Airbag - A luxury or safety feature?

Hi, Pratik

All very valid questions. I would like to learn about these too. Can you post this on a separate thread so your questions receive the attention they deserve?  I fear your question is getting lost since you are at the end of a different discussion.

Thanks and glad to you know you're unhurt!

Actually Pratik had started a new thread also - have a look at the discussions.

Dont blame the manufacturers alone - we also need to look at the market and the regulator are doing.

Check out the sales of every vehicle that offers Airbags as an option or as standard kit in one of their variants - you will find that the airbag equipped version does the least and most negligible sales.  In fact all such manufacturers could stop manufacturing the version and not miss the sales these variants generate.

Airbags cost money.  Our market is more interested in paisa wasool then anything else - when the market is ready to pay the premium for better safety, I'm sure the manufacturers will provide these as standard.  Our market is cut throat - people start comparing features even for a Rs.20,000/- price differential, which on a Rs.5 lakh vehicle is not even 5% and therefore negligible. 

Again, the regulator is least interested in pushing these basic safety norms.  This was the case with seat belts too, where manufacturers provided seatbelts only on certain models until they became mandatory.  Today you cannot think of sitting inside a car without a seatbelt (there still are exceptional morons to that rule) - was this the case say 10 years ago?

Therefore lets not blame the manufacturers.  Their job is to service the market.  If the market does not place a premium on safety, why blame them?

we should appreciate ABS and airbags at any rate. science is not going end .. if we take interest in these tools .. more new research , most efficient technology will take place and these technologies will be better day by day..

neither govt, nor manufacturer or not even sale persons ( sir, there are many cars in india running without ABS and airbags so you do not need..  ) and not even us are interested in these features ..

some says: no need of airbags in small cars .. I asked: small cars do not carry lives ??

I still remember an accident of my friend's uncle (6-7 years before) . he was driving ambassador (such a heavy car) and the steering was pentrated in his chest and he died in 24 hours . I used to watch hollywood movies and was thinking why not these kind of things in india ? and now these are luckily available we do not consider them .

and as far as "sir, there are many cars in india running without ABS and airbags so you do not need.. " this line is concerned no need to say that we just scare to do something little extra .. we love readymade patterns .. I leave "thinking" to others and others do the same.

Guys I would like to add my two cents here.

@pratik, Seat belts with locking retractors lock up in the case of a collision which makes them very firm and tight. But in the case of frontal collisions, due to ELR, the chest and ribs undergo sudden and massive compression. This is also considered fatal in some conditions. A pretensioner, on the other hand, carries this process in a softer but faster way using compressed gas just like airbags.

@Pankaj, I can prove your point by this: seat belt pretensioners help in reducing the negative effects of airbags by limiting the force at which the person collides. Hence it is our duty to wear seatbelts whether or not the car is equipped with airbags. When the manufacturer gives us provisions for utmost safety, we should follow the instructions properly.

i truly beleive that airbags should be made compulsory in all passenger cars juts like seat belts. if the number goes up, the cost will surely come down. i think toay not more than 5 % of the cars have airbags across all categories but if its made compulsory, the cost will definately come down. i think, a couple of airbags then wont cost more than 8-10 K .what say freinds???

If there was a way to know how many lives and/or injuries could have been avoided, had there been Air Bags installed in people's car - then I am sure the number would be too large. Just proves that, its more than a luxury - its a great security feature.

I am sure Government will come up with a mandatory diktat to have Air Bags on all types of cars sooner or later. But certainly there is a some time before it happens; as here we are struggling to even have Helmets and Seat Belt compulsions in majority of cities, forget towns and other remote places.

Hope everybody agrees.

I would say airbags are optional on most cars here because people don't see the value in them. This is so because human beings are driven by vision and usage factor. This is true abroad also.

An average car buyer will pay 50K more for sound system or leather interiors but not for airbags because he can touch and use the stereo and leather but not the airbags. What we can't see or use has no value to us. When I was selling cars in Toronto in 2005, EPS was a CAD 450 option on VW's there. Even base variants could be equipped with ESP but most buyers preferred to go for a CAD 1000 luxury package that gave them alloy's, chrome strips on windows, better stereo system etc.

Still, slowly abs and airbags are becoming standard in India. As volumes go up, cost for these features will automatically come down and we will see these features will become standard on cars.

Good news is, in India, these features are coming into cars despite our government having no road safety policy to speak off. (We are the only country in the world to have a 'Road safety WEEK'!) I guess abroad these features are standard on even base variants because the government mandates manufacturer's to install them on cars. Here it's demand that's making car maker's give them.

The production cost probably won't come down if they're put in more cars.  They're already mandatory in the US, Europe, and a few other places, so adding India to the list won't really do anything to improve economies of scale.  Actually, it might cause a temporary price increase, as manufacturers would have to increase airbag production capacity to meet the new demand.

That said, the cost to consumers may come down if they're mandated.  Currently they're an option, and car makers like to make profits on options.  If they were mandated, car makers would look at airbags as just being part of the cost of building a car.

The biggest problem with mandating safety features for all cars in India is that these features cost money.  There are a lot of people in India who can't afford a car, and many more who would be denied the opportunity if cars in India had to meet, say, US specifications.  I recently read an article that indicated that a version of the Tata Nano that would meet US regulations would cost about $8,000, or somewhere around 3.7 lakh.  That's a lot more than a Nano costs in India.  (if you can get one, but that will change when the new factory opens)  Of course that Nano would have a bigger engine, 6+ airbags (mandatory as of 2010), etc.  Still, an Indian spec Nano is a lot safer than a 2-wheeler or an autorickshaw if you meet with accident, so why should people be forced into a less safe vehicle just because they can't afford airbags?

I think the optimal solution for now is a set of safety regulations based on the price of the vehicle, perhaps modified for seating capacity and vehicle type.

For expensive cars, I don't see any need for India to develop its own set of regulations right now.  That would just raise prices and annoy carmakers.  The government should just pick a set of regulations that it deems acceptable, and allow any car that meets one of them.  For example, maybe a car that meets EU, US, or Japanese safety regulations should be acceptable except for regulations on right/left hand drive, the language used for markings, and metric gauges.  As India grows richer of course this may change.  Optimally India, the US, the EU, China, Japan, etc. would join together and develop a common set of requirements to spare manufacturers the cost of meeting a different set of regulations (which of couse would be passed on to car buyers) in each major market.

For less expensive cars, I think a sliding scale based on price would be good.  That way if all someone can afford is a basic car, they can get one, but one who can afford a nicer car gets airbags, etc. along with their alloy wheels, 8 speaker CD/MP3 ICE, and leather seats.  All cars should be required to undergo crash testing unless it's a specialty model made only in small numbers.  Cars over a certain price without airbags, etc. should be required to offer them as an option.  Maybe 2-3 lakh or something like that, so a 1.3 lakh Nano model wouldn't have to offer an airbag version, but all versions of Wagon-R would have to have an airbag option or simply include them.  Thus Maruti could offer a Wagon R LX without airbags, but would have to offer a with airbags version as well.  Then for a bit more expensive cars, maybe 4-6 lakh, front airbags would be mandatory.  After that, a full set of side and head airbags would be required at a yet higher price point.

Sorry guys or noticing this interesting discussion a tad (well, a lot) late in the cycle, but on this page itself there are several points I can't resist responding to -

Not quite right. Our's is a market lacking a customer voice, in any form other than market response to the car models. That too is not a good means of feedback as the customers tend to go by the trend, not recognizing the value in other brands. Mfrs are less bothered about the customer, and more interested in lining their pockets, the customer be dammed. How else would you explain the differential in the price of an airbag equipped and non-equipped model? It certainly is not limited to the airbag costs (or the minor trimmings) alone I am talking about a car price where the profits are already priced in the lesser model, and the safety features come on additional at actuals.

Manufacturers tend to cash in on safety features they should offer as standard on all models. So the rich, whimsical or discerning get the goodies, and the sheeple is left to die on the road in case of collisions.

Mike mentions 8k as the price of a Nano souped up to meet US regulations, and helpfully provides the conversion to INR as 3.7L. I am sure if Tata choose to release that model in India, it would be priced 5+ L or something ridiculous like that - Mfrs know, they cannot stiff US customers, but Indian customers are a fair (or from the other perspective, unfair) game!

Steer uses the word 'premium' on safety by people. Its the Mfrs who sell it at 'premium', and the cost conscious customer opts out, as the cars are already priced waay above the level at which equivalent cars are priced in other markets.