[rockporiom]

Originally Posted by Dopamine

Quite a scary incident.
I have always felt that the basic safety features should be the same across various variants of a car ; everything else is secondary and the cosmetic and convenience features should be the difference between top end and the "lowly" variants.

Well what you are telling is quiet logical but sadly not practical because the safety features itself cost a lot. The dual airbags themselves cost around a lakh in total and the abs unit is also quiet pricey. The manufacturer at most can remove the audio system and alloys but that's about it. They can't remove anything else, the main cost of the car comes from the safety systems that's why the huge premium for abs and airbags.

skoda tried to do what you said with the fabia giving one airbag and abs from the base model which made it quiet pricey and people chose to go for other cars that would omit the airbags such as swift vdi/ldi.

It is not the manufacturers to blame since they react on the consumers thinking and preferences. It is the customer itself to be blamed as we need to prioritise what we want. In the current market scenario the average customers priorities are in this order:

1. Budget
2. Family likes it or not
3. Practicality
4. Features
5. Looks
6. Safety

Most of the customers think why pay the premium when the bag is just lying there doing nothing and what if it never comes in use.

How many of us went for the wagonr vxi abs with airbag instead of the ldi swift?

I don't know about other places but at least in gujarat majority of people don't know what is a swift. They just know it as vdi, don't think I am joking the PI and all constables didn't know what I was talking when I asked them where is my dzire. One constable finally realised what I was talking and told the others that I had come for the vdi. They were so stupid that they mentioned my car as vdi even in their report which was edited later.

This shows the popularity of the no airbag version of the swift. Tell me now who is to blame? Manufacturer or consumer?

[Dopamine]

Originally Posted by rockporiom

How many of us went for the wagonr vxi abs with airbag instead of the ldi swift?

Tell me now who is to blame? Manufacturer or consumer?

I guess you are right. Personally we went for the emotion + pack Punto just for the airbags. There does seem to be a very indifferent attitude in our country towards road safety. That is the real problem. Perhaps education is the solution?
A more responsible attitude would solve many more problems than safer cars and better technology ever can.

[rockporiom]

Originally Posted by Vikramjeet

Please spend more time with your father, drive him around and assure him that all is well. The trauma takes a lot of time and I can say that with my own experience. After your father recovers be with him during the initial drives till he regains confidence of being independent just like before. All the best

Looks like he will definately be back on the drivers seat. Just finalised my dzire zdi in silver, delivery in 20 days. Got a great price will write an ownership review as soon as possible.

[pratyush6]

Originally Posted by Dopamine

That is the real problem. Perhaps education is the solution?
A more responsible attitude would solve many more problems than safer cars and better technology ever can.

The 'only' solution is to make it mandatory. I may not be popular for saying it but those death traps should not be on the road. Indian roads are the most unsafe in the world and we still keep debating about the need of airbags.

We are a country where 'putting on a seat belt' had to be made mandatory for people to accept it. God save us.

My suggestion to people buying cars without airbags - Perhaps wait for 6 months, add the cash and go for your family's safety. If you still feel the crunch, cut down on other expenses. 1 lac (in most cases the extra price for a version with airbags) is next to nothing when for your safety and the well being of your family.

[rockporiom]

Originally Posted by pratyush6

The 'only' solution is to make it mandatory. I may not be popular for saying it but those death traps should not be on the road. Indian roads are the most unsafe in the world and we still keep debating about the need of airbags.

We are a country where 'putting on a seat belt' had to be made mandatory for people to accept it. God save us.

My suggestion to people buying cars without airbags - Perhaps wait for 6 months, add the cash and go for your family's safety. If you still feel the crunch, cut down on other expenses. 1 lac (in most cases the extra price for a version with airbags) is next to nothing when for your safety and the well being of your family.

No one could have said it better. What you said is the bitter truth about indian roads and the cars on them. Let alone airbags, some cars on the road are in such a bad condition with rust and poor repairs that if they have an accident the survivability chance is next to nil.


PLAIN AND SIMPLE

if you have airbags and buckled up you crash you survive you live to crash another day.

No airbags/seatbelts = bhagwan bharose

[rockporiom]

My car was towed away today finally. Final bill after negotiations came to 11,000 for parking and estimate charges. The buyer said he is going to REPAIR and sell it at slightly lower than market rate. The repairs will obviously be substandard. God save the souls who sit in that car. According to me it should have been recycled and crushed.

[Srikanthan]

@rockporiom - Best wishes for your dad's speedy recovery. Safety was THE prime reason I changed my vehicle which now has Airbags and ABS.

In one similar road accident 2 years ago near Madurai in TN, my colleague lost his mother and brother in a head-on collision. He immediately changed his car to one with airbags and much other safety systems and was pushing me to change as well - but I took some time.

In this context, I have below questions:

1. Why government not make Airbags mandatory in cars? TN government has made wearing seat belt mandatory now - not sure how they will implement this!

2. Why driving license cannot be made to have shorter life and renew every 5 years?
Think about it - if you hold a professional certification, it will be valid only for few years and you have to prove continued education to keep the certificate valid. Why not such a rule for a skill which plays between life and death?

[centaur]

@Rockporiom - Hope your dad recovers soon and even the mental trauma caused by this horrific accident fades off soon.

I have always heard my mother saying, not necessarily all accidents happen because of your negligence/rash driving. Even the person on the opposite end can be wrong and cause an accident. Even if your are a safe driver not necessarily the opposite one might be and this came from a lady who has never ever driven a car/bike in life apart from the time when she learnt the car and gave a driving test. While I did understand it to be true but this is probably a live example.
I drive on the middle or fast lanes in Eway (Mum-Pun) but after this it will mostly be either the middle or the left. Also having brought the i20 sportz I now feel I should have spent a little extra and opted for the asta instead since it would have ensured completely safety for the passengers as well

[ashphil]

Thank God TN has made the usage of seatbelts compulsory. Every state in India should do so. A few years ago Saudi Arabia ( where I am employed) made wearing the seat belts compulsory. They implemented it in a unique way .
For three months before the implementation date they had policemen standing daily at every signal light during the peak hours requesting the driver and the passenger seated in the front seat to buckle up and informed them that as of a certain date the wearing of the seatbelt would be mandatory. They distributed pamphlets stating the same and it was announced on TV and the news media frequently.So quite a lot of people got used to using their seatbelts.When the implementation date dawned the Police showed no mercy and challaned anyone who was not using the seatbelt.
regards,
Ashok

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by ashphil

Thank God TN has made the usage of seatbelts compulsory. Every state in India should do so. A few years ago Saudi Arabia ( where I am employed) made wearing the seat belts compulsory. They implemented it in a unique way .
For three months before the implementation date they had policemen standing daily at every signal light during the peak hours requesting the driver and the passenger seated in the front seat to buckle up and informed them that as of a certain date the wearing of the seatbelt would be mandatory. They distributed pamphlets stating the same and it was announced on TV and the news media frequently.So quite a lot of people got used to using their seatbelts.When the implementation date dawned the Police showed no mercy and challaned anyone who was not using the seatbelt.
regards,
Ashok

Compulsory on paper only. Implementation is still lax in Chennai imnsho, compared to Delhi for instance.

[Seshadri75]

This is an eye opener, as we still find some eyes closed. Many occasional co-passengers asks back “Oh, is this a rule here or the cops would catch you?” when I ask them to put on the seat-belt! I feel so tired to give them what is an utterly obvious answer “No, it is more for your safety than the Rs. 100 fine I may have to pay to the Cops, should they catch me”.

To be honest with you all, I went for Vento Highline (with ABS and Airbags etc.) for other things in that variant, and today I thank the decision every now and then, e.g. when I read such threads as this one! Seeing the mark of “Airbags” on the steering, and also on the passenger side is such an assuring feeling.

And that exactly opens the point.

• Why are ABS and Airbags not mandatory for all cars across variants?

(Nissan tried I guess). I understand the cost effectiveness point in India. But why do manufacturers tend to bundle ABS and Airbags etc. only on the top variant, which is already costlier for other things that the buyer might have decided to live without?

I mean the chrome inserts, leather wrapping, keyless entry etc. “feel good” stuff need not be mandatorily bundled with a lower variant, but give the ABS and Airbags. True, the cost of those “feel good” stuff would not sum up to equaling the cost of Airbag + ABS, perhaps, but it definitely makes a hell lot of a better trade off with a marginally higher cost.
Another way of looking at it is, leather wrapping, chrome inserts etc. may be “added on” by the ones who need those. ABS + Airbags cannot be added later (leave major modifications aside, which nullifies warranty and all).

In short, using the example in this thread, take out “Outside temperature display”, “Steering wheel mounted Audio controls”, or even “Auto AC” (manual is ok), or “Fuel Consumption”, “Digital Clock” and so on from ZDi and bring the cost down for someone who is unable to bridge the gap of that 1 lakh with Ldi, yet may not mind shelling a bit more if not 1 lakh, than Ldi, to get ABS and Airbags.

Oversimplified examples, alright, but I guess you get the point.

Manufacturers are in a much better position to identify where to cut costs without cutting safety. If they wanted, they could.

It is just that we do not put enough prices on our life or health and that’s the reason manufacturers could even think of tying safety with only the top variants!

@Rockporiom: Wish your father a complete recovery, especially from the psychological trauma, even if it takes a long time, keep encouraging, he has all of our wishes with him.

Otherwise the believe in ‘fate’, instead of seat-belts, airbags etc. may morph into a prejudice, which makes the probability of an unfortunate incident go higher, as I would be preoccupied with “Oh, a terrible thing could fall upon me today if that thing called fate had it written somewhere”!

Let us continue to believe in preventive measures, and controlling the ‘probability’ to the extent we can, such as rationing budget for safety first, knowing too well that we may not control all 100% of it!

“I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.” -- G. K. Chesterton.


Drive safer today, than we did yesterday.

Regards,

[rockporiom]

I was watching a video of the euro swift and was shocked to learn that the swift has 7 airbags, abs, ebd and esp standard all across the range

why not in india? Is the value of life lower here? I mean seriously why not do cost cutting in other areas rather than key safety areas?

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by rockporiom

I was watching a video of the euro swift and was shocked to learn that the swift has 7 airbags, abs, ebd and esp standard all across the range why not in india? Is the value of life lower here? I mean seriously why not do cost cutting in other areas rather than key safety areas?

Nothing really shocking there
It's the case with almost all cars sold in India below the D1 segment, and mostly in those segments value for money and value for life are mutually exclusive (a Ford Ecosport maybe an exception).

[100kmph]

Originally Posted by vb-san

Nothing really shocking there
It's the case with almost all cars sold in India below the D1 segment, and mostly in those segments value for money and value for life are mutually exclusive (a Ford Ecosport maybe an exception).

In cars below the D1 segment, I think the Hyundai i20 tops the list in safety equipment as it is very close to its euro sibling. The ecosport offers a bucket load of safety features, but has scores 4* in the euro ncap against the Hyundai. Other 5* car such as the swift and polo are much behind their European market cousins.
A link to ford ecosport euro ncap:
http://www.euroncap.com/results/ford/ecosport/538.aspx

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by 100kmph

In cars below the D1 segment, I think the Hyundai i20 tops the list in safety equipment as it is very close to its euro sibling. The ecosport offers a bucket load of safety features, but has scores 4* in the euro ncap against the Hyundai. Other 5* car such as the swift and polo are much behind their European market cousins. A link to ford ecosport euro ncap: http://www.euroncap.com/results/ford/ecosport/538.aspx

Thanks. I do know about the 4-star rating of the Ecosport, just gave it as one example of cars sold with same rating India and abroad; not really to do a comparison between the Hyundai and Ford