So, finally Global NCAP has slapped at the Indian Car market with a shocking test results that none of the base variants cars selling in India has passed the frontal collision test or in other words they are not safe. With the number of road accidents go on increasing year by year in our country these recent reports turns to be an eye opener for both the government and the automobile manufacturers.
According to the reports the first round of test which took place in the month of January took base variant cars of Tata Nano, Hyundai i10, Maruti Alto 800, Ford Figo and Volkswagen Polo. In this test, frontal collision was tested and the safety of the car is rated on a scale of 5 stars. Before conducting the test, these cars were declared as fail as the base variants don’t have the airbags and ABS which are the eligible criteria for the tests. Though these were not present the test was made to judge the structural stability of the vehicle after the collision. The structural stability was also not up to the expectations which resulted in complete collapse of the car. So, all the cars were given zero stars and rated as unsafe for passengers. To the depth of the test the collision of the car was made at two speeds 56 km/hr and 64 km/hr. Practically speaking the minimum speed at which we drive in NH roads is at 90km/hr and more. So, now think of the severity of the accidents.
In the month of March second tests was conducted with two variants of Swift that is the base variant (Lxi) and Higher variant (Zxi) both are sold in the Indian market while only the later was exported to the Latin American region which comprises of both airbags and ABS while the base variant doesn’t equipped with it and also with Nissan Datsun. We all know Swift is one of the fast selling and largest selling car model in India with a high sale of reaching 10 million units. So will all these say that swift is safer? No… Absolutely not… the base variant which only sold in India failed the test with zero star and rated unsafe and the another one which were exported passed the test with three star as it is equipped with air bags and ABS.
So the air bags and ABS forms the basic safety feature for a car on the roads which were denied or can be optional for the Indian customers. The main reason for the absence of airbags and ABS is that there are no certain regulations for safety features of the car or in other words it is not been revived with development of technology in India. And also the car manufacturers in order to increase the sale, focuses only on the price of the vehicle and not the safety features which might increases the total price of the car. If the airbags and ABS are made mandatory as brakes, steering and indicators the manufacturers will surely impose it. After these tests the Government of India reported that new Motor Vehicle act is being revived and soon be under practices and also a testing platform for judging the car’s safety and features will be established within a couple of months in Chennai.
So, the Indian Government must ensure that the airbag and ABS must be mandatory in the cars sold in our country. In order to assure a safe driving on Indian roads three things must be there: driver’s discipline, well built rules and roads, safer vehicles. If these three are followed strictly we can surely reduce the accidents by a huge margin.
sri
The info collected from various sources
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