Airbag - A luxury or safety feature?

Interestingly enough, the Airbag sizes are different for USA and Europe. USA has bigger airbags based on the assumption that you have to save a life considering that the driver might not have his seat belt on. In Europe, it is based on the assumption that you have your seat belt on. What's the Indian standard?

Btw, the i-20 offers the option of turning off the Passenger Air-Bag.

Lastly, I sent a scathing letter to Tata Motors asking them if they valued a South African customer's life more than an Indian customer's life. Their reply was some corporate bull$hit about catering to the needs of their customers in all markets and following regulations in every market they operate in. What annoys me the most is that these cars are manufactured in India - so why not just offer them to your Indian consumer?

Well jvalant, I guess it has got to do with country-specific statutes. If something is not explicitly stated then it is interpreted as per company's profits. For example, perhaps the Indian standard does not specify safety features of the same nature (or clarity) as that of the EU or US. And that's why the cars made for India do not have the same safety features as their EU or US counterparts. Second is enforcement - how strict the enforcement of those standard is determines how much the manufacuters will provide thise features...

I think it has taken long for India to follow standeeds of Europe or US... take an example of seat belt..Helmets... we were way behind.. but its catching up fast.

within 2 to 3 years from Now most of the CAr makers should provide Air bags & I also hope & wish that by then the awareness for safty is been transformed even in the small villages & they also start wearing seatbelts understanding it simportance.

Car makers will follow the awareness trasformed in to the need & they will provide all the safty features equivilant to the westeren countries.

The lack of airbags as standard is only due to the lack of regulation. When the seatbelts were made compulsory, each and ever manufacuter made the same standard(so also for the headlamp leveling device).

Implementation will not be a problem at all as the RTO registration will not take place without the government approved features as standard.

It not the apathy of Tata motors alone but that of the Indian government who does not make Airbags and ABS as standard-India being the highest country with Road morbilities!

I agree with Binoy .. Also i think Pros & Cons. of Air bags I would say there are more Pros. While you are out in your car in India or any where in the world yuo can come accross any kind of incident which can harm you..This is just a mean to take care of probebility of any eventuality in worst case scinario...

This is an option open if can save your life. better then life insurance where your family enjoys the benifit .. rather here you your self is been awarded a life & enjoy the benifit...I would bet for this premium

You know what scares me the most is that autorickshaw. Firstly it looks like it is about to tumble over and any point of time. Secondly the meter is placed in such a way - forget the airbags - that thing is going to ram into my chest in an accident. Honda has said that from now on, all its cars in India will be launched with Airbags and ABS as standard equipment. Skoda follows the principle on all its models (not ABS).

Once the volume players start offering the same as standard then there will be a change.

Its commendable on the part of Honda/Skoda to do so, but at the prices at which those models sell the customer par se demands airbags/ABS(due to awareness/changed customer demographic).

I however bet on going for the safety features even thiugh you pay extra money. It may not be so comfortable on the pocket but you cant know when times turn against you. Be it a one time feature or not, once if it saves your life then i think thats more than enough.

"It not the apathy of Tata motors alone but that of the Indian government who does not make Airbags and ABS as standard-India being the highest country with Road morbilities!" and they themself if go to buy a car it will have all worldly safety features & other worldly ICE....

@ binoy,pankaj,banwari lal sharma

i recently met with an major accident...when an speeding elantra (must be around 100-120 kmph) banged in my rear (i10)..the impact was so great that my car turned 180 degrees and stoped on divider....luckily there was no one in rear seat....since me and my father was belted in front seat ..we were firmly secured by seat belts..so much so that we did not even felt the impact (again underlinening importance of using seat belts)... lucky to escape unscrached

>do you think the seat played important role in reducing the impact..?

>how differently would a seatbelt with pre-tensioner have behaved in this situation...(i dont have one) ..considering that i hardly moved away from the seat?

>would air bags been deployed in this situation (rear collision)?

>i was told by a technical person that impact on us was less because of mono-chasis in new cars,although the car has been badly damaged form rear

>my rear seats have dislocated and have moved towards the front...are rear seat belts really helpful?