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Originally Posted by nikhil3456  Hmmm.. haven't been active for a while on this forum. Now, let me re-start with this thread.. (and its going to be a loooooong post  )
First of all, it would be interesting to know if the Swift sold in Europe which has a good rating has the same configuration as the car sold in India. My experience of 4 years in automotive crash-testing & occupant safety simulation has taught me that cars sold in Europe and the US are safer. For markets such as India, where the safety regulations are practically non-existent, these cars are sold without safety features like ABS, airbags (which is commonly known) but also without crash countermeasures.
Crash countermeasures are things which are embedded in the body of the vehicle, or between the body and interiors. These countermeasures, such as foams, tubes of soft materials, plastic cones etc have one main function -- to absorb the crush energy and thereby transfer lesser energy to the occupants. The reason most car manufacturers insist that their engineers make most crash countermeasures as stand-alone pieces is so that these need not be manufactured and fitted in countries where it isnt mandatory.
When a country's regulation gives this leeway, why wouldn't any manufacturer try and cut costs by excluding these? Though this thread is about Swift, I don't think any manufacturer is an exception, after all better profits are involved. It'll be interesting to export some of these cars (which claim higher safety ratings) as-is to Europe and get an actual EuroNCAP test done!
Talking about safety in cars, is there really a value for life in India? I know people who prefer the VXi version of the Swift so that they can use the money they saved on ZXi for a better ICE. How many Indians would really invest in safety features? How many people actually wear seatbelts?
As far as trucks are concerned, if my memory serves me right, it was decided that as of Oct 1 2004, all trucks should have the mandatory rear intrusion-protection beam fitted on the chassis. Where do you see them now? From what I heard, a lot of trucks are overloaded and this beam scrapes the speed-breakers. So, the intrusion protection beam is taken off! Smart! |
nikhil3456,
Thank you very much for joining Teambhp and contributing this important information. Regarding crash-countermeasures, are you saying that it is probable that cars assembled in India or imported to India (SKD, CKD, CBU) like the Swift, Fabia, Accord, CRV, Camry, A8, S-class, etc. can have ABS and airbags, but probably do not have the equally important crash countermeasures?
How does the Indian consumer check to see if the car being considered for purchase has these countermeasures?
If this allegation is true, then those of us buying India-market cars based on tests like NCAP and IIHS are getting cheated by manufacturers. If true, Teambhp needs to expose them and black-list them. | 
16th October 2008, 11:32
