'd pick safety as long as the drop in reliability has nothing to do with safety.

[Tucker48]

I voted for other because I want both. As I didn't read the responses concluding that OP doesn't want to give that option, so now I'm editing my post. But still my vote goes to other.
In this scenario, I will choose the vehicle which drives better.
Edited the whole post except for the first sentence.

[NST440]

The point is, looking at the Car manufacturers and cars sold in India, one cannot buy a car solely on these 2 parameters i.e. safety and reliability. There are things associated with an unreliable car which are very consequential and carry enormous weight while a buyer finalises his/her vehicle.

Not only an unreliable car would be well unreliable, it will also command a poor resale value, have high cost of maintenance and step motherly treatment at the service centres . Add to it the doubt of the company fleeing from the Indian car market scene altogether. Also, the customer usually has no option but to get the spares of such unreliable vehicle from authorised dealers only ( if they have one), no OEM stockists outside the agency and that is a synonym for day light robbery.

Now coming to a reliable car, its pros would usually be inverse of what I have mentioned above, a car that you can count upon and not think twice before going out with your loved ones, service centres everywhere, spares in stock, super resale value coupled with longevity of the car being relevant in the market.

Today, social media and some wannabes who probably do not even own a car have made reliable cars look super unsafe and safer cars look super unreliable. The situation is creating a divide whereas the scenario is improving and would further improve I believe.

I really wish the gap lessens and safety meets reliability. As of now, I would never put my money on a TATA or a Mahindra, not because they are unreliable, but the entire experience , right from window shopping phase, to taking delivery, the drive and feel , the working of parts the way they should at the first place and servicing of these cars is leaps behind the experience of a Maruti, Toyota or a Kia/ Hyundai.

[sunnysideup_]

Why do reliability and safety have to be exclusive from each other? Isn't reliability in itself a major contributor to the safety of a car? A random breakdown in the middle of a highway will severely compromise on the car's safety, or so I assume.

Like plenty of BHPians before me have stated, I too would love a car that is both safe and reliable, and I can safely say I own one that is (Innova Crysta). However, I had the privilege of choosing a vehicle that offered me both, and it was hard to shoot it down. In the sub 10 lakh segment, the illusion of choice is, well, an illusion. There are compromises one has to make, and either reliability or safety has to go for a toss, there are no two ways about it.

The peace of mind of knowing that my car is reliable is in itself something that beefs up the safety quotient. Plus, the safety features need to reliably work no?

[McLaren_P1]

Is this truly a binary choice?

An unreliable car can end up creating safety risks (for e.g., say engine failure at 100kmph). So one can argue that a minimum reliability is essential for safety.

I think of it more as reliability is the minimum requirement and one’s safety feature / rating requirement should be on top (and subject to budget).

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

...I must confess I rarely bother much with either.

My classic cars, though very reliable (touch wood) don’t have any modern safety features. No airbags, no ABS, no collapsible steering column, etc etc. I am still happy to take them touring all over Europe. Its just a choice.

This sort of stuff needs to be brought back to the essentials; We don’t need a safety rating system with 5 levels. There should be only 2. Unsafe or safe. Then you make your choice and live with (potential) consequences.

To summarize your post, the biggest safety device in any car is the nut behind the wheel. As long as that nut is reliable, it is safe to ride any car!

[charanreddy]

I don’t think it’s fair to group cars under these 2 buckets.

My Nexon is safe as well as has been OK to live with (touch wood). However the perception is that the Nexon is not as reliable. It may not be Maruti reliable, or niggle free on engine / gearbox but then each car has its share of problems.

On the other hand I see reports of Kia seltos , which is supposed to have higher reliability suffer from critical brake related issues and to top it, a mediocre safety rating.

If I had the Moolah, I would have gone for the Toyota models. They seem to offer a mix of safety, reliability and desirability (esp. the T Forts).