The mere need for this article is disappointing, but it’s still a need, probably more than that. A country where seatbelt clickers are extensively used to disable the alarm is a country that needs to hear this. Year after year, India has been compromising on road safety. The government had, not too long ago, mandated the presence of ONE airbag in every car. Well, we believe that this is “Too little, too late”. More recently, there have been indications that a minimum of 2 airbags will be made mandatory for all cars in India. This is good news, but manufacturers have already started increasing prices to adjust with this. Let’s discuss this tragic battle of airbags vs price hikes.
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Is this fair?
Nope, this is nowhere near fair. The fact that a buyer needs to shed out more money to ensure his safety is not fair. There are some basic safety features that many, many countries had mandated way back when masses started buying cars. However, they never made it to India. And now when something is being done about this, companies are throwing higher prices at buyers.
Also Read- Basic Features every car should have!
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What can be done?
That sad truth is that manufacturers will win this battle or airbags vs price hikes. Indian buyers will have to pay more for more safety features. But we sincerely appeal to the manufacturers to raise their safety standards. If we cannot get a safe, secure car even after complying with these price hikes, it’ll really be a shame.
Related- Things Manufacturers Should Stop Doing!
There are some Indian manufacturers like Tata and Mahindra who are trying hard to give us safer vehicles. However, these two are not the brands that the masses choose. Carmakers like Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai have been the top sellers for years now. While most of their cars haven’t been tested by any NCAP body, the ones that have, haven’t performed very well. It’s a sincere request to manufacturers to start treating the Indian market equally, as they do with European and American markets.
So it is clear that the ideal winner in Airbags vs Price Hikes is the Airbag, but currently, the real winner is Price Hikes L.
