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-   -   Is TATA one lakh car safe? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/29941-tata-one-lakh-car-safe.html)

So most awaited car: TATA 1 lakh car will be coming in 2008 but does that car really worth for a customer???

First i think that TATA 1 lakh car will bring a revolution in auto industry...it will force other maufacturers to build a vehicle as cheap as possible

But now some points has come up which force me to say TATA is playing with their customers life....

First my question is How many of you think Maruti Omni is a safe car??? ( i don't think 5% of people can say Maruti Omni is a safe car)...i don't know why a company like Maruti making such a car

So whats the relevance of Maruti Omni with TATA 1 lakh car... so here is the summary of what i have concluded :

As we all know TATA 1 lakh car is having rear mounted engine....so why TATA came up with this idea??? this thing push me to go in deep and finally i got the answer

In india we have crash standards , few days back there was a discussion in forums that in India we must have crash regulation mandatory. We all know TATA is having such facility for past 10 years and till dat no other manufacturer or our Testing agency have such a facility.

But there is clause in crash standard that all forward control vehicles are exempted from crash standard (same as Maruti Omni is exempted which is a highly unsafe car on road) means they don't have to go for carsh testing and nobody can ever decide whether that car is safe for passenger or not.

TATA motors exploited this clause and decided to go for a car (1 lakh car) which is forward control (having engine rear mounted) and easily get crash standard exempted and use low quality material for their car as now i doesn't need strength

For a car which is coming up in 2008 must be technologically advanced but here TATA motors have taken 1 step forward and 2 steps backward... they have made their vehicle using low qualoty material so that cost is as low as possible but on the other hand they have played with the life of people

So guys tell me what your opinion is: TATA motors which is having crash test facilities for more than a decade and still going for a car which is exempted from crash test is company doing justice to the customer??

Isn't this moves encourages other auto manufcaturers to go for vehicles which can be exempted from crash test so they can also make cheap cars and play with the life of cutomers buying these cars???


P.S: My english is very poor so sorry for that

Somebody on this forum posted few days back that, Govt is considering crash tests compulsory for all auto manufacturers.. If it happens, TATA is in big trouble... Either the car wont qualify, or will be qualifies with least rating (Only if it is bad quality car or unless TATA manipulates the Govt.l). Lets keep fingures crossed that Govt makes it compulsory so all cars that are compromised on safety will have n early death..

We cannot decide already if the car would be built from low quality material, since the launch is still 1 year away.

Except for a very select few on this forum , I believe no other public has actually seen this car in flesh

There was a report some weeks ago that crash test norms would be introduced in India from 2009 (I think), this means that all vehicles do have to pass it before they can be sold.

I am sure Tata would take this into account as well.

Yes, I has posted about the Crash test and in the same topic I raised the issue about Tata's 1 Lakh car. Sure it is in for a big trouble if the crash test norms are passed. But I think Tatas's 1 Lakh car was even otherwise considered only safer than a motorcycle with 3 people on it.

Heresay isnt going to provide any conclusive answers. This question of safety should be asked after the Tata 1 has been launched. As indivic has pointed out above, the Govt's regulation on crash worthiness should have a uniform effect across all segments.

Guys - the car will be safe ( this I can assure ) BUT we should not compare it with bigger cars like Santro, WagonR, Swift etc. These are all 4 lakh cars.

I would assume the car would be at par with the 800 / Alto.

Also this car is being launched keeping in mind only In City driving and also a replacement for motorcyclists / 2 wheeler owners. Now it has to be safer than a bike / scooter.

I would think this car will be launched only in the first quarter of 2008. Not sooner. Diwali is just round the corner !!! Not many days left for such a big / important release.

I just hope that forward control vehicles are not exempted from crash standards.
It should be safer than a motorcycle which is its prime target (but you could buy three or four motorcycles for that price and have a four wheel drive !).
But being a car it should meet the crash requirements for a car and not a motorcycle.

Whats a Forward Control Vehicle ?

I remember, someone from TATA recently said that our 1L car will do crash test well. I do not have link handy.

The first post mentions it. Its a vehicle with no engine in front of the driver I guess. Thats one of the reason TATA made it a rear engine vehicle according to the thread owner.

The main target of the vehicle seems to be people carrying entire family in their scooters, so they do deserve, this four wheeler which is inherently safer than four lives on two wheels. About crash safety, AFAIK, this car is to be built using FRP panels, which are more stronger than steel panels. So it sould be atleast safer than maruti omni. Remember this vehicle is designed to be a city runabout, not a highway cruiser. For city purpose it seems to be okay safe, atleast from the info we have. Now about the rear mount engine, after seeing the ace, looks like 1 Lac baby will be sharing its base platform with the ACE, to keep costs down.

At the end of the day one's safety is in his own hands, there are (no More) people who have died in crashes involving cars synonamous with high safety, and there are people (Alive and kicking) who daily runabout in a small OMNI.

BTW, I am not telling that OMNI, or for that matter ACE, of simillar vehicles, have great safety standards, It is just that we all know about there pathetic crash worthiness, of these vehicles. But there are people who know these, and yet buy these vehicles, since they do have some reasons.

Just my own thoughts.

Forward control vehicle means vehicles having engine behind the front windscreen and whose steering lies in first quarter of the vehicle (length wise)
So by this defination Omni and TATA 1 lakh car is forward control while Versa is not because its steering is not in first quarter of vehicle

Crash standards will be going to come into force after 2014 (source: one of my friend works in ashoka leyland he confirms that) so TATA motors has 6 years to sell his 1 lakh car without any modification

I don't think the ACE's platform will be used; it being a truck the ACE is built in a 'chassis on ladder' fashion. The 'lakh car' should be a monocoque construction to save weight and maximize space, unless I am totally mistaken.

Coming to the issue of safety I believe it will be safe enough to pass the Indian government's safety standards. Remember, making a crumple zone requires a certain section of the car to be weaker!

My information is more or less hearsay or from what I read in the newspapers

Crash tests to become mandatory for all vehicles- Automobiles-Auto-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times

It says in this article

According to an industry source, these safety norms, which may come into effect by 2008-end or early 2009, will see the phasing out of vehicles not meeting them.

Even though some of the articles from the Times group might be ridiculous, I would not think that they are 5 years off the mark.

Considering that your input was from a person from ALL, it could the crash norms for CV manufacturers. Just my opinion

Can you please reproduce the said clause or provide a link thereto?

First of all, being forward control and being rear engined are two entirely different things. Omni is not rear engined, yet it is forward control. Most buses in this country are not rear engined but almost all of them are forward control.

A forward control vehicle is one with a flat front, wherever the engine may be. A normal control vehicle has the engine compartment and bonnet outside of and in front of the passenger compartment. In a semi-forward control vehicle (like Tata 407), part of the engine is outside the passenger compartment and the remaining inside. In 407, the engine can be accessed from the driver cab too.

A normal control and semi-forward control vehicle would always have a nose. However, a vehicle may have a nose and yet not have its engine inside it, like in Versa. A forward control vehicle obviously can't have a nose.

Even though the one lac rupee car is rear engined, it will not be forward control, going by the reports and pictures in existence. And so, the exemption clause that you refer to can't possibly apply to it.

By the way, according to Mr Ratan Tata, the one lac rupee car is designed to meet international crash standards rather than Indian ones, if at all they exist. Check this report:

The Hindu Business Line : Tata's Rs 1-lakh car may come with 600cc petrol engine

I seriously doubt if international crash standards exempt forward control vehicles, even if the proposed Indian ones do.

Even the Tata Ace, a full forward control vehicle is claimed by TM to meet the crash standards.