Team-BHP - Your new car must be equipped with these
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Buying a new car? cool. congrats dude!!!!

But is your new car properly equipped? yes? did I hear a yes? lets see. Does it have an Airbag? no? ok does it have ABS? no???

I will suggest you dont buy the car at all then


power and control go hand in hand and safety and speed go hand in hand. If you are buying a powerful car it should also be similarly equipped for safety.

so which cars to buy

an average car has crumple zones, safety bars and beams and collapsible steering etc. But many cars today also come with ABS and airbags which ensure more safety and should be included in the checklist when buying a car.

chevrolet forester
chevrolet optra(with abs and airbags)
fiat palio 1.2 with abs & airbags (website still says options available)
ford fiesta with abs and airbags
ford endeavour
ford mondeo
ford fusion with ABS
honda accord 2.4
honda accord 3.0 v6
honda cr-v
hyundai santro xing ERLX with ABS(no airbags)
hyundai getz with ABS
hyundai accent 1.5 with ABS
hyundai accent 1.6 with ABS
hyundai accent crdi with ABS
hyundai elantra crdi (abs,airbags,ppc,tcs, BAS)
hyundai elantra petrol (ABS,Airbags,TCS,BAS)
New SOnata with ABS and airbags
hyundai tucson with ABS and airbags
hyundai terracan with ABS, EBD and airbags
maruti Wagon R with Airbags (no ABS)
grand vitara with ABS and Airbags
suzuki swift with ABS, EBD and airbags
pajero 3.2
skoda superb
skoda octavia
skoda combi
skoda RS
tata safari DICOR with ABS and Airbags
corolla with Airbags
camry with ABS and airbags
prado with airbags,ABS,BA,EBD
Innova with ABS and Airbags
nissan x-trail with ABS, airbags,EBD and BA
All E segment cars




chevrolet tavera
fiat petra
fiat adventure
fiat pali 1.6
ford ikon
honda city
mahindra scorpio
mahindra bolero
maruti 800
maruti alto
maruti omni
maruti gypsy
maruti zen
maruti versa
maruti esteem
maruti baleno
lancer 1.5
lancer 1.8
lancer 2.0
pajero 2.8
opel corsa 1.4
opel corsa 1.6
opel sail 1.4
opel sail 1.6
tata sumo
tata sumo victa
tata indica
tata indigo
tata indigo marina
san storm
maini REVA
Chinkara


so Now when you buy a new car just check if it is

1. BS-III certified
2. Has the basic safety features like Crumple zones, safety beams and seatbelts
3. for just a few thousands more if it has the airbags or ABS safety.


after its for your own sake.

Dev, With due respects to your concern for driver safety, I feel that an average Indian car buyer should not go gaga over these safety enhancements like ABS and airbags. True, these systems do have a safety value attached, but its relative value is questionable.
In fact, purely on the basis of hard-core evidence, ESC is touted to be of greater value than all the rest! See the following links, among several others:
http://money.cnn.com/2003/09/25/pf/autos/what_is_esc/
http://www.esceducation.org/
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news0..._control2.html

An average driver should view safety features, like every other feature, according to Einstein's theory-- Nothing is absolute, everything is relative! Car manufacturers, when they do not have any other technology to showcase, make noise about safety technologies, lobby with governments for enforcing certain safety features over others, ... till they can pick up another frequency and come up with something like Dura or VTEC!

In fact, if safety is our Govt's prime concern, focus first on world-class roads and world-class driving skills. I wouldn't mind if our SC intervenes and makes it mandatory for every driver to get a license from California or Singapore! Car manufacturers could even offer free air-tickets and boarding to these countries to obtain a license, and build into their vehicle costs. This, in my opinion, will save many^many lives than ABS/EBD and airbags, which only make an extraordinarily bad driver look ordinary.

(Incidentally, if your brakes begin to malfunction, you get an indication before you can correct it. How do you get an assurance that your ABS/EBD and airbags will function when you need it? Every component in the car has a certain failure ratio. What about ABS/EBD and airbags? Are they so generically standardised that nothing can ever go wrong with it? If it does go wrong, will I get a chance to sue the manufacturer from heaven/ hell?)

and just to correct you Devarshi, WagonR vxi 2005 has option of all the three(ABS, EBD, Airbags).

Quote:

Originally Posted by msprabhakar
How do you get an assurance that your ABS/EBD and airbags will function when you need it? Every component in the car has a certain failure ratio.

ABS, EBD and other safety devices are checked by your Car's ECU/EMU everytime you start up the car. Thats the time when all these lights come on for some time (which is to check whether the alert, which is basically the dashboard display of that particular event, is working) and if there is a malfunction the light stays on...

I agree with you that these concerns are relative. There is a school of thought which says that the European system of standardisation (whether for safety or otherwise) is nothing but an advanced and highly camouflaged system of trade barriers. I would think so too, because of the way these standards are changed just when competition from abroad has caught up - and invariably the european manufacturers seem to be able to adapt to these 'changes' faster giving you the impression that they had inside information.

I am NOT saying here that safety is inconsequential. What I AM trying to say here is that if Europe couches trade barriers within the parameters of safety (whether driver, passenger, child or even pedestrian as is the case now!) it makes it all the more difficult for rivals to cry foul - it would make it look like those protesting are NOT interested in safety, and that is EXACTLY what the lawmakers have worked towards....

This tradition of turning standards into trade barriers or competition killers go back a long way and is NOT restricted to automobile manufacturing. If you look at any other product, services or even sports you will realize how they have been able to kill competition by changing the rules in the name of standardization, safety, quality, and other such abstracts that the common man will find hard to argue with. Remember hockey, guys? Remember how India and/or Pakistan used to rule the roost till the Dutch got control of the IHF? You can see for yourself what happened thereafter - hockey as it is played today is NOT the game that we used to play in school. People say the game moved on and India/Pakistan didnt adapt - nobody asks WHY the game moved on.

Quote:

Originally Posted by devarshi84
But is your new car properly equipped? yes? did I hear a yes? lets see. Does it have an Airbag? no? ok does it have ABS? no???

I will suggest you dont buy the car at all then

And travel by our super safe taxis and rickshaws?
Oh no, baby! Trust me, if you were in my place, you wouldn't want to either. Guys who were with me last week, would all stand by me.

I appreciate your concern for peoples' safety, but, remember, in India, most people can't afford to pay anything more than they are already paying. Most people are graduating from two wheelers to cars and raising the capital is not all that easy. Take my own brother for example. He stays alone in Bangalore and rides a Bajaj Caliber. My parents don't know this, but, he has fallen three times off his bike. He always wears a proper, branded helmet, so no serious damage was done. But, sick of the lack of discipline among other road users and bad roads, he has had enough now and wants a car. What's he considering? The Maruti 800. Why? Because it's the only one he can afford and you can bet he's gonna get one pretty soon. What's safer, caliber or 800? How much for the cheapest car with ABS and airbags? Way off this budge, isn't it?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steeroid
...it would make it look like those protesting are NOT interested in safety...

I'm reminded of 'Jo biwi se kare pyar woh Prestige se kaise karre inkaar' ad on DD 10-15 years ago...!

And how many of the car buyers seriously take their car out of the city roads ? I guess about 60% of the owners never take their cars to the highways. And do we really need ABS or Airbags in our city traffic ?

But dude,
if i have to buy a car, i would rather buy one which suits my needs then one which doesn't suit them at all.
For eg, if i want a family hatch, i would have to get a Getz/Palio/Indica over a swift with ABS and airbags as it would not suit my needs even one bit.

i agree with devarshi84 all the way.

firstly there is really no doubt that these safety products save lives - what we all like to take too frivolously is the fact that the situation comes up once in a lifetime, and we ignore it in our daily routine, the "this won't happen to me" syndrome.

whether in the city or on the highways, we must remember that cars are getting faster and peppier, so speeds are increasing. it takes one momentary lapse of reason and we can be staring death in the face - even in the city...

innocent things like getting to the airport on time when you've started late, going for a cool night drive on the eastern express highway or even encountering a drunk truck driver on a rainy night...all these could become life threatening issues if our luck is bad.

so go ahead - take your choice. i believe safety is an absolute yes. the abs and airbags are a must...your choice and of course, your life!

Safety is a relative topic, no matter what you buy, there's always something thats a lot more safer. So, you just need to go by what your budget/need allows you to.

Take our case for eg: We wanted to buy the Innova V (since it comes with ABS and Airbags) but, that would make no sense as the car is a 7 seater (we wanted an 8 seater).

So we asked Toyota if we could get a "V" in a 8 seater spec. They said no.

Can we fit a sofa seat after we buy it? The answer was again, a no.

So, what do you do when the company is not willing to oblige? We can't just say, "Ok in that case, give us a Toyota Land Cruiser, since it comes with 8 seats and all the safety features".

U think a family travelling in a M800 is unsafe? Then what about all those families that use a bike as a daily traveller?

Shan2nu

We being automobile enthusiasts...who have always preached safety are acting like this? Then how can we expect the common man to demand airbags, abs, ebd, ecs and other safety features?

People are saying...'i dont need airbags' or 'city traffic speeds doesnt require abs or ebd' but would you rather take a chance of being involved in an accident without these saftey features...do fatal accidents not take place inside city limits? Like someone said before ... life is cheap in India.

Its exactly this mindset...thats allowing the auto manufacturers to take us for granted.
True most people in our country cannot afford these features...most people HAVE to look at the money involved...
I'd like to agree with devarshi...but the economics cannot be ignored here...

All we can hope is for the government to make airbags standard package on all cars....seatbelts were dealt with this way...

We'll have to wait till the government enacts on this one...
The sooner the better.

Drifter

Quote:

Originally Posted by drifter
We being automobile enthusiasts...who have always preached safety are acting like this? Then how can we expect the common man to demand airbags, abs, ebd, ecs and other safety features?

First of all, we're not sure if the common man wants airbags, ABS, EBD, etc

Secondly, a safety feature like ABS will help you if other things remain ideal. If you lose control and run into the back of a truck which is carrying oversized steel rods that protrude out for about a meter, it doesnt matter whether you have ABS or EBD - you're a goner.

Again, how much will ABS really help you when you're on the highway and the speeding Volvo ahead of you slams his brakes and has NO brakelights?

My point is that ABS, EBD, etc etc are all fine but lets get the basics right first. Lets first aim to have roads where people drive with not more than 2 dipped headlamps. Roads where you can be sure that the brakelights on the vehicle ahead of you ARE going to work. Roads where you can be certain that the autorickshaw ahead of you is going to continue driving ahead and will not turn around 180 degrees to drive AGAINST the traffic. Roads where you can be certain that the motorcyclist riding in the left lane ahead of you is NOT going to make a right turn just as you're executing an overtaking manouvre. Roads where you're not blinded by 4 headlamps in highbeam and a dozen coloured bulbs from the bus coming against you headlong.

AFTER THAT we'll talk ABS, EBD, TCS, etc. These technologies are designed to work perfectly in an ideal environment. In our environment, the greatest safety feature is the Ganesh idol on your dashboard - only God can help you here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steeroid
AFTER THAT we'll talk ABS, EBD, TCS, etc. These technologies are designed to work perfectly in an ideal environment. In our environment, the greatest safety feature is the Ganesh idol on your dashboard - only God can help you here.

LOL. Can't say it better.

Quote:

People are saying...'i dont need airbags' or 'city traffic speeds doesnt require abs or ebd' but would you rather take a chance of being involved in an accident without these saftey features...do fatal accidents not take place inside city limits?
Dude, this statement holds true only for Airbags. ABS and EBD are designed to help the driver avoid an accident, they will make no diff to the safety of the driver if you're eventually gonna go and hit something.

Shan2nu

Quote:

Originally Posted by cream
innocent things like getting to the airport on time when you've started late, going for a cool night drive on the eastern express highway or even encountering a drunk truck driver on a rainy night...all these could become life threatening issues if our luck is bad.

so go ahead - take your choice. i believe safety is an absolute yes. the abs and airbags are a must...your choice and of course, your life!

Remember Di who died in a Merc? Even airbags can't save you against the power of bad driving!

Safety enthusiasts, here's a question... In real life, do you genuinely believe that no cost is too high when it comes to safety? How do you secure your homes against crazy murderers? Employ TOPS personnel 24x7? Pay for Z+ class security? I can only afford to latch my door and be as friendly with people as possible.


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