[kadanaJ]

Originally Posted by karmania

Agree with @aagoswami... there should be an option atleast for the consumers who would like to pay for the air bags, but may not really want to avail all the luxury high end features like alloy wheels, in car entertainment system, high end speakers, etc...

But bottom line is that there should be a government regulation to make passenger safety mandatory for all vehicles driven in India... this will ensure that the manufacturers try to reduce the cost of including air bags in their respective models for all variants... A lot of people make a quick judgment about saving money and being confident that they will drive save to avoid accidents... they don't realize that the only reason why they are called accidents is that they don't have any control over all the things that happen around them on the road.

Why just as on option. A lot of people wont buy them as they will want to save money and feel that airbags and ABS dont make a big difference. ABS and Front Airbags should be compulsory on all cars costing over 4 lacs. (minimum price limit to keep cars like 800 and nano from having to raise costs, car without airbags still safer than a 2 wheeler)

[Arkin evoisrevo]

Unsure if this is OT, but anyway-
I hear that the new WagonR VXI ABS + Airbags takes 2 months to get delivered, while the regular Vxi takes 15-20 days. The Dzire Zxi/Zdi takes a much longer time to get delivered than the Ldi/xi/Vxi/di.

This might be a deterrent for those who can afford Airbags and ABS, are willing to buy them but are not really hard pressed on having them.

[ajman28]

Originally Posted by rohanjf

By the way, do passenger cars have different safety norms compared to commercial vehicles such as trucks? Do our buses/trucks (built by Indian manufacturers) come with seat belts?

Originally Posted by blackasta

Don't know about trucks, but new buses under JNNURM do come with bucket seats and seat belts for all (driver + passengers). Its a different story that no one bothers to put them on.

Seat belt is a must for all manufacturers be it LCV or HCV.

Many of the buses now come with seat belts for all passengers too. I have never seen anyone use them though. Infact recently the person travelling with me on an over - night bus was using the seat belt to tie - up his luggage!

[thangu]

I guess we won't see a change until Govt. mandates it. I feel that Airbags should be made mandatory, don't feel so strongly about ABS though. Once a Govt mandate come through, all the car companies should be able to provide Airbags at little to no extra cost considering the economies of scale it will generate.

The same happened when the Emissions norms were established, companies were apprehensive at first, but they all upgraded the cars with little increase in price. The car companies are looking for profits and if they can get away with providing as little as possible they will continue to do it... its just business for them.

[blackasta]

Guys - as we talk about the necessities of the airbag and still find a few who do not think that they are not necessary - I just had an accident yesterday in a rental corolla where I rear ended a volvo s80 where the front of the corolla was reduced to half its size, but still me and my friend on front passenger seat just walked away from the accident. The car in front panic braked and we could not brake in time (travelling at 45-50 mph) - thus the collision. But 6 airbags of the corolla did not let a single scratch on us, in a situation where the car was a write off. I shall open a new thread on the street incidents section when I receive pics of the accident from my friend who was on the passenger seat.

[Thad E Ginathom]

we talk about the necessities of the airbag and still find a few who do not think that they are not necessary

Seat belts are probably more important. Were you people wearing belts as well?

Glad the car and the bags protected you. You probably thought you were far enough behind the vehicle --- the lesson is that events proved that you were not. I remember the day that I thought I was driving at a safe speed (and it was the speed limit for the road) and events proved me wrong. We learn!

[freakmuzik]

We have booked a new wagon-r(white). And instead of vxi, we opted for vxi(abs+airbag) inspite of different people commenting on it as a waste of money and all! But my dad and me were sure that its worth the extra 30k ! Just think, even in case of a minor accident, the hospital bill is a minimum 8-10k . So think of a slightly serious accident, it might go above 50k and thats not the point. Its LIFE SAVING, for which we cant pay a price! . So there is nothing to even think before u invest more for abs and airbags.
Btw, have a doubt. Do these airbags deploy even for very small accidents, slight rubs and all? or they deploy only for a little major ones? are there sensors for this purpose? please enlighten me! :-)

[Arkin evoisrevo]

Originally Posted by freakmuzik

We have booked a new wagon-r(white). And instead of vxi, we opted for vxi(abs+airbag) inspite of different people commenting on it as a waste of money and all! But my dad and me were sure that its worth the extra 30k ! Just think, even in case of a minor accident, the hospital bill is a minimum 8-10k . So think of a slightly serious accident, it might go above 50k and thats not the point. Its LIFE SAVING, for which we cant pay a price! . So there is nothing to even think before u invest more for abs and airbags.
Btw, have a doubt. Do these airbags deploy even for very small accidents, slight rubs and all? or they deploy only for a little major ones? are there sensors for this purpose? please enlighten me! :-)

Great decision. Congrats on the new purchase. You did made the right choice by getting airbags and abs.

And no, airbags do not deploy for small rubs and such.

[Born 2 Be Wild]

I would like to share an incident that happened recently. My Friend had bought a Cruze And that met with an Accident recently But The air bags didnt pop out as he wasnt wearing the seatbelt, How ever When the car was taken to The GM workshop for repairs the First Thing The Service advisor said was sir congratulations you were very lucky, (i thought he meant lucky coz you didnt get Injured) He goes on to say, thank god your airbags didnt pop out otherwise it would have been very expensive to replace the Dash!! And i was like , Iceing on the Cake was when he asks him saar do You want me to Disconnect the Airbags so that they dont pop out in future a lot customers request us to do so . That was a double whammy!! Then I Gave him the moral lecture he so right fully deserved!! i mean not everyone Values Life more tha Money I Fail to fathom how a dimwit Buying a 14 lakh car would want to have his airbags Disabled. So first the mindset of the people has to be changed that is what would encourage The Use of ABS and air bags.

[blackasta]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Seat belts are probably more important. Were you people wearing belts as well?

Glad the car and the bags protected you. You probably thought you were far enough behind the vehicle --- the lesson is that events proved that you were not. I remember the day that I thought I was driving at a safe speed (and it was the speed limit for the road) and events proved me wrong. We learn!

Yup - always buckle up before you hit the road - this is something my driving instructor hammered into my head, and I buckle up with an auto reflex when I get into a car.
Also got the live demo of pretensioning seat belts - the moment we hit, I felt the seatbelts tighten and bind me to the seat.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Glad to hear that

[vb-saan]

A quick look at the Creta page in Hyundai India website shows this – a short animation on the benefits of ESP, and how unsafe are the vehicles without this feature. Similarly, they show the benefits of 6 airbags, and how it enhances the safety of the vehicle to an unparalleled level. The fact that these features are available only on the top diesel variant is not mentioned anywhere (unless you go to the specification/features sheet or download the brochure).




In my opinion, this is quite misleading. The said features are available only on one variant and it would be ideal if they put at least a foot note to say “**available only in x and y variants”.


Ford has done the same thing about ESP in Ecosport, but at least on the airbags they have clearly put a note that the 6 airbags are only available with Titanium AT and Titanium Optional models.



Food for thought?