Those moments will always be special. But before any buyers get to that point, they analyse, agonise, and yes in most cases – also haggle! And of course they go over what features their car must have. Rarely is safety a consideration. You either assumes a new modern car is safe anyway, or just don’t think about it. Well you should! And here’s a quick and simple checklist for you to go through.
Safety equipment on a car is usually mentioned in a separate category under its specifications and feature list – on the brochure and on its website. And ideally the salesman should be telling you about it too. Besides airbags – which all cars may not have – you should look for ABS or anti-lock brakes, seatbelts with pre-tensioners, anti-whiplash head restraints (headrests), laminated glass (this is pretty standard these days though). Always ask about the car’s crumple zones and impact absorbing beams – the former are the two ends, and are meant to absorb most of the impact in case of a collision, and also transfer the impact on to areas of the structure that don’t intrude the cabin. Some companies may have special terminology for their own body shell structure, and/or crumple zones. So ask about this for sure.
Some cars will even have multiple airbags, and not just the driver and passenger airbags. There could be curtain, knee, and side airbags for instance – even in cars in mass segments. But none of these features can tell you if the car is rigid and structurally sound. So how do you know that? Well, honestly there is no real way for you to know it for a certainty. Of course every salesman will tell you that their car is very safe! But take the example of the i10 – which is made only in India for the world at the same plant in Chennai. The Indian model failed the crash test miserably, while when the European car had been tested earlier, it had done very well. So obviously two different qualities of construction were being used.
This is why we need an India NCAP – or new car assessment programme. This way all manufacturers will have to get their cars tested and certified. And I don’t just mean any models, but the base models selling in our market. That guarantees that the car has a star rating, and the lower the number of stars, the less safe the car is. While all cars may not carry such a rating on their brochures, the information will then be publically available. So join the chorus for an India NCAP folks. That way it’s not just about the safety features, but safer cars from the inside out. Don’t we deserve safer cars?