Lack of Safety in Indian Cars – A Serious Concern

[jayadev]

Re: Lack of Safety in Indian Cars – A Serious Concern?

I dont know where this thread is headed ,if i remeber it right we already discussed abs,airbag thingie in past.
If safety is the real concern then the dependency on automated devices are going to take you nowhere other than we buyers shedding extra money, nothing else .
Again if safety is real concern then stiffened chasis and five point seat belt is the way to go. Now let me know how many of you who were so much arguing for safer car can buy this Idea?

i dont know who cooked this idea that airbags deploy only if seat belts are worn. But I have heard about impact sensors (and acceleerometors which calculate G force) and deploys the airbags .or maybe seatbelt relation hold valid for passenger seat airbag. A driver is at high risk incase seat belt sensors fail and many a time depending upon the physic of driver the seat belt tension will vary randomly for a sure shot actuation.

 

[dharmesh]

Re: Lack of Safety in Indian Cars – A Serious Concern?

I dont know where this thread is headed ,if i remeber it right we already discussed abs,airbag thingie in past.
If safety is the real concern then the dependency on automated devices are going to take you nowhere other than we buyers shedding extra money, nothing else .
Again if safety is real concern then stiffened chasis and five point seat belt is the way to go. Now let me know how many of you who were so much arguing for safer car can buy this Idea?

i dont know who cooked this idea that airbags deploy only if seat belts are worn. But I have heard about impact sensors (and acceleerometors which calculate G force) and deploys the airbags .or maybe seatbelt relation hold valid for passenger seat airbag. A driver is at high risk incase seat belt sensors fail and many a time depending upon the physic of driver the seat belt tension will vary randomly for a sure shot actuation.

I have never heard of such thing that airbags deploy only if seat belts are worn. You have heard right about impact sensors and thats the way it is working as per my knowledge. The other thing I know is if you hit brrakes hard, seat belt gets stuck holding you behind only and I have experienced it many times and was also informed to me by SE.

 

[Iron Rock]

Re: Lack of Safety in Indian Cars – A Serious Concern?

In some cars its true airbag deployment is dependent on seat belts. This is done for safety reasons.

There is an SRS mentioned in airbags as they are designed to work in tandem with seat belts.Btw the airbag also gets deflated immediately as you are not meant to get suffocated on an inflated airbag. So basically the design is your seat belt gets tensioned and your airbags deploy next all happens in microseconds offcourse - ideally this should minimise damage.
Please do note that an airbag is essentially an exploding device meant to open in micro seconds and save lives but it will also inevitably cause injuries if not used in conjuction with a seat belt.

Real life accidents are extremely complex, no matter how much we simulate with crash test dummies in controlled environments.

 

[VivekRj.Dieselhead]

Re: Lack of Safety in Indian Cars – A Serious Concern?

I think the topic getting cool down, which is not a good sign for such a crucial topic which is not been addressed for such long period and for such a long time.
May be most of the things are not in our hands but still discussions on the topic may give some way out.
I hereby invite some of the members, to help us give proper view to the thread like
@rightnow, @350Z, @nozzlering, @raj_5004, @codename47, @type-r, @TSIVipul, @vishnuramachandran.

I have also requested to Vibhor, to add the polls to this thread, so as to make things little better in decision making out of most selling cars in india.

 

[VivekRj.Dieselhead]

Re: Lack of Safety in Indian Cars – A Serious Concern?

A small article related to the thread.Check out these dangerous luxury cars! - Rediff.com Business

 

[Raja]

Re: Lack of Safety in Indian Cars – A Serious Concern?

A small article related to the thread.Check out these dangerous luxury cars! - Rediff.com Business

Vivek why have you not included the jaaz and brio in the list they do have safety options too . Even the micRa petrol comes with abs , airbags as standard .
Well here is some good news

http://articles.economictimes.india...32425112_1_defect-chevrolet-cruze-tata-motors

 

[Rightnow]

Re: Lack of Safety in Indian Cars – A Serious Concern?

My views:
I strongly feel that the first principle of a safe car is 'driving safe', same goes for anything that runs on wheels. A heavy built, strong make of the car makes us 'feel' safe and confident though practically they may not be safe in case of an accident. Definitely, a car with airbags is safer than one without them. No doubts here.

At the same time, its not just cars that fill the roads, we have bikes, autos, public transport etc. By the standards of safety, I think they are far behind what we get in cars. So, effectively when we are on road its 'safe drive' which makes the vehicle safe.

I don't think that the primary concern is airbags, abs or build quality- its the traffic rules and regulations and safe infrastructure which take primary position as far as safety on Indian roads is concerned.
Why not broader roads, why not proper red lights, why not more strict traffic rules, why so many autorickshaws which occupy 70% of roads and behave like monkeys, why not strict regulations for public transport?
Once infra and rules are at place, airbags and abs would be far more beneficial than they are in today's scenario.

This is why I am finding it hard to vote one particular car from the poll. Still thinking over it...

 

[Iron Rock]

Re: Lack of Safety in Indian Cars – A Serious Concern?

Hi Vivek you seem to be very passionate about raising the issue of safety, kudos to you for that. There are just a few fundamental items i wanted to raise or differ from your original post.

Automobile manufacturers are in a business of making automobiles and hence things would be predominantly driven by demand, innovation and competition. You mentioned why manufacturers make cars without abs or airbags, whereas as a consumer i would ask why we are we buying cars without abs/airbags - it then becomes a supply/demand issue and automatically you would have automobile manufacturers starting to emphasize on safety.

The fundamental problem we have is our general awareness of safety equipment and the tendency to feel i dont need it(automotive forum members are usually well aware but what about the rest of the world outside it), its akin to insurance you continue to feel the pinch while paying premiums and look for cheaper premiums but the moment you reap a heavy benefit out of it, you feel magnificently intelligent and proud of yourself for such astute decision making.

I read some years back that manufacturers will soon be put through a star rating process for each vehicle for fuel efficiency - now this is happening predominantly because the whole country has a "kitna deti hai"(How much Average does it give) tendency. Similarly if we have a "kitni jaan leti hai"(How many lives has it taken) statistics instead suddenly you will realise which ones are safer or which is not. I feel having a some form of Indian standard for crash test and safety rating is also very essential. ARAI has to do a lot more here i think.

All said and done as consumers/drivers we need to be safe while driving and raise driving safety issues and awareness about safety equipment - hopefully over the years then things will change.

 

[VivekRj.Dieselhead]

Re: Lack of Safety in Indian Cars – A Serious Concern?

Vivek why have you not included the jaaz and brio in the list they do have safety options too . Even the micRa petrol comes with abs , airbags as standard .

I tried to include most of the cars but max limit for options is just 15, so tried to put most selling(popular) cars.

My views:
I strongly feel that the first principle of a safe car is 'driving safe', same goes for anything that runs on wheels. A heavy built, strong make of the car makes us 'feel' safe and confident though practically they may not be safe in case of an accident. Definitely, a car with airbags is safer than one without them. No doubts here.

At the same time, its not just cars that fill the roads, we have bikes, autos, public transport etc. By the standards of safety, I think they are far behind what we get in cars. So, effectively when we are on road its 'safe drive' which makes the vehicle safe.

I don't think that the primary concern is airbags, abs or build quality- its the traffic rules and regulations and safe infrastructure which take primary position as far as safety on Indian roads is concerned.
Why not broader roads, why not proper red lights, why not more strict traffic rules, why so many autorickshaws which occupy 70% of roads and behave like monkeys, why not strict regulations for public transport?
Once infra and rules are at place, airbags and abs would be far more beneficial than they are in today's scenario.

This is why I am finding it hard to vote one particular car from the poll. Still thinking over it...

See buddy, i really appreciate your concern related to road safety, i think its a big issue, but what we have in our hands is to buy cars. Its in our hands what we choose, so better to choose safe cars and increase their sale which will definitely impact the sale of other cars and hence will force the manufacturers to think about the reason.

Hi Vivek you seem to be very passionate about raising the issue of safety, kudos to you for that. There are just a few fundamental items i wanted to raise or differ from your original post.

Automobile manufacturers are in a business of making automobiles and hence things would be predominantly driven by demand, innovation and competition. You mentioned why manufacturers make cars without abs or airbags, whereas as a consumer i would ask why we are we buying cars without abs/airbags - it then becomes a supply/demand issue and automatically you would have automobile manufacturers starting to emphasize on safety.

The fundamental problem we have is our general awareness of safety equipment and the tendency to feel i dont need it(automotive forum members are usually well aware but what about the rest of the world outside it), its akin to insurance you continue to feel the pinch while paying premiums and look for cheaper premiums but the moment you reap a heavy benefit out of it, you feel magnificently intelligent and proud of yourself for such astute decision making.

I read some years back that manufacturers will soon be put through a star rating process for each vehicle for fuel efficiency - now this is happening predominantly because the whole country has a "kitna deti hai"(How much Average does it give) tendency. Similarly if we have a "kitni jaan leti hai"(How many lives has it taken) statistics instead suddenly you will realise which ones are safer or which is not. I feel having a some form of Indian standard for crash test and safety rating is also very essential. ARAI has to do a lot more here i think.

All said and done as consumers/drivers we need to be safe while driving and raise driving safety issues and awareness about safety equipment - hopefully over the years then things will change.

Thanks guys for giving such a valuable comments over the topic, i wanna make every prospective buyer aware about safety.

 

[Raja]

Re: Lack of Safety in Indian Cars – A Serious Concern?

I tried to include most of the cars but max limit for options is just 15, so tried to put most selling(popular) cars.


See buddy, i really appreciate your concern related to road safety, i think its a big issue, but what we have in our hands is to buy cars. Its in our hands what we choose, so better to choose safe cars and increase their sale which will definitely impact the sale of other cars and hence will force the manufacturers to think about the reason.




Thanks guys for giving such a valuable comments over the topic, i wanna make every prospective buyer aware about safety.



Guys i request to all the members to vote cars assuming as if they are base models and do not have any electronic safety devices like abs, ebd, airbag, traction control, etc...
I think its definitely gonna help us choose a true safe car.

how can we vote that way ? I don't understand it will be just guess work which is not a right way to vote taking into consideration this is a serious issue .
Just to give a example some 1 will vote for tata indica which maybe or not maybe safe right ? Our perceptions about which car is safe really don't matter when the car really meets a accident .

 

[VivekRj.Dieselhead]

Re: Lack of Safety in Indian Cars – A Serious Concern?

how can we vote that way ? I don't understand it will be just guess work which is not a right way to vote taking into consideration this is a serious issue .
Just to give a example some 1 will vote for tata indica which maybe or not maybe safe right ? Our perceptions about which car is safe really don't matter when the car really meets a accident .

I think you are right buddy that is why edited my post.

 

[vishnunarayanan]

Re: Lack of Safety in Indian Cars – A Serious Concern?

The poll options under 'Which one of these is a safer car in your opinion?' are having a large number of safer cars which can built tough which include skoda rapid, VW polo , vento etc.
Its better to have multiple choice option ie. ability to choose more than 1 car at a time.
So I would rank VW Polo, Skoda Rapid, VW Vento and Skoda Fabia as the top 4 safest cars.

 

[VivekRj.Dieselhead]

Re: Lack of Safety in Indian Cars – A Serious Concern?

The poll options under 'Which one of these is a safer car in your opinion?' are having a large number of safer cars which can built tough which include skoda rapid, VW polo , vento etc.
Its better to have multiple choice option ie. ability to choose more than 1 car at a time.
So I would rank VW Polo, Skoda Rapid, VW Vento and Skoda Fabia as the top 4 safest cars.

I agree with your point buddy, but limitations makes us helpless sometime.
BTW, polls will give somewhat precise results but post will give the accurate result.
I wanted to see this kind of post since beginning having really safe cars. Anyways better late then never.

I wanna bother all the members a little bit more, Please give reasons after voting a car, why did you vote it

 

[TSIVipul]

Re: Lack of Safety in Indian Cars – A Serious Concern?

Well in my views the basic reason why safety is compromised at its best in Indian market is the Indian buyer himself.
Why?Because in India people pay for seats,engine,FE,body shell,A/C,power steering and power windows.
But when it comes to ABS and airbags then they feel that the car is a bit too expensive or the money will be wasted.

I voted for VW vento,BTW I wanted to vote for Linea and Vento both.
Why?Because they have got all the essential safety features with a tough built body shell too.

 

[jayadev]

Re: Lack of Safety in Indian Cars – A Serious Concern?

Let me rephrase what I have been saying.
Safety should be concerned with Drivers in India than cars.
Road manners and disciples should be made stricter .Then you will see ABS and airbags becomes redundant accessories.