Quote:
Originally Posted by srishiva I am not misinterpreting your point. I agree that Japanese cars have lighter exterior panels than european ones. They cost less and are efficient for this reason.
What I want to put across is that this in no way affects the safety. They might incur a higher repair bill though. (but again compared to lakhs of rupees from european cars, its not much)
Build quality (as seen by most in the forum) does not necessarily translate to better safety. They do however contribute to ride quality (no rattle, that thud feel, touch and feel etc.,).
The exterior sheet metals are not a major part of safety apparatus that a car provides. Bumpers do undergo what is a mandatory 5 mph test where they are not supposed to get deformed. These are met by jap and korean cars.
Its a different thing to discuss about the repair costs, bumper strength, panel thickness etc., Its wrong to bring them in while discussing safety.
your statement... "Fact is that the Hondas are nice cars in terms of fuel efficency and refined engines, but they are'nt as safe as some of the European cars in terms of build quality"... is not true. I know for sure that Hondas are not less safe than european cars, they are safer than most american cars. If you can point to some data to prove this otherwise, I would be happy to gain from you. |
Looked high and low to find the crash worthiness test rating for the Honda City, but no luck. Will continue looking, but heres something that lends credence to my point that the weight of the car influences safety in a major way. Crashtest.com - Introduction to Vehicle Safety Ratings
To quote specifically from this link:
(Quote) Overall Ratings - Crashtest.com evaluates all the available data on a specific vehicle and assigns it 1 of 5 possible performance ratings. The overall rating is not simply an average of the other scores, because certain categories count more from a safety point of view.
The most significant safety determinant, worth as much as all the others put together, is Weight. It is so important that it would overwhelm all other factors if included in the assessment, so we do not include it in our overall rating. However we strongly recommend that you note BOTH of the last 2 rating categories Weight and Overall, when you consider the ultimate crashworthiness of a particular model. (End of Quote)
So, therefore, if the Honda City has lighter external panels, it helps increase the fuel efficency, but has a negative impact on the safety and crash worthiness rating of the vehicle. Quote:
Originally Posted by extreme_torque I have to question the build quality of the city after reading through all the posts here. Hitting a cycle should not have triggered crumple zones. Its a weak argument if someone says that it has been done deliberately by Honda so as to absorb the impact but what about the impact threshold? A very close friend and her family including the driver perished in an accident when the Honda City they were travelling in collided with an army ambulance. Shame on you Honda!
I was rear ended by a Santro at 30 kmph in my Palio which resulted in caved in headlamp on the santro, a hanging bumper with the clips to hold it in place broken and a slightly damaged bonnet, while my car just had a dent in the bumper. |
Sorry to hear about the incident. Its sad that we dont consider the crash worthiness rating before evaluating a car in India. All we do is consider fuel efficency, top speed etc...
Last edited by Technocrat : 1st July 2008 at 17:01.
|