VW India selling Polos without airbags

[Ideo]

I'm finding it hard to care.

The car meets the requirements of the market. If people want airbags they can get them as far as I can tell. If they don't that is their choice as a consumer.

it's getting ridiculous here. Every single acronym of nonsense required to cater for the lowest common denominator driver. The mindset becomes it's ok, the car will get me out of trouble if things go wrong.

[polski_ogurek]

I'm finding it hard to care.

The car meets the requirements of the market. If people want airbags they can get them as far as I can tell. If they don't that is their choice as a consumer.

it's getting ridiculous here. Every single acronym of nonsense required to cater for the lowest common denominator driver. The mindset becomes it's ok, the car will get me out of trouble if things go wrong.

Well Said.

Are we really that crap drivers that we can't own a vehicle without an airbag or ABS, 20 years ago only the super expensive cars had these features. And I'd like to point out that vehicles are designed to pass the NCAP tests, not real life circumstances.

Airbags are a sales Gimmick which as a population we like in our cushioned worlds. My mates a crash repairer, and reckons that airbags work maybe 50% of the time when they're supposed to. Too many go off in small bingles and not enough in more serious accidents.

Just my 2c

[Diesel_vert]

Active safety is as important as passive safety because some accidents may be caused or contributed by factors beyond the control of the driver.

The role of active safety devices is to reduce the severity of injuries which may cause death, which is vastly preferable to the injuries that may be sustained through the devices themselves - yes, getting hit by an airbag that's working as intended can hurt, but it's better than the alternative.

(However, physics dictates there are limits to which a human can survive sudden deceleration forces - from a physiological point of view, we are so ridiculously weak and fragile it's laughable).

Having said that, in a completely free economy, the market dictates what active or passive safety devices are available on a vehicle.

Of course, factors such as wealth, purchasing power, education, government regulation, culture, ethics, etc, etc, can have various influences on the market - some positive, some negative.

The Indian market is what it is, but it's not likely to remain as it is indefinitely

[sVWatt]

With p!ss poor driving standards and crappy roads without proper barrier guards between dual carriage ways, I'd opt for an air bagged car every time.

If India enacted a law stating new cars must have airbags, you'd quickly find VW and others complying. Why? Because India is a massive market.

Airbags are no more a gimmick than seatbelts. Both have been proven to reduce injuries and ultimately save lives.

Safety should not be the domain of the well healed.

[Diesel_vert]

Safety should not be the domain of the well healed.

No, but it often is - until either the consumer or the government (but rarely the corporation) decide to act.

Speaking of well heeled, I for instance, can't quite afford a 2014 Mercedes-Benz S500, even if I am now well healed of my injuries.

[brad]

it's getting ridiculous here. Every single acronym of nonsense required to cater for the lowest common denominator driver. The mindset becomes it's ok, the car will get me out of trouble if things go wrong.

And many of them are mandatory.

As Hitler said in Mein Kampf
"The best way to take control over a people and control them utterly is to take a little of their freedom at a time, to erode rights by a thousand tiny and almost imperceptible reductions. In this way, the people will not see those rights and freedoms being removed until past the point at which these changes cannot be reversed."

Sounds like Australia to me.

[brad]

Safety should not be the domain of the well healed.

it shouldn't be but it often is - as is healthcare, education, etc. That's how it is (even in Australia) & you're fooling yourself if you think otherwise.

[Tim]

I think airbags in cars is the least concern for Indians.

[sports racer]

You do know the Indian Government has started hanging barriers on some bridges to push people off moving trains to stop them sitting on the roof.

Not sure which section of "Public Safety" this applies to.

[brad]

I'm sure the trains slow down to a gentle trot to allow the roof riders the opportunity to disembark