Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   Road Safety (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-safety/)

-   -   Safety last? Maruti Chairman Mr. R.C. Bhargava's controversial statements (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-safety/157597-safety-last-maruti-chairman-mr-r-c-bhargavas-controversial-statements-29.html)

That is false premise. How come other manufacturers are able to achieve higher safety ratings at the same price point?

Making vehicles crash worthy may not have any impact on the number of accidents, but it does have a direct correlation with fatality in case of an accident.

They have different selling points. Don't think Tata Motors is making profits yet (just marginally cutting down on losses), lets see how well they price once they increasingly dominate the market (which IMO they will, they price the cars fantastically, even EVs they have the first mover advantage). Tata can afford to take losses as well. This is what I feel, anyways.

And IMO build quality issues, refinement, and most importantly after sales service is VERY lacking when it comes to Tata. For many that's a deal breaker though, and it's undoubtedly better when it comes to MSIL.

Mahindra I guess is pricier, they offer VFM in 15+ segment but that's not what we're talking about, I suppose.

Pages and pages of discussion in ridiculing a Senior Bureaucrat and a successful leader. He is not perfect, and he is not the best. I do not buy or recommend cars made by his company. But this is the very company which has saved thousands or even lakhs of lives by making affordable tin cans and preventing aam junta from travelling in "Minus Starred" two wheelers.

No other manufacturers who give the cars at same price point give reliable engines or many other features at the same price point. Those others who increase safety at the cost of reasonable(not exotic) performance or reliability.

Car per car maruti makes lesser money than many other manufacturers. If not for Maruti we might be third grade dumping ground for the so called "Tank Build" manufacturers.

He is an industry leader and he expresses the logic behind the business he leads. Our responsibility as a common man is to select the car which serves our best interests, budget and safety. Drive responsibly and appropriate to the road conditions.

Note : I own a skoda rapid and I bought it only for its superior safety for my family. I do envy maruti cars for the ease of ownership.

Absolutely! I don't own a Maruti either, but it has made reliable vehicles and fuss free ownership real, even at such insane volumes for a lot of people. They're not perfect by a long shot, but not a fan of this elitist mindset of ditching a manufacturer who has made reliable cars/service a reality. A lot of people whom I know who can afford even a few segment above cars have only gone for Maruti purely for this reliability and fuss free ownership that they have experienced throughout these years.

Sure, have a nuanced discussion about it but I don't understand what comes out of a hate campaign on any manufacturer.

When the country won’t allow any Class Action Lawsuits and our judiciary, insurance and consumer redressal is ignorant such people will thrive.
Least to say - Shame on this person’s insensitivity towards human life.

So they literally govern themselves with no audit or accountability to anyone else?

And their policies regarding bribery and acceptance of gifts felt unconventional and interesting to read.

Sorry but I disagree with you on this Sir. No matter his experience, age, and qualification he can't hide his companies' incompetence in making budget level safe car by putting blame on the other things. He is neither the transport minister nor one responsible for issuing driving license in India. He is the chairman of a car company and his job is to offer best product to the customer period. On a side note, I am relieved he didn't say that GNCAP 4-star and more rated cars are intentionally targeting Maruti cars (as they are unsafe) leading to more accidents.

On the flip side, when he should be brainstorming with other stakeholders on how to make MSIL's entry-level car at global safety standards while keeping it affordable, he is out their blabbering about people, road, and regulations. Clearly shows where his interest lies.

Also, he said that taxes are too high I am just waiting for the day when insurance companies start charging more premium or government put more taxes on unsafe cars (maybe based on Bharat NCAP). Will love to see what his response would be then.

That said, what I fail to understand why it is so difficult to realize that where sure shot death or life-crippling injury is a given in an unsafe car, a safe car can minimize it to minor/major injury. Also, if driving skills of most Indians are so pathetic then wouldn't it be better that everyone drives in safer car so at least safety is accessible to everyone irrespective of their budget. Bottom-line be it Maruti or Hyundai or any other manufacturer for that matter, stop making unsafe car in the guise of making affordable cars. Ignorant India of the past has been long gone that didn't gave priority to safety.

We need to get the below three things right to reduce road accidents.

Safe roads, safe drivers and safe cars.

Its is the duty of the government to ensure safe roads and safe drivers, but we are decades behind in those two areas.


Recently, I was driving towards Chennai city via its sub urban highways, all 4 lanes were swarmed with motorists mostly without helmet. It's just a matter of time that something terrible happens.


Every customer deserves a safe car, and the bar for safety will always be heightened as technology evolves.

Tata is the only manufacturer who makes small (below 10L) cars that pass NCAP test, maruti's big cars fare above average, but their small cars are built to a cost. As customer we have a choice to make depending on our needs, market will mature based on the needs of the customer.

Mr. Bhargava, two wrongs cannot make one right. The problem with unsafe roads and drivers is "cultural" and not technical. What you can do is address the "technical" issue at the least and provide safe cars since you already have the knowledge of this very "cultural" issue. Instead, what you have been doing is taking advantage of this cultural problem and doing the business. It is like saying, we won't provide safe cars until and unless the roads are safe. How ridiculous? We have relatively safe cars in the market even under 10 lac rupee mark. You say that this safety thing is being driven by airbag companies, try adding 6 airbags to S-presso and see if it scores 5 stars.

Iirc, ARAI is an industry body (an example of self-regulation) and any regulations are expected to be slanted towards auto makers - case in point is the move towards undersized spare wheel even for top variants.

For Mr. Bhargava to cite compliance with these regulations is disingenuous when (as rightly pointed out) Maruti does make safer variants of their cars for Western markets. It's a tacit admission that Indian lives aren't worth as much as western ones.

I have already sworn off Maruti cars although I remain a shareholder for the foreseeable future.

Are other manufacturers like Tata, Mahindra, VW, Skoda, Renault, and Nissan manufacturing and selling their cars in different country or do regulations apply differently to them? Is Maruti selling their cars at lesser prices than others?

As far as I know, some of the models from other manufacturers are cheaper than their Maruti counterparts.

Looks like the safety aspect is hitting MSIL where it hurts the most, sales. Their market share is on the decline and that is making Mr. Bhargava frustrated. And with these absurd statements, he is just showing his frustration.

Just a BS6 standards raised prices, I guess it’s time to mandate a strict Bharat NCAP and put passenger safety over profits. The Government can mandate lower taxes for higher safety to edge manufacturers.

Unless there is incentive or policy , manufacturers will not change

I know lol.

I was pointing out what should NOT happen.

This is very simple, He is absolutely right about the poor driving environment and lack of proper regulations to monitor the fitness or road safeness of one of the largest automobile market in the world. But his business mouth takes over his utterly foolish defensive comment against his company's failure in the safety aspect.

Anyone with some logic can make use of his own comments, India is unsafe, so what we need is safer cars than other countries so that we can reduce fatalities while we transform ourselves as well as the country to a better future of safer mobility.

All OEMs should focus on Active as well as passive safety systems while mandating emergency braking, blind spot detection etc as standard equips than a 12 speaker bose sound system.

I would've accepted a loss making, low-sales OEM crying/blaming the country, but MSIL or for Suzuki itself, India is their bread n butter in their global presence and makes huge cash flow by selling multi-fold decade-old platforms and engines with literally no innovation RnD spent.

So in short, Make Safer Cars for the unsafe country, Period.

I couldn't ignore the merit of his comment. Our system of which we are also a part of, is happy as long as the onus of anything and everything is on businesses and citizens. Its like asking people to buy ISI marked helmets and penalizing them for not wearing it and eventually saying "its for your benefit only".
What they don't want to talk about is what has the govt (current and past ones, all) done to provide basic road infrastructure and enforcing existing laws. Does all the roads even have lanes? Wrong side driving and rash driving is rewarding in current setup. What will we do with 5 star rated cars when people are struggling to buy 2 wheelers? Can one honorably get a driving license without paying bribe? How easy is it to challenge a traffic challan?
I have lived with "tank like" built cars and they all had engine troubles within 5-7 yrs including those owned by my friends. Where as same maruti has given us and our parents trouble free years for multiple cars. Maruti is selling what people are buying. I hate everything in their current lineup and their drastic cost cutting measures and class "trailing" power figures of their engines but as a shareholder I wouldn't ask them to change their business model unless the customers show a preference for crash tested cars. They still have 50% market share. I think the management is pretty competent, they rightfully foresaw death of diesel small cars before anyone else. I feel his points have merit. Most death on our road happen due to not following rules than unsafe cars. Not saying that safety to be disregarded but it cannot be a one sided development like having bumper to bumper congested crawling trafic and rules like odd even and then also asking people to buy 5 star crash rated cars. Doesn't make sense in my opinion.
His point on tax is also spot on. Taxes are high since long and I don't see that money being used efficiently used for benefit of industry or users either by buidling road infrastructure or by building public transport. Whats the accountbibilty for those high taxes. On one side we have tolls and also high taxes on vehicles and fuel.
This is just my point of view, not trying to debate any one's comment.