Global car makers compromising on safety aspects in India

Global automobile manufacturers are compromising on safety aspects of cars sold in India and unless they ensured in-built safety features, crashes will continue to be fatal, according to a member of National Road Safety Council of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

Council member Kamal Soi singled out German luxury car maker BMW's 3 Series sedan and Maruti Suzuki India's now-discontinued M800 for poor safety performances.

"All the automobile manufacturers whether they are from Europe, Japan or the US, their countries have reached a saturation point. So they have found India as a dumping ground. They are dumping those old cars to India and they are compromising on safety aspects," Soi said here.

Addressing a conference on road safety, he further said: "Until and unless the manufacturers ensured in-built safety features, crashes are going to be fatal." Citing the example of BMW 3 series, he said that when a "crash test was done, the side safety was given an average rating. Then we further analysed similar road crashes happened and 12 BMW 3 series split into two."

On Maruti's M800, Soi cited data on the basis of FIRs in National Crime Records Bureau and claimed that 3 lakh lives were lost in accidents involving the car model.

When contacted, BMW India spokesperson said, the company was "unable to comment on speculations" but added its complete range of global safety systems are consistent across the entire BMW model range in India. Maruti Suzuki India declined to comment.

Soi further said there is a need for the automobile manufacturers to ensure that safety features are affordable to be offered across all models and variants.