[SystemSafety] Nissan's new Indian car unsafe

[Peter Bernard Ladkin]

The details are astonishing for those of us used to Western standards. The body is apparently so structurally weak that airbags do not help protect occupants, whatever that might mean.

Those of us who ride bicycles are used to such exposure. And doing without airbags, although there is one you can now buy for your head. You wear it round your neck like a scarf.

The article is from the Guardian's iPad edition. I couldn't find it on the WWW site.

[begin quote]

Nissan told to halt sale of ‘unsafe’ new car in India
In an unprecedented move, the global organisation for car safety testing has called on Nissan to withdraw a new model from the Indian market because it is so dangerous.
Max Mosley, chairman of the New Car Assessment Programme (NCap), has made the demand in a personal letter to the Nissan chairman and CEO, Carlos Ghosn, after a crash test of its Datsun GO showed that it lacked even the most basic safety features.
The popular model has so little structural integrity that the results of the head-on collision tests suggested that passengers are unlikely to survive.
But the specific reason NCap has called for Nissan to immediately halt all sales is that the body shell is so weak that even if the company were to install airbags it would do nothing to improve the survival chances of the occupants.
The car, which received a zero star rating, would be illegal in the UK and other developed countries.
Mosley said: “It is extremely disappointing that Nissan has authorised the launch of a brand new model that is so clearly sub-standard. In these circumstances I would urge Nissan to withdraw the Datsun GO from sale in India pending an urgent redesign of the car’s bodyshell.”
A Nissan spokesman said: “The Datsun GO meets minimum required local vehicle regulations and was developed with a strong intention to deliver the best adapted solutions to the local conditions … all being taken as a package aim to decrease potential risk of road accidents.”
Jo Confino


[end quote]

PBL

Prof. Peter Bernard Ladkin, University of Bielefeld and Causalis Limited
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