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-   -   Datsun Go to get safer - will get stronger body, airbags, ABS (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-safety/161887-datsun-go-get-safer-will-get-stronger-body-airbags-abs-2.html)

Why blame just Datsun - the most popular car - Hyundai i10 also had 0 stars. i10 has done more damage compared to Go


https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=48mZVBYTzvI

Kudos to Nissan for taking a step in the right direction unlike other manufacturers whose director thinks Indians are far safer to travel in an unsafe car compared to a bike. Atleast Nissan has the courtesy to admit their mistakes and correct them.

Suzuki sells Swift in Europe (UK for instance) and which has Euro NCAP rating of 5 out of 5 while Swift they sell here has a rating of 2 (I believe). So basically the Swift we buy here is different compared to the one they sell in Europe (Body strength, ABS, Airbag etc).

I think Datsun will also come something like this.

While it is no doubt laudable that Nissan admitted the weakness in Go and try to improve it, shouldnt we be concerned that the manufacturers who have added safety measures are not the biggest players in whichever segments they operate in (exception of Toyota Innova)

Who can rein in Maruti, Hyundai, Tata and M&M ?

Ethically speaking should there not be a recall for the cars which are on the roads to add these reinforcements ?

Not just Datsun, there are many models whose structures are unsafe. The production of all such models should be stopped immediately by the respective makers. If people don't buy cars with airbags, it is the duty of the Govt to stop the sale of cars without airbags in the first place. I want a gun but I can't get it right? Similarly if I want a car without airbags & ABS, it shouldn't be available for me to buy it.

First of all, efforts by Nissan to improve the safety levels on the Go are commendable. Especially, after (a) the kind of response the Nissan top honcho provided to the NCAPs' suggestion to stop producing the car and (b) our Indian guys proposing lowering the bars for safety evaluation for cars in India.

I do not wish to deviate from the topic here, but it's important to look at the psyche of the typical Indian car buyer. IMHO, majority of cars in India are bought considering two parameters - brag/snob value and cost/fuel economy. Safety is (usually) never on the list.

So, will Nissans' efforts make the car safer? Probably yes. Will the India reward Nissan by buying the Go with airbags and ABS instead of say a Hyundai or a Maruti? Hmm...

We, the buyers can. But only if we insist on safety and if we completely stop buying cars without adequate safety features. Will that happen within the lifetime of the Datsun Go (With ABS and airbags)? Hmm again...

But what about those who have already purchased the Go/Go Plus? Better sheet metal at the same price would hurt these owners the most.
But how are they going to make better body frames?
Are they going to replace the dies?
Or just use better grade metal for the body. Many of these doubts will be cleared when the new GO is test-driven on the forum.

'Lets not buy their cars until they provide safety equipment' isn't really a viable argument, esp. in a country with no real passenger safety standards and where the top two manufacturers (Maruti & Hyundai) command nearly two-thirds of the passenger car market.

Waiting for the Indian consumer to mature to safety aspects will probably never happen except in small urban pockets, for various socio-economic reasons. We need regulation NOW and if SIAM protests, let them. What can they really do, stop sales in India? About time the govt. called the cartel's bluff.

Its a welcome move by Nissan to finally acknowledge the issue. Selling a car with a weak structure (knowingly) is just not done, but there are compulsions. The market is full of tin cans and to make a dent in the entry segment, one has to be competitively priced vis a vis the market leader, aka Maruti Suzuki. If you do not bring a competitive product to market, you won't be able to sell, at least not the volumes you need in the entry segment.

So Nissan compromised. Compromised on the grade of steel, the reinforcements, the plastics, the upholstery, the tyres, heck, they did whatever they had to, just so that they could get a toehold in the immensely competitive marketplace. Towards this goal, they were aided by a very pliable ARAI, SIAM, and non existent automotive safety standards.

But NCAP was a fly in the ointment, and pointed out the glaring lack of safety features in a modern day vehicle sold by a global brand name, sales took a beating, and Nissan were pilloried by one and all for compromising people's lives.

Finally, to help improve the sales, they had to improve their image, so they had to take this step. The challenger cannot be seen as having an unsafe product, and still notch up sales. Of course the leader can continue merrily, till the sales drops a notch.

It will be interesting to see if Maruti sees a dent in their sales of Alto once the new Datsun Go is launched. Kind of a cross roads moment in the entry segment of the Indian automobile industry.

In the absence of stringent government prescribed crash safety norms (I don't know when the proposed norms are going to come into effect), the only hope we have is Global-NCAP testing more India-made cars, especially in the sub 1 million rupee price bracket. Obviously, many of them would still get out for a duck on NCAP's frontal offest test (thanks to the lack of even a driver airbag on the base variant), but as we have already seen, it does tend to prod at least some manufacturers into taking corrective action.

Pressure from the media (new age & social media, rather than the mainstream ones), direct competitors and the car buying public may do the rest.

It's not a rosy scenario, but we need to be patient. Rome was not built in a day. It may take a year or two (or more) for the Indian market to catch up with even ASEAN & Latin American markets on the safety front, let alone Europe & North America.

Unfortunately, a recall is not going to make the Datsuns that have already been sold any safer. It simply wouldn't work.

Even fitting airbags on a car that doesn't have a provision for them is very difficult at the dealer workshop level. It has to be done at the factory.

In case of the Go, it is more than even fitting airbags. There are structural modifications, which simply cannot be done at the workshop level. I guess they are going to use higher strength steel and additional structural members on the upcoming cars.

What Nissan can do though, is to stop the sale of Datsun cars immediately and take back the ones in stock at the factory and dealer yards. For existing customers, they can offer a generous buyback and/or exchange scheme. Will they do it? I have my doubts.

Ethics is a tricky word and it is equally applicable to manufacturers and the customers. Someone who purchased a Go after last November knew about the safety concerns and still went ahead with their purchase because of budget constraints. In case he didn't know, it shows a lack of research which is again his fault considering how this news had come in mainstream media as well. If a customer can prioritize money and features over safety without being unethical, I don't think we should hold the car companies accountable on moral or ethical grounds since they made cars that met the rules put by our government. It is the government and the ARAI that should be blamed for not improving the mandatory safety standards for new models.

Companies expect people to sell their existing cars and buy a newer one - that is their business model. Whoever is willing to pay for this safety cost can sell their car and buy a new car, sacrificing the loss on resale and the added cost of new car. Those who think the price difference is not worth the added safety has already undervalued safety and I don't see the company being ethically responsible to give such a "low cost item" as a free retrofit to them. Whoever wants to retrofit their car with high grade steel can probably order a new chassis and throw out the old one but that would be costlier than selling off the current car and buying a new one with better steel.

If there were 2 equivalent versions of Go with a price difference of ~50k for high tensile steel, majority of the current customers would have still opted for the feature-rich "top end" variant with low grade steel instead of a similarly priced base variant with higher grade steel. If there is someone who can afford the top-end high grade steel variant, he would probably buy a bigger car instead. This is sadly the general purchasing trend of Indian buyer across the board when it comes to safety features.

Would anyone want to bet on Maruti following suit? I don't think so at the moment. The only pressure they are likely to relent would be public awareness and bias towards Indian models with highest NCAP ratings.

Still, the first step should be making everyone aware how safe their car is. The star rating system in electrical equipments have worked wonders, with even people not having the faintest idea what it means are now inclined towards higher star rated equipments. A similar system on safety with cars would definitely work.

GNCAP could test the Datsun Go again mid 2015! More Indian cars could be tested.

http://www.autocarpro.in/news-nation...ars-india-8016

Maruti will say that they are doing a favour to the Indian consumer by lowering the cost of the car so that he can upgrade from a two wheeler.

On a serious note, the major problem lies in the government norms. Even if Datsun Go releases the new car with 100 megapascal with ABS & Airbags, nobody's gonna notice.

Let's see what the Bharat New Vehicle Safety Assessment program does. Hope there is no loophole in that as well.

I'm still sure a lot of indian cars have compromised chassis for cost cutting. Maruti and honda are the first one that come to my mind. In fact you guys will be amazed at how my "better built" third gen city held up against a car with thick sheet metal. Since that day I and my family promised to never buy a honda and avoid japenese altogether. Good move by datsun but I don't think sales would be effected since the targeted customers are not exactly paranoid about safety.