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Old 9th April 2014, 10:06   #1
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Volkswagen halts sales of base Polo version without airbags

http://auto.ndtv.com/news/volkswagen...e-otherstories
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Old 9th April 2014, 16:41   #2
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re: Volkswagen halts sales of base Polo version without airbags

Good thing they have done. They were never really in the low-end price war with the Polo. So having Airbags as a standard feature makes sense. I hope they add ABS as a standard to the Comfortline variant.
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Old 9th April 2014, 17:08   #3
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re: Volkswagen halts sales of base Polo version without airbags

Great to see VW raising the safety bar for the segment. I hope this compels other players to follow suit.

The govt ought to pass a low to have airbags and ABS standard in all Indian cars.
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Old 11th April 2014, 11:55   #4
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Re: Volkswagen halts sales of base Polo version without airbags

Can airbags be fitted to the older Trendline models? I guess workshops should be equipped to handle that but is it recommended?

I appreciate VW's inclusion of safety features. But can they or any manufacturer provide an option to retrofit airbags in an older model of the same car? And as experts, would your recommend getting it done from outside the factory?
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Old 11th April 2014, 12:29   #5
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Re: Volkswagen halts sales of base Polo version without airbags

It is not at all recommended to retrofit airbags from anywhere outside the factory. No outside workshops can match the precision of a factory finish and ezpecially in terms of such a thing as airbag, it is always recommended to go for a version with a factory fit.

Placement of sensors etc that are used for airbag deployment should be exactly as oer the design parameters and even a small deviation in placement of these devices can lead to improper functioning of the safety system.
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Old 11th April 2014, 12:32   #6
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Re: Volkswagen halts sales of base Polo version without airbags

Quote:
Originally Posted by racer_ash View Post
It is not at all recommended to retrofit airbags from anywhere outside the factory. No outside workshops can match the precision of a factory finish and ezpecially in terms of such a thing as airbag, it is always recommended to go for a version with a factory fit.

Placement of sensors etc that are used for airbag deployment should be exactly as oer the design parameters and even a small deviation in placement of these devices can lead to improper functioning of the safety system.
Thanks a lot. I always suspected that.

However, in case of a crash, the car is repaired at the workshop so they must be refitting all the sensors and systems. Would that be anything different?
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Old 11th April 2014, 13:08   #7
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Re: Volkswagen halts sales of base Polo version without airbags

Glad that VW has taken this step. I do not like these De-specced India versions of these nice Foreign cars. And it is about time we all started taking safety seriously. I wish the government would simply make ABS and Airbags (at least two in front) mandatory across variants. This will force the market to change and the manufacturers to also take things more seriously. I really feel sorry that Life is considered so cheap in India.
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Old 11th April 2014, 18:25   #8
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Re: Volkswagen halts sales of base Polo version without airbags

Excellent and a very positive move by VW. This is such a necessity in every car. However I am not sure how much good can the govt do in this. We all blame them for everything when the truth is that we ourselves choose to continue living in ignorance. I as a rule always wear my seatbelt. But I am ashamed to say that 99% of people who sit in my car do not wear one and have the audacity to question me on why I am wearing it. They cite all kinds of weird reasons ranging from irritation to lack of traffic etc etc. The worst part is these people are all educated Doctors. Wonder what the less educated might be doing. After 2 years, I have just stopped explaining them the pros and cons and just resort to wearing my belt. Same goes for Airbags. Without people wearing a belt at all times, I am told that the airbags would do more harm and good!

Last edited by drmohitg : 11th April 2014 at 18:26.
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Old 12th April 2014, 07:47   #9
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Re: Volkswagen halts sales of base Polo version without airbags

VW is basically a bunch of bare-faced liars. They had stopped offloading the Trendline versions of Petrol & Diesel Polo to their dealers almost 6 months ago. I had contacted VW helpline who confirmed this, when they said that dealers in South India had no stock of petrol trendlines anymore. When I reminded them that having the base models up on their website amounted to competitive manipulation, in India we have the MRTPC Act 2002 of which they would be in clear violation of, they returned to giving out stock replies. Sales Executives of dealers told me that VW had asked them to stop taking bookings for petrol Trendlines around 6 months back. The dealers said they had some old stocks of Diesel Trendlines lying around from old stock.

Now they come up with story to cover their a$$ and create a noble image out of their manipulation. You rope in customers first saying there is a base-model and they did not even have a base model to sell, and this is 6 months ago. They should have sold the Trendline model from the very beginning with airbags and with revised prices and made the Trendline version availble at all times if they had any sense of business ethics. This is the owner of the Skoda group, please do not expect any fair play here.

Last edited by lurker : 12th April 2014 at 07:48.
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Old 12th April 2014, 20:18   #10
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Re: Volkswagen halts sales of base Polo version without airbags

VW had declared airbags as standard for all vehicles around January end when the crash test results for Indian variants were published. It is interesting to note that they took more than 2 months to clear out their stock. It is still a good thing to have air bags standard in cars.

Quote:
Originally Posted by shankar.balan View Post
I wish the government would simply make ABS and Airbags (at least two in front) mandatory across variants. This will force the market to change and the manufacturers to also take things more seriously.
I think a better way would be to make ABS mandatory and a minimum crash test rating put in place instead of making airbags mandatory. Fitting air bags into cars like 800, Alto or most of the A/B segment cars doesn't make them safer since the structural integrity of the cabin would not be preserved in case of a crash and the airbag would be just the object that squeezes you between itself and the seat back.

Anything better than zero star crash test rating would indirectly require airbags anyway but a crash test rating would also prevent manufacturers from compromising the strength of the body shell after giving airbags as standard.
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