[nerd1200]

Apart from the lack of general awareness about a car's safety credentials, I feel it's the "glitter" factor. Manufacturers tend to load the cars with goodies like ventilated seats while profiting off thin sheet metal.

Exhibit-1: i20 Nine has 6 Airbags to boast of apart from gazillion other features. However if you examine the sheet metal of the car, it's pathetic. Almost every panel flexes to a thumb press. Even with airbags I'm sure it'll barely get 3-stars if tested. Thing is if the whole car is a crumple zone, there isn't much a couple extra airbags can do.

Exhibit-2: A 40 lakh Rupee(s) Tucson gets 0 Stars, who would've thought?!

[aravindhunt]

Eventhough I'm a newbie, i'm following this forum for a quite long time. Whenever there is a crash test result, there is hue and cry like, nobody is going to purchase that product and because of the crash test rating the company is going to shut shop. But when i see the car sales analysis, the next month, there is hardly any difference in their sales trend, with respect to the crash testing.

I agree to the fact that, there is increase in awareness towards safety, but the percolation is segment wise. My suggestion is, different people across different segment will have their choice differently.

I for one agreed to the fact that, whatever happens in the public road is not entirely upto me. For that, i have decided that, i will contribute to the safety by whatever means i'm capable of, by being a responsible driver, not to indulge in road rage, chose a variant that has more air bags, eventhough i had to stretch a little bit in the budget.
When i took delivery of my car, i prayed to almighty that, no one should, either inside or outside of the car, should suffer, because of the vehicle.

[Rehaan]

Really liked your well thought out poll options, and the fact that it's a multiple-choice poll... because as the results show, there's many facets to the problem, and they all have to be addressed.

There's no doubt education and awareness is the root change that will trickle down to solve almost all of the other "reasons".

Snapshot of the results at the moment:

[AutoDowntowner]

I would like to share an anecdote here.
When I joined a Tier 1 company (automobile part supplier company) in 2007 in Pune, I was going thru a Technical Product Introduction training which was conducted by a senior management person. He was teaching us about Car seat systems & he told an incidence:
A Japanese customer was about visit our plant in Pune & our company sent him a car to pick him up from Mumbai airport. When he entered the car, he immediately denied & called our HR person. When HR guy asked the reason, the Japanese guy said "the car do not have Head rest & all seems to be removed".
This was a normal practice by the cab drivers then.
Even after rounds of convincing, he did not take that car.
Our company had to allot him another proper car, then he agreed & came to Pune.

[Sarinkrc]

If vehicle safety was priority i am sure Maruti's sales would dwindle because most of their vehicles have poor crash test rating. Lack of awareness on safetyy and overconfidence that nothing wouldn't happen to driver are some reasons why people aren't bothered.

[chaitanyakrish]

There will be be situations on road where some of them we can control, some we cannot control.

A trained driver understands the risks at every situation and can take a rational decision, whether to put himself in that danger zone or not.

We do not need a collision to cause an accident, even wet slippery roads without any vehicles can also cause an accident.

Avoidance is much better than correction, after an error in judgement is made while driving.

A trained driver avoids known risks and always prepared for unknown risks.

An untrained driver puts himself in risk zone and expects luck to favor him/her.

[saikishor]

I would say Indians not prioritising safety is because of the way these automobile companies prioritise things.


Tata and Mahindra prioritise safety, but compromise in many other things. Tata doesn't care about reliability and service quality. Mahindra suffers from questionable service quality, as reported in many TBHP reviews. Some customers move away from these brands due to this reason despite prioritising safety. I am not sure as to how much of an investment it would take for Tata and Mahindra to build reliable products and enhance their service quality.

And then there are some customers who choose brands like,let's say Hyundai and Kia for good service. I have heard good reviews about Kia's service but Hyundai has complaints about pricey service. Of course there might be a large fraction of people who opt for Hyundai Kia for features but I would not dive into that right now. It's not that customers opting for Hyundai Kia don't prioritise safety, but have preferences elsewhere. I am not sure as to how much money Hyundai Kia saves by reducing steel in their cars. A 40 lac Tucson receiving zero stars is absolutely ridiculous.

Companies can easily maintain a balance of things by making amendments. How hard is it for Tata to improve their QC? How hard is it for them to look into their service part, do the root cause analysis and correct it to customer satisfaction?

It's not about Indians not prioritising safety, but it is about companies prioritising other things.

[vb-saan]

I think lack of awareness + the administration’s (lack of) push to mandate certain safety basics. If the latter is absent, manufacturers obviously will find loopholes to exclude safety features and go with all possible cost-cutting options (hence we still see cars with lap belts for the rear middle seat, inferior quality of sheet metal compared to export models, etc.).

We used to see govt. backed advertisements ill effects of tobacco and so on before a movie start. Something along those lines about the importance of seatbelts can be a good start.

[varun.petro]

Safety education and awareness can't be the reason. Highly educated and aware people living in cities like Gurugram, Bangalore buy the most number of Seltos and Cretas, despite clearly knowing that these are unsafe.

Small city people are more simple and put reliability above all and thus mostly choose Maruti.

Its not safety awareness but attitude problem and overconfidence in oneself, hoping nothing bad would happen. Its more of a cultural issue wherein we are choosing to ignore hard facts and selecting convenience above all.

[automowheels]

Even today, buyers in India mostly value features over safety. Say car X offers ventilated seats and a 10-inch touchscreen, but an unstable body structure rating, and car Y offers basic comforts (such as AC, etc.) but a stable body structure rating, and both X and Y cost the same, people tend to lean towards car X. For most of us, features>>safety.

[shresan23]

The safety awareness and a general sense of safety is pathetic in India. This is mainly due to the feeling of "being invincible" or the nonchalant shrug by youngsters these days. I am a youngster too, but lets just say that i dont like to group myself with those high octane loving speedos with their fancy bikes. Dont get me wrong here, i love speed. Just that speed belongs in a track, in a regulated atmosphere and an atmosphere where a mishap is likely to affect only you, rather than tens of others. We owe the world that much, in the least.

The other main factor being, no sense. I give it to you, it may seem a bit crude or a bit rude too (no rhyme intended). The point is, some people dont give two hoots about others and seem to have taken a long hiatus from common sense. I see people everyday committing brash acts without logic and then blaming others for their fault. I guess, no amount of government intervention can change that, except of course, harsh fines and punishment

[UD17]

Originally Posted by saikishor

I would say Indians not prioritising safety is because of the way these automobile companies prioritise things.

I don't think these two are distantly related. Evident in the results of this poll as well.

A seatbelt is given in front/rear, why not to use them, Why not drive within speed limits, How difficult it is to be in your lane, why sudden lane departure, why not use all rear view mirrors, how difficult is to avoid phone during driving etc. etc. I think all these are not linked with the automobile OEM priorities at all rather depend on priority of that individual.

[Sunny87]

When I was in the market to buy a car 10 years ago, I was strictly looking for models with atleast dual airbags, which were at that point available only on the top end versions of some cars.

I distinctly remember salespersons of Maruti, etc telling me that airbags and abs are not needed, cars are in general much more safer, etc etc. The point is as long as the manufacturers keep on making cars without safety features, people will continue to buy them. Safety is still not a priority and information about ncaap star ratings are still mostly ignored by most buyers. Is it lack of awareness or apathy, but folks ( including my family folks) go more for features than actual sturdiness of the car.

The sad part is even if whether we like it or not unless it is mandated by the government things won't change.

[SulemanP]

No one would like to be hurt after he/she brings a vehicle for travel either from enthusiast's point of view or from a layman perspective. Hence to be safe or to be safe in a vehicle, this point is taken by default by everyone but it is always in the back of the mind.
Never it happens that a purchaser of a vehicle will enquire about how many airbags are there in the vehicle and what are the safety features in the vehicle critical for one to be safe.

Never it happens that we 1st try to ascertain what is the safety quotient while comparing the vehicle with its competition. Generally we think about other features mostly entertainment related or related to passenger comfort and there are many more reasons to add over here.

Very few of us really think of safety while purchasing a vehicle either new or old.

People are slowly getting aware of this point but its a long way ahead before we minimize or end the casualties in road accidents. So all in all lack of awareness is the key to buy the vehicle sans any safety feature.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by MaheshY1

My kid no longer needs reminders and buckling up has become like a ritual when traveling.

Kudos to you! Ultimately this is what will make us more safety-conscious- what we are taught as children or what the person who teaches us tells us to do when we start driving, riding. The government can do its bit through more stringent regulation and enforcement. It will take a couple of generations but it will happen.