need advice on adding Airbag/ABS option in car

Hello,

I plan to buy a new car in April. This will be my first car. I have just learnt driving. My budget is upto 4.5 lakhs.

My primary concern is safety as I am a new entrant in the field of driving ( I dont ride bike too)I don,t want to stretch my budget beyond 4.5 lacs on-road.

Iprefer cars with SRS Air bags and ABS. But the fact is that is found only in the high end versions only.

Can I have the option to add  Airbag and ABS if I purchase any of the following models?

1. LXI models of WagonR

2. LXI models of  Swift

3. LXI models of Astar 

4. i 10 Kappa DLite model of i10

hi santhosh,

it wont be a good idea to add the airbag and ABS. it will cost you more. while selling the car 2nd hand buyer wont consider the amount you have spent for airbag and ABS. they will just consider the car and its variant. you can opt for A-Star zxi or i10 asta (slightly more than your budget).

arun

Dear Arun, Thanks for the advice. But please do give your valuable information, whether Airbag can be added to the above mentioned cars.

Yes but the workmanship & performance will suffer a little as compared to company fitted.  Besides, it will be quite expensive - I guess for both 50-70K (depending upon the car).

-dont think the ABS and airbags can be added on to lower models-only option would be to go for versions which have them as standard.

Im will say, go for ABS. airbag is useful in the worst situation. ABS is still available in more models than airbags.

Cheers

U mean ABS is avilable for all cars ?and ask them is there any perticular angle & speed at which the airbag gets activated becoz i have read in a auto magazine that in corrola it gets activated only at 30 degree at a speed of 30kmph.I know it sounds bit odd that ur butget is less & i'm talking about 3 times costly car that ur butget.

Airbags and seat belts basically perform the same tasks. Be scrupulous in belting up before starting your car, and you will most likely receive the same benefits as the airbag - Belts pull back and retain in case of sudden deceleration, whereas airbags prevent collision with the dash/windscreen/steering in case of a crash.

Airbags are a DANGER if kids sit in the front passenger seat - The force with which they deploy could even decapitate a child leaning forward. So it is a solution which is complicated as a safety measure, one-time used, and logistically not very convenient.

ABS would not be as costly, and is helpful in day-to-day situations. Go for the ABS  but I would not be very enthusiastic about the airbags.

By the way, here's an interesting discussion on Airbags/Children etc. (post #17 onwards).