[jbpanda]

Me and my family have been driving Maruti cars most of our lives for their sheer ease of owning and maintaining, reliability, efficiency, after sales and resale. However, over time I have realised the importance of safety features over any other feature or bling or gizmos.

Though I do not own either a Tata or a Mahindra, but it is commendable to note the importance that these Indian manufacturers have given to promote safety in their cars over everything else. I have recently driven my friend's Hexa and the confidence that it inspires due to its sheer weight on the doors is simply amazing. The tank like build quality is evident. For that matter, the thud on the door of my Abarth Punto is reassuring each time that I drive it.

Whether Tata or Mahindra send higher variants for the tests or not is a different aspect altogether. However, the fact remains that their cars are inherently built strong and there are umpteen number of examples from real life accidents where the drivers and passengers have come out without a scratch, which itself speak volumes and we need not go into GNCAP.

While Maruti cars are popular for various other reasons as stated above and affordability of an individual in owning a car is another important factor, particularly from an Indian customer's mindset; however, reckless and callous remarks are simply unacceptable and smacks of arrogance. While undoubtedly they are the market leaders, which is all the more reason that they should act and conduct in a more responsible manner. More so, while dealing with sensitive customers like that in India. It may not happen overnight that customers start considering safety as an essential feature while making the decision of buying a car (when majority of population are ignorant about it) but sooner or later there may be a paradigm shift and the process has already begun. It is always better to step up the game to remain relevant in the market otherwise one never knows when the same market starts betraying the brand. We all saw the fate of Premier Padmini or an Ambassador.

[discoverwild]

Originally Posted by S15

Then why this discrimination for s-presso, deliberately choosing the variant with one airbag, when the two airbag variant was merely 6 thousand rupees more? (see post #5 if not already seen)
.

Variant with the basic safety kit in the heaviest version is tested, simply because a heavier car bears a larger impact. I hope the members bickering here about "favouritism" and "sponsorship" and "discrimination" read up more about GNCAP before arguing about bias.

I have had these arguments with friends who blame the Government for the lack of safety norms and would like vehicles which can do 0-100 faster than "safe" cars. My concluding point to them was "Expecting the Government to come with rules to safeguard you, is like boarding a public bus with a drunk driver". You have a choice. Don't board the bus.

On the road, (saying this with over 10 lakh kms under my belt on cars with no airbags till date), irrespective of how defensive you drive, an accident by its very nature is something you can't foresee. A defensive driver increases his chances of survival a lot. A safer car increases those chances even more.

Think of your loved ones who travel with you or wait for you back home. Stay safe, drive safe. There's always a maniac on the road who's out to ruin your day.

[ron178]

Suzuki South Africa claims yet again that the basic-specification South African S-Presso is safer than the Indian car, during their recent safety campaign in South Africa.

Link to Tweet



Transcript: (Some parts are unclear, indicated by use of <...>)
Suzuki South Africa spokesman: 'When we put the cars in the skid pan <...> 2-channel versus 4-channel ABS, the S-Presso has two airbags, it has force limiters and pretensioners. The people living in India <...>
Participant: Why are they making a different version of the S-Presso?
Suzuki spokesman: Different markets need different variation. So NCAP safety ratings, obviously, the safety rating in South Africa is not <...> safety. So when the Datsun GO came out, it was a zero star, and then they enforced the car has to be one star. So the Datsun GO came with one airbag and ABS. For us, we said no, this is what we want. From the very entry level we've got airbags, force limiters and pretensioners, and ABS. <...>
Participant: So they do the crash test, as well? And I think the Swift was actually quite high ranking on that crash test, that's why <...>

Originally Posted by S15

Then why this discrimination for s-presso, deliberately choosing the variant with one airbag, when the two airbag variant was merely 6 thousand rupees more? (see post #5 if not already seen)

It's because in the segment the S-Presso competes in, six thousand rupees are not 'merely six thousand rupees'. And if they are 'merely six thousand rupees', why does Maruti-Suzuki sell the driver's airbag-only variant in the first place?

Originally Posted by S15

I dont care about what is standard and what is not, I wanted to see what an S-presso with two airbags and a pre-tensioner gets, and I cannot. And I reckon this is deliberate on the part of Global NCAP for sensationalism.

Global NCAP has a widely used sponsorship program, complete with a detailed CSSTR (Car Specification, Sponsorship, Testing and Retesting) protocol. If Maruti Suzuki wanted, they could have sponsored a test on a better equipped S-Presso to showcase to consumers the importance of the additional optional safety features. However, if a manufacturer sponsors a test on a variant that has more safety equipment than standard, the manufacturer will also be required to sponsor a test on a variant of the most basic safety specification. Like the Honda Mobilio, the Volkswagen Polo, the Tata Zest and the fourth Renault Kwid. The definition of safety equipment, in the CSSTR protocol, is:

“Safety Equipment” is defined as that equipment which is overtly aimed at improving safety. It includes but is not necessarily limited to:
 Restraint systems, including head restraints, child restraints and anchorages
 Knee and leg protection
 Breakaway pedal arrangements
 Pedestrian friendly devices, unless they are only required for particular engine
compartment packages
 Seat belt reminder systems
 Safety marking/labels and switches

It does not include:
 Engine/transmission volume
 Road wheel/tyre size
 Sunroof

The higher variants of the tested Tatas had no non-standard safety equipment. Tata likely sponsored a higher variant because the crash test footage was expected to be used widely in advertising and they probably wouldn't want to feature the variant with steel wheels and a body-coloured B pillar in their advertisements. If the sponsored variants had any non-standard safety equipment, Global NCAP would require that Tata sponsor a test on a basic variant.

One of the objectives of Global NCAP is to improve the safety levels offered as standard on the market. For this reason, Global NCAP selects the most basic safety equipment that is on sale in the relevant Global NCAP market, but allows the manufacturer to demonstrate the advantage of better equipped variants.

2.4.1 Introduction
Car manufacturers often wish to sponsor a car so that the results may be published at a preferred time, such as right before or after the car’s public launch, or to show the passive safety performance of a car variant that is better equipped than the basic safety variant sponsored by Global NCAP. In such cases, car manufacturers can nominate and sponsor cars to be tested and rated by Global NCAP.

In case the manufacturer wants to sponsor a car with optional equipment that does not meet the fitment rate, this can only be in addition to a test of the lowest safety variant.

[darkfantasy]

The SA version only has Passenger side airbags + force limiters and pre-tensioners extra. This version is the same as the VXI plus/ VXI(O) variant.

I do not think this would mean much improvement in the rating. The most the S-Presso can get without further structural improvements would be 2 stars - even that is highly doubtful since SWIFT itself got 2 stars only.

Maruti needs to discard this heartect platform itself and redesign their cars ground up or use their global C platform just like S-Cross and Brezza.

And we need to use our vehicles responsibly. I still see people keeping kids in the lap of their parents in the front seat. And some even buckle up - which means in the event of a frontal collision the airbags will explode on the face of their children. I once saw a kid in the lap of the father(assuming) in the driver's seat(!) itself. I noticed because the car was unnecessarily honking - no points for guessing who was honking