Engaged in a discussion with my colleague about the latest technology in cars, I found the conversation slowly drifting to safety relevant technology. Eventually it came down to this question in particular, 'why are safety provisions still looked upon as extra features instead of an absolute necessity?'. Are the customers to blame for letting manufacturers get away with sub-par safety provisions in exchange for a cheaper price tag? Or are the manufacturers to be held guilty?
The market expressed great furor when a handful of India's best-selling small cars failed crash tests conducted by Global New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP). However, did it translate into action? Not really, except for the government's recent efforts to make crash tests mandatory for Indian cars. The government is also lobbying to mandate the inclusion of a handful of safety relevant features as standard in all cars. That leads me to wonder, why are we still 'lobbying' to make our lives safer?
It wasn't till Global NCAP issued a zero-star rating to the Polo, that Volkswagen decided to make front airbags standard for the hatchback. So long story short, unless your reputation is at stake, basic safety features can be done away with. Other cars suffer a similar fate; safety features are labelled as different trims on most cars that ply on Indian roads. However, there is one brand that endeavours to provide for safety even in the face of rising costs. Volvo. Way back in 1959, it invented the 3-point safety belt and went on to give it to all car manufacturers royalty free. Sets a positive precedent, right? And as far as their cars are concerned, the 'safety' section of the spec sheet of every Volvo car in India had 'standard' written all over it.
Sudeep Narayan, Marketing & PR Director, Volvo Auto India, said, "India has the highest number of road accidents in the world. There were close to 140,000 fatalities due to road accidents in India in 2012. However at Volvo our aim is that by 2020 nobody should be fatally injured or killed in a Volvo. In the longer perspective Volvo's vision is that cars should not crash at all."
He adds, "The news of Indian government coming out with the New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP) guidelines is a welcome step. The new guidelines will certainly usher in a range of new safety measures that would further help in saving lives on the road." Agreed, it is a luxury brand - a segment that usually tends to safety needs without being prodded to - but it sets an example nevertheless.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), one person dies on Indian roads every 5 minutes, and this figure is projected to rise to one every 3 minutes by 2020. Horrifying, and yet not quite to necessitate the provision of most basic safety features as standard. Since when did affordability become more important than our lives? What will it take for us to give safety the importance it deserves?
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