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Road Safety
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One of the paras from this report I found appalling!
"The focus of these tests is to create awareness amongst Indian consumers, and also suggest the adoption of safety protocols by the government. Very often manufacturers claim they don't offer safety features in base versions due to lack of demand by consumers"
What is the basis of this? Was any survey done for this? What is the regulator doing? If adopting safety protocols increases price, so be it! Isn't human life more important than a few rupees saved? It's time the manufacturers incorporate safety protocols in all vehicles, educate people of the benefits involved and the regulator makes it mandatory by amending the MV Act, if required.
It did not surprise me one bit given how appallingly tinny the Indian Swift feels. The article regarding Swift sold in India mentions that the "The car's structural integrity was also deemed as unstable." So while the Latin American version scored 3 stars on account of having Air bags and ABS as standard, the structural integrity was deemed as poor as the Indian made Swift. The European Swift has a much sturdier structure as per the test and scored 5 stars.
I am pretty sure this will have no effect on the sales of the Swift much like "Happy New Year" is already a hit. We celebrate mediocrity. Shame on you Maruti!
I can only hope that the management in Maruti along with the government take a note of this and take serious measures to increase safety aspects of these cars. The study means that millions of cars running on our roads are unsafe and should not be on the roads. Unfortunately two of my cars fall in this category.
This also means any car without ABS and airbag has a ZERO safety rating which shall be even a bigger cause for worry.
The Swift tested earlier by Global NCAP this year gets 3 star rating. This is built by Maruti for the Latin American market. The Indian Version (base variant) gets Zero safety rating .
Datsun Go gets Zero safety rating.
Quote:
The Latin American export Swift got a 3-Star rating, chiefly due to the presence of airbags/ABS, which meant fewer injuries to the crash-test-dummies.
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Quote:
The Datsun Go's crash test shows. The car's body shell disintegrated severely during the same kind of test. Of course the lack of airbags further compounded the potential injuries. The driver and passenger dummies sustained fatal injuries to the head, torso and legs
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http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/no...h-tests-615429
Not surprised at all. Whenever I saw the wafer thin body of the Swift, and the way it flexed, I used to wonder if it passed any safety test. Hope the next Gen swift is built tough.
Quote:
Originally Posted by extreme_torque
(Post 3570553)
The article regarding Swift sold in India mentions that the "The car's structural integrity was also deemed as unstable." So while the Latin American version scored 3 stars on account of having Air bags and ABS as standard, the structural integrity was deemed as poor as the Indian made Swift. The European Swift has a much sturdier structure as per the test and scored 5 stars.
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Wow! They must have done some serious corner cutting to drop down two stars. I understand it's a monocoque, but, does the sheet metal play a big role in structural integrity? Or, have Maruti cut back on strength of structural members also? Or, have the test-norms changed since the Euro version was tested? Insights welcome!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Su-47
(Post 3570568)
Wow! They must have done some serious corner cutting to drop down two stars. I understand it's a monocoque, but, does the sheet metal play a big role in structural integrity? Or, have Maruti cut back on strength of structural members also? Or, have the test-norms changed since the Euro version was tested? Insights welcome!
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The EURO NCAP also provides extra safety points for things like curtain air bags and ESP which will have pushed the score of European car to 5 stars and that is fine by me. What really takes the goat is the fact that the structure itself is deemed unstable when compared to the European model which proves that Maruti has made compromises while building the car here and this is just not done. Absolutely and utterly not! The VW Polo and the Ford Figo have not been compromised structurally, the reason that they are heavier and also 'feel' much safer.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CoolCarNi
(Post 3570548)
One of the paras from this report I found appalling!
"The focus of these tests is to create awareness amongst Indian consumers, and also suggest the adoption of safety protocols by the government. Very often manufacturers claim they don't offer safety features in base versions due to lack of demand by consumers"
What is the basis of this? Was any survey done for this? What is the regulator doing? If adopting safety protocols increases price, so be it! Isn't human life more important than a few rupees saved? It's time the manufacturers incorporate safety protocols in all vehicles, educate people of the benefits involved and the regulator makes it mandatory by amending the MV Act, if required.
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Not surprising at all. If you step out on the road, take a census of the versions of the popular Maruti's running, you will be lucky if you see 20% ZXi's (Typically the Maruti version with Airbags and ABS). Majority of the people are not willing to spend that extra to get the safety features (Although many are willing to spend extra for fancy alloys which are also typically present only in the Zxi's).
In the absence of Govt Regulations, manufacturers will do what majority of customers want.
Note: Using Maruti as an example here as it is the top manufacturer and also easy to identify variants and features. True for almost all manufacturers.
Its really surprising to see a "Zero" rating for Swift. Yes, ABS and Airbag on the lower version would have taken the rating to 3 like the one exported to Latin America. But disappointing to see the comment "The car's structural integrity was also deemed as unstable. And this is a key point, given the made-in-Europe Swift has a much sturdier structure and had achieved a 5-Star crash certification from Euro-NCAP."
Now it would be really interesting to see the ratings for cars which get the special "Indian treatment" from other manufacturers like Honda etc.
Zero stars? :Shockked:
India's most popular and "so called" premium hatchback? :Frustrati
I strongly feel along with fuel efficiency ratings, every car should come with how much it scores on safety aspect or NCAP crash test.
It would definitely make "aam janata" curious and can influence the buying decision as I am sure most of them are unaware of NCAP.
Any one willing to take bets on the "Ciaz", the lightest and yet biggest of the lot and not made of "aluminium".
Not one bit surprising, considering the lack of any effort on our government to make safety as standard across all variants. Unless that happens, manufactureres will continue to quote the people as the reason for not offering safety equipment.
Why blame the manufacturer's alone ?. They are here to make a profit. If more consumers start buying cars with safety features such as air bags, ABS etc, the rest will follow.
People cringe at having to pay extra for models with air bags. Most people buy cars on finance. What will a difference of a few hundred rupees make in extra monthly payments ?.
Even though an entrepreneur managing on investment income, I went ahead and bought a VW Polo HL which was seen as a well built car with ABS/air bags.
I have also been educating people on the need for safety and exhort all BHPians to do the same. We can definitely make a difference.
1) We don't really need to reinvent the wheel. Our govt should simply adopt the Euro NCAP.
2) Make it compulsory for new cars to display their Safety stars rating on the side of the rear windscreen. This alone will ensure more knowledgeable purchases and improvement in safety standards adopted by manufacturers and buyers.
3) pt 1 would ensure we automatically get better engineering and stuff like thinner sheet metal etc would not come into play.
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