[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Both my cars now have maximum safety I could buy for the segment- a 2012 Punto 90hp and a Hyundai Xcent SX(o) AT. Safety was one of the main reasons we chose the top end Xcent, although the additional features present in it were mostly useless for occasional use by parents.

Both have ABS + dual airbags.

[Turbokick]

We have two cars at home. Maruti 800 (it never had the safety kit) and Dzire VDi. Going for VDi model was a mistake I must admit and we should have waited for some time and got the Z variant for the extra bucks

I will make sure the next purchase will have safety features as standard. And more preferably a car with good build quality (safe like cars from fiat or vw or ford)

[shortbread]

Originally Posted by saket77

......... My next car will have all safety features built-in, i.e. Airbags, ABS, etc. If I cannot afford a new car with these features, I would prefer going the used car way for them. This is all I can say in my defense.

Saket, I fully understand what you are trying to do here and respect for that.

The BIGGEST & MOST IMPORTANT safety feature in a Car is A STRONG PASSENGER CELL

I'll repeat it again for the effect:
The BIGGEST & MOST IMPORTANT safety feature in a Car is A STRONG PASSENGER CELL

Unfortunately time and again members on this forum believe that adding airbags to a car with a monocouque made out of tin foil will save them. IT WILL NOT!!

If you are buying the likes of a maruti car, or a nissan go, its better to save your money. You are safer without an airbags in cars like that. An airbag is fatal in a front collision in a car whose passenger cell deforms.

[Carpainter]

The car I drive is a Polo comfortline bought back in 2010-11. Back then VW used to offer ABS and airbags only on their highline variant. We couldn't go for the highline variant due to budget constraint and comfortline seemed more value for money albeit no safety equipments. This is one of the reasons why I am thinking of selling it because I may not get a good resale value if I hold on to the car for another 2-3 years when hopefully India will have a safety standard required by law for new vehicles.

But my dad uses XUV which is having mostly all of the safety equipments required on our roads.

[chandras1]

My SLE has ABS in addition to seat belts but no airbags :(.

[saket77]

Originally Posted by shortbread

Saket, I fully understand what you are trying to do here and respect for that.

The BIGGEST & MOST IMPORTANT safety feature in a Car is A STRONG PASSENGER CELL

Concur with you on that. No doubt about it. Airbags are SRS - Supplemental Restraint System. The car's monocoque construction, crumple zones form the 'primary' safety features. Hence, no question of any compromise on this aspect.

Originally Posted by shortbread

If you are buying the likes of a maruti car, or a nissan go, its better to save your money. You are safer without an airbags in cars like that. An airbag is fatal in a front collision in a car whose passenger cell deforms.

Though, I do appreciate Maruti for being what it is but I am equivocal in criticizing its safety (or lack of it). Thankfully, being TBHPian, I have gained many insights and I should be in a much better position to take a call than I was 12 years ago. Thanks:

Regards,
Saket

[sourav9385]

Originally Posted by TheLizardKing

...Many forum members (including myself) have been accused of adopting a condescending attitude whenever we have demanded that Indian cars be made safer...I think it is high time we started promoting safe cars as well...

You've hit the proverbial nail on the head with that post, friend!

It is quite surprising to see so many members defending the decision made by an average man/woman to buy a car without paying any regard whatsoever to safety, and mocking or insulting those who do.

I don't understand how the average person takes safety so lightly. I'll NEVER be OK with a car without safety features. At-least the basics like 2 airbags & ABS. It has been my observation that people will always choose an escape route, over facing a problem. Problem in this case being: getting a car with bare minimum safety features that costs more money. And the escape route being: getting a car without any safety features, that costs less money. Given a choice, and as mentioned & supported by multiple members on this forum...

Originally Posted by humyum

...Yes, we may not be buying a Mercedes but for us whatever we buy is our Mercedes, airbag or not, ABS or NOT. Works for us, works for the thousands of Indians who will buy this car every month fulfilling some of their dreams and that is how Indians on a budget roll, problem ?

Hence I sincerely believe that it is up to the manufacturers to promote safety & safe driving. By making ABS+Airbags as standard across the range of all vehicles, the buyer won't have a choice of going for some lower variant without safety features. Eliminate the choice and thereby reduce the chance of selling a vehicle that might fail a crash test. Trying to convince an average Indian that safety is paramount, is like they say in Hindi "Bhains ke aage been bajana"

Originally Posted by drmohitg

...To be honest it is futile to discuss how many balloons are there in your car. Rather we should ask how many of us regularly wear seat belts. Most of the Indian population still wears a seat belt only for escaping a challan and not otherwise. And the cities ( which includes most Indian cities) where the law is not enforced, you won't find a single guy wearing the belt. Heck they don't even respect traffic signals here in Vadodara and Ahmedabad!!

That observation is absolutely spot on Dr. Mohit.

It is genuinely staggering to imagine how one goes around driving a car without doing something as basic as belting up! I don't believe the average Indian will inculcate that as a habit, unless there is a severe penalty associated with it. Look at the sun-film removal drive. Granted, it hasn't been a total success all around the country. Even in Chennai, we still see many personal vehicles going around with super dark tints, through traffic, in the middle of the day, with policemen all around. But even so, the number of cars WITHOUT sun-film, has reduced considerably.

No need to even discuss the helmet rule. No matter how stringent our laws become, the average Indian will always consider the helmet as a fuel tank ornament, or something to hang on the handlebars/rear view mirrors.

[Chetan_Rao]

I drive a 2006 Accent GLE (inherited from my father). No SRS systems on it, but seat-belts are used by every occupant (including the rear-middle one with the lap belt). I'm looking to upgrade in the near future and will buy the safest car I can afford.

The last car purchase decision in my family in 2010 leaned heavily towards a Maruti Suzuki mid-variant hatch, but my father relented to my adamant insistence that I WILL NOT let him drive anything without ABS/Airbags and decent build quality. Dad is now a happy FIGO 1.2P Titanium owner: decent build + ABS + dual airbags. And my mother is in-charge of making sure they're both ALWAYS belted up, distance of commute notwithstanding.

[Tushar]

Aside from the insane level of space, my Honda Jazz came loaded with safety features as standard. Pretensioner seat belts with load limiters, dual airbags, ABS with EBD and BA and a 5 star NCAP crash test rating.

[Altocumulus]

Originally Posted by shortbread

Unfortunately time and again members on this forum believe that adding airbags to a car with a monocouque made out of tin foil will save them. IT WILL NOT!!

If you are buying the likes of a maruti car, or a nissan go, its better to save your money. You are safer without an airbags in cars like that. An airbag is fatal in a front collision in a car whose passenger cell deforms.

So you are saying Japanese / Korean cars with or without airbags are unsafe ??

But how come the VW Polo without airbags got 0 stars even though it has a very solid build and just the addition of 2 airbags shot the rating to 4 stars.

[Vitalstatistiks]

Originally Posted by shortbread

I'll repeat it again for the effect:
The BIGGEST & MOST IMPORTANT safety feature in a Car is A STRONG PASSENGER CELL

Unfortunately time and again members on this forum believe that adding airbags to a car with a monocouque made out of tin foil will save them. IT WILL NOT!!

Since the NCAP results came out, structural rigidity of a vehicle has (rightly) taken center stage. We can confirm the number of airbags with manufacturer, and cross check their location in vehicle, we can confirm if it has ABS and EBD while test driving, but, pray, how does one check "structural rigidity" or "strong passenger cell" in a car ? Happy to learn more about it, but I hope it more than just "it should not feel flimsy".

[Arjun Reddy]

My daily drive is the Punto Emotion. It has ABS and also 2 Airbags. I also have the Neo Elantra which has ESP,ABS and 6 airbags. Also have the good old Maruti 800 which runs errands and doesn't leave my locality. Done 22 k km in 7 years.

[humyum]

Originally Posted by sourav9385

You've hit the proverbial nail on the head with that post, friend!

It is quite surprising to see so many members defending the decision made by an average man/woman to buy a car without paying any regard whatsoever to safety, and mocking or insulting those who do.

I don't understand how the average person takes safety so lightly. I'll NEVER be OK with a car without safety features. At-least the basics like 2 airbags & ABS. It has been my observation that people will always choose an escape route, over facing a problem. Problem in this case being: getting a car with bare minimum safety features that costs more money. And the escape route being: getting a car without any safety features, that costs less money. Given a choice, and as mentioned & supported by multiple members on this forum...

Let me bring some clever arguments to you. You rate safety as paramount, so do most of us BUT the question is safety relative to what ? For a guy riding a bike, a car is a safer option. Airbags or not, ABS or not. He will not fall in the rains and he won't be run over by a truck or bus. His chances of survival are higher in a car than in a bike. That is safety for him.

This is what a car is. Someone migrating from a bike to a car or for someone who has just got a job, budget is PARAMOUNT. Either a bike or invest a little more and a car. They'll think about ABS and Airbags when they can afford one, right now, they can't and what ever is available at the cheapest in terms of efficiency and longevity is what they'll buy. For example, someone looking to buy an ALTO 800 can get a used maybe 3 to 4 year old SWIFT ZXI at that price too. It has Airbags, ABS, fatter tyres etc etc, but what about the KPL? what about the maintenance ? What about the spare parts price ? What about this needing change, that needing change as the car has run for 4 years? Can all that fit the budget? He rather buy an Alto 800 and fill it shut it for a long time except for routine maintenance which is cheap for a cheaper car and hardly would require any changes for 4 years. I ll be under warranty too which is additional peace of mind.

What is so difficult to understand ? This is the real world. My Swift Diesel neither has an ABS nor an Airbag. I'll buy a ZDI later in my life when I can afford one. I rather have a car with 4 wheels than travel on a bike with 2 wheels. That's my definition of safety for now. Like some of us have gone from a bike to a car, we will come up in life and go from a car to a safer car too, but if its expensive, we will remain on a bike for a long time until we can afford a safe car, there will be no stage 2 for us in the form of 'just a car'. Is that cool ?

You were mocked because u called Indian's 'Mango people' for the choices they make. It's like me calling religious people 'retarded' because I am atheist.

[desiaztec]

Originally Posted by TheLizardKing

....Many forum members (including myself) have been accused of adopting a condescending attitude whenever we have demanded that Indian cars be made safer....

Thanks.

LizardKing, demanding that Indian cars be made safer is not condescending, while blaming Suzuki and calling it 'Shameless' was. There are other manufacturers following the same practice too. Although, I agree with you and have voted for ABS + 2 Airbags + more.

It is high time the government should realize as to what's been put up on sale in India. Case in point is the Electroplating and the powder coating industry. Had it not been for the (late) intervention of the government, business owners would still have been using a Cyanide salt for electroplating process and would not have installed effluent treatment plants. Consumers and business owners alike were aware of the health and environment hazards but the industry was flourishing, everyone wanted cosmetic beauty at a cheaper price and only took a hit when stricter laws were implemented. A similar action is needed in the auto industry and road construction business too, otherwise a day would come when Bajaj will come up with a car based on its RE series rickshaw too.

Its also surprising that I frequently see quite a few folks on t-bhp who vouch for ABS yet have a misconception that ABS aids in better braking and making a vehicle come to halt rapidly which is totally untrue.

All this would never have happened if we would have got our driving license as per the rules set out by RTO, but life in India is miserable. All that matters is number of bills in our wallet.

We are not educated when it comes to roads and driving, have not given a behind the wheel test so how are we going to be educated in these aspects; Airbags, ABS, basic safety precautions. Till then the majority of the junta would be oblivious to the fact that driving on high beams is dangerous, not wearing seat belts is dangerous, driving while drinking is not macho but dangerous so on and so forth. It was right when someone had said a while back in t-bhp that his sales advisor had suggested a model of a car sans saftey features because its cheaper, comes with stereo and all cosmetic features and that "Life is in the hands of God".

[Vitalstatistiks]

Originally Posted by humyum

For a guy riding a bike, a car is a safer option. Airbags or not, ABS or not. He will not fall in the rains and he won't be run over by a truck or bus. His chances of survival are higher in a car than in a bike. That is safety for him.

This is what a car is. Someone migrating from a bike to a car or for someone who has just got a job, budget is PARAMOUNT.

Fair enough, quite a common argument. I won't go into the merit of the argument but you will appreciate even this argument only explains why an Alto or the like comes without these safety features. How does that explain a Ciaz or these sub-4 meter sedans (forget the Swifts and i10s) being launched without these features. The bike guy can't afford ABS and airbags in an i10 but needs to jump to C segment ?