Car & Bike Do you consider Safety features when planning to buy a car ?
- Thread starter raksrules
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In India, manufacturers are considering safety features like ABS, Airbags,Traction control etc. as luxury features and made available only to higher variants. This attitude should change, although its a good sign that some new generation cars have safety features made available from entry level variant itself. The car I drive has abs and airbags on its international version, but for Indian market its not even available as an option. And the car I'm about to buy next, only has these safety features on the higher variant which almost costs double the entry variant. 
I love bikes personally. Unfotunately i was involved in a serious RTA a year ago and survived by grace of God.
It was my mistake and not the bike! Unforunately my parents are not convinced about the same and dont allow me to drive a 2 wheeler except for very short distances.
Anyway coming back to the topic, yes safety is very important to me when buying a new car.
Apart from abs and airbags (with ABS way more important) I also look at certain basic features like
1) OEM rubber : some higher models have wider rubber
2) quality of electricals like headlights
3) side impact beams/crumple zones, etc
4)horn quality
5) build quality and sheet metal, tors rigidity,cage structures. You can find many of this info online.
I always believe that active safety features like ABS and ESP are far more valuable then airbags. I recently booked a polo 1.2 (3 pot) . Wanted to get the 1.2 TSI ( as it does come with ESP ) but it was way over the budget. So settled for the highline.
But guys do remember , if you want to remain safe,defensive driving is the only mantra. Know the limits of your car. An alto with k series 1 litre can easily travel at 140 km/hr but doing so is foolhardy. Know the roads, your vehicle and most importantly those around you when driving.
Some cars with ESP/ABS/airbags <15 lkhs
Polo 1.2 tsi
Ecosport titanium (0)
Xuv 500
Duster awd
Fiat linea/punto is also a great choice if safety is a concern.
It was my mistake and not the bike! Unforunately my parents are not convinced about the same and dont allow me to drive a 2 wheeler except for very short distances.
Anyway coming back to the topic, yes safety is very important to me when buying a new car.
Apart from abs and airbags (with ABS way more important) I also look at certain basic features like
1) OEM rubber : some higher models have wider rubber
2) quality of electricals like headlights
3) side impact beams/crumple zones, etc
4)horn quality
5) build quality and sheet metal, tors rigidity,cage structures. You can find many of this info online.
I always believe that active safety features like ABS and ESP are far more valuable then airbags. I recently booked a polo 1.2 (3 pot) . Wanted to get the 1.2 TSI ( as it does come with ESP ) but it was way over the budget. So settled for the highline.
But guys do remember , if you want to remain safe,defensive driving is the only mantra. Know the limits of your car. An alto with k series 1 litre can easily travel at 140 km/hr but doing so is foolhardy. Know the roads, your vehicle and most importantly those around you when driving.
Some cars with ESP/ABS/airbags <15 lkhs
Polo 1.2 tsi
Ecosport titanium (0)
Xuv 500
Duster awd
Fiat linea/punto is also a great choice if safety is a concern.
rdst_1
Juggernaut
rdst_1
Juggernaut
OEM here means the ones that the car company provides as stock.
Yes by OEM rubber I meant the tyres provided by car manufacturer. Sorry for the confusion.
A loud horn is more desirable in suburban/rural/state highway driving conditions. Most of the car horns are inaudible to trucks/buses etc. louder horn gets their attention easily. Basically makes overtaking larger, louder but slower vehicles easier. May cause nuisance if used excessively. But still safer.
I still remember going for the Vxi model rather then Zxi, and more then ABS and airbags, it is the tyres on my ritz that irritate me the most. My friend hathe Zxi and the tyres are much better perfeoming. Less squeal and more grippier. It is the 1st thing i have on my list to upgrade.
A loud horn is more desirable in suburban/rural/state highway driving conditions. Most of the car horns are inaudible to trucks/buses etc. louder horn gets their attention easily. Basically makes overtaking larger, louder but slower vehicles easier. May cause nuisance if used excessively. But still safer.
I still remember going for the Vxi model rather then Zxi, and more then ABS and airbags, it is the tyres on my ritz that irritate me the most. My friend hathe Zxi and the tyres are much better perfeoming. Less squeal and more grippier. It is the 1st thing i have on my list to upgrade.
rdst_1
Juggernaut
^^ so, horns help in avoiding accidents?
and don't get irritated because of lousy tyresyou can change them whenever you want.
If you have ever driven in towns of Himachal, you would know the importance of a loud horn for sure. I hated using horns and I still think they are a nuisance in the hands of most drivers, but I do find using a loud horn on stupid drivers/pedestrians much better than me getting out of the car and having an altercation.
rdst_1
Juggernaut
^^ try using brakes. They work better than horns.
Yes, i travel to HP a lot. And then i've spent best part of my life in the north-east. Driving in hilly areas is like second nature to me.
Sorry, but in my view roads are meant for vehicles and I shouldn't have to brake because stupid pedestrians can't walk one behind the other and have to hog half the road so that they can walk hand-in-hand with each other.
rdst_1
Juggernaut
Yeah, right. During the day time using horns is the best way to let oncoming traffic know that there is someone coming from the other side as most turns are blind. Experienced drivers might be driving correctly and sticking to their side of the road, but most tourists who mostly drive in plains are known to recklessly overtake on such turns. In fact almost all such turns have the warning signs to 'blow the horn' posted before them.
Your reasoning might be right, but the actual area prone to landslides is quite less compared to most of the highways. In my regular route of 300kms, only 10kms is where a landslide might occur and in my 27 years, I still haven't seen one on that route. Also land slides are more prone to weather conditions, as in they happen mostly in rainy season and the major reason for that is deforestation and not loud horns, trust me on that.
i don't want to argue you on this one but that's the worst way to drive. you are not supposed to overtake unless you see the road ahead of you or unless you are sure that you'd be able to complete the overtaking manoeuvre. most of the times, lane markers would tell you when you are allowed to overtake. but fellow indians know nothing about the traffic rules/signs etc. sane drivers don't overtake on blind corners.
they (pedestrians) own the road as much as the vehicle owners do.
i didn't want to mention it here but in most of the "developed" countries, pedestrians are given preference over vehicular traffic. they came before the vehicles.
BTW, i just wanted to point out that the horns are not a safety feature. there's absolutely no reason to use them unless your brakes aren't working and you want to alert others to avoid accidents.
nobody pays attention to honking as every person honks upon seeing another on the road. if horns were so effective then there won't be any accidents in india. it seems blowing horn is every indian's birth right!
rdst_1
Juggernaut
I agree with you on each and every point man and I would love if this could work.
On corners, I blow for the sake of my own safety. I don't drive on the other side and only overtake when either I can see for a long stretch or when the truck/bus driver signals me to overtake because they can see there is no oncoming traffic, even though I can't. Even in these cases, I trust truck drivers more than bus drivers.
Pedestrians have complete right to walk on the road but just like other vehicles they don't have the right to block someone else. I clearly mentioned towns of Himachal, where people literally hog most of the road. I always used to try and move past them slowly but one day, a kid slipped from her mother's grasp and even though I stopped well short of him, what I got told was why didn't I honk my horn when I was stuck behind them, so that they would have let me pass. Yes, these are the incidents that have made me started using my horn whenever passing through a town in my beloved HP, because otherwise I would be crawling at a snail's pace behind people walking in the middle of the road. I'll get you some pictures/video to show you what I am talking about. And while we are discussing this point, you are bound to have come across the situation where 2 bus drivers, coming from the opposite directions stop at exactly the same point and start chatting up while passengers embark/disembark. They find this totally acceptable to completely stop traffic flow of both sides of the road so that they don't get bored while watching their passengers board the bus. So like I said, instead of having an altercation I vent my anger by blowing my horn at them and that usually does the trick.
Apart from these situations, my horn rarely gets used. Driving through my city, I myself get honked at a lot, because I don't drive above the speed limit, but I don't care about that.
Trust me, if given the choice, I would have horns removed from all the vehicles, if not for people who are inconsiderate towards the rights of their fellow travellers on the road. So unfortunately, a loud horn is somewhat important for me, even if I use it only 1% of the time I am driving.
even i fear the same, that if something untoward happens, people might take it against me that i didn't honk.
lol... bus drivers don't care about smaller vehicles. on the contrary, truck drivers are far more sensible.
a funny incident happened recently: i was using my dad's car while he was away for around 10 months. when he started using it again last month, he asked me if the horn conked off again. i said, "was it ever broken?" he told me that it went kaput last year during the monsoons. and i made 3 trips to Punjab/HP during this time without realizing it.
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