The results of the NCAP crash tests of India’s best selling cars came as a bit of a shock to most customers – and large parts of the industry too. The fact is, despite being acutely aware of the shocking road accident and fatality statistics in India, most customers simply don’t give vehicular safety as much of a priority as they should – especially in road and traffic conditions like ours. So, when the crash test results revealed that some of the highest selling cars in our market had failed miserably and couldn’t even meet basic standards, it immediately caught a lot of attention and became a hot topic of discussion. However, as time has passed – it’s been a few months since the results were announced – it seems that the inclination to continue to address the issue of safety lies mostly amongst the publications and media outlets rather than the buying public. Of course, as one would expect in a landmark election year, the government seems to be least bothered about these ‘minor’ issues, which cost the lives of a few hundred thousand people a year. So, expecting any official policy changes to improve the minimum safety standards of automobiles is as good as hoping for our government machinery to turn completely honest overnight. In any case, our learned policy makers are far more concerned with inventing hare-brained rules – such as forming taxation policy based on the length of a vehicle and its ground clearance, rather than worrying about the safety of the citizens of the country. However, more worryingly, customers in our country (you folks) also refuse to pay any heed to the importance of safety features. So, even if manufacturers offer these features as options, the price sensitivity that is so dominant in the majority of Indian consumers means that we seem to regard safety equipment as a waste of money. The only logical way forward then – as I’ve expressed before – is to make a minimum level of safety equipment mandatory in the cars being sold. And this can only be done with a change in government policy, and the commencement of crash testing at various automobile test centres in India. But, given the amount of influence the automotive industry has over the government, any policy change seems unlikely anytime soon. So, the only other ways to effect these changes are if the issue goes the legal route (which isn’t really plausible), or if there’s increased customer awareness. This can only happen if people start worrying about their own safety on the roads. The harsh reality, then, seems that we’ll continue to see an increased number of fatalities on our roads, since both paths to increased safety – customer awareness and government policy – seem to be a distant dream at this point of time.
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