The Hindu Business Line : How safe are Indian automobiles?

The vehicle recall system aims to eliminate deaths, injuries and property losses caused by vehicle defects. This includes making repairs, replacing parts or components, or in extreme cases, replacing the vehicle.

R. Desikan
Larry Hersmen

The vehicle safety experience of the US appears all the more relevant for India today. Though we have the Automobile Research Association of India (ARAI), Pune, an organisation designed to check the safety of every vehicle model manufactured in India, it is not sufficient to ensure that only high quality and safe vehicles are sold to consumers. ARAI’s findings are available only to the manufacturer of a vehicle and not to the general public.

CONCERT (Centre for Consumer Education, Research, Teaching, Training and Testing) has been reiterating the need for a test facility owned by a consumer organisation.

Considering the number of recalls by NHTSA (National Highway Transport Safety Authority) of the US, one wonders what the manufacturers in India have done to redress the grievances of buyers whose vehicles have run into different kinds of problems.

For instance, a number of vehicles of a brand sold in India caught fire whenever they hit a median or a platform. Despite several complaints, the manufacturer refused to recall the vehicles.

The aggrieved owners of that brand formed an association to protest against the attitude of the manufacturer. And, if one is not wrong, there was no initiative undertaken by any testing facility or the Government on the matter.

In another case, an automobile manufacturing company whose vehicle was declared unsafe in the UK and the US because of a potential rollover hazard, marketed the same in India under a different name.

Tests in the US and UK showed that when drivers applied sudden brakes and steered to avoid an obstruction when the vehicle was travelling at 50 miles an hour , the vehicle moved on two wheels for a short distance, running the risk of rollover. One is not sure whether the vehicles sold in India were corrected for the defect.

A particular brand of vehicle in the SUV category had topped the list of accidents, several of them fatal, in Tamil Nadu. But none of those involved — the manufacturer, safety authorities or the owners — made any noise about it. This is probably because insurance companies, consumers, the police, and safety authorities ascribe two main causes to vehicle crashes — driver fault or unexpected obstructions on the road while the vehicles are speeding.

Vehicle defects caused by poor design, not using original spare parts, or shoddy repairs are not even considered as reasons for accidents. In Tamil Nadu, for instance, of the 1,68,151 accidents in 2005-07 only 1,312 (0.78 per cent) was attributed to mechanical failure.

Today, even brake tests are conducted cursorily. Are motor vehicle inspectors, even if they be automobile engineers, aware of the latest test techniques? No efforts are being made to upgrade their skills. And insurance companies hardly file cases against automobile manufacturers or garages.

CONCERT along with the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) attempted to set up an institute to study accidents, pinpoint the causes, and take or recommend corrective steps. Such steps would have reduced accident claims to insurance companies, eventually leading to reduced motor vehicle premiums and, over the course of about a decade, brought discipline to the transportation sector.

What Can Vehicle Recalls Achieve?

Consumers everywhere would do well to keep abreast of vehicle recalls and repair campaigns. The vehicle recall system aims to eliminate deaths, injuries and property losses caused by vehicle defects. This includes making repairs, replacing parts or components, or in extreme cases, replacing the vehicle.

Recalls cover all brands, models and production batches that contain the defect. Moreover, the vehicle recall system plays an important role in protecting consumers’ rights and interests as well as improving the quality of automobiles.

Recalls also help enhance public awareness of the responsibilities of vehicle manufacturers. A strong vehicle recall system goes a long way in promoting a mature consumer-oriented industry.

On the other hand, vehicle and component manufacturers may not happily embrace recalls, as they may involve huge expenses by way of repairs and technological upgrades (which may exceed the costs of private liability lawsuits brought by crash victims, or repairs made on a case-by-case basis).

Redundant administrative departments can slow and add inefficiencies to the practice of a recall system. Less sophisticated companies may have difficulty coordinating the actions of their departments responsible for production, sales, management, taxation, traffic, insurance and quality monitoring.

Also, recalls can affect the reputation of a manufacturer’s products.

But there are many instances where a proactive company that makes a well planned and organised effort to fix a problem actually wins consumer favour and confidence because consumers perceive the company as working on their behalf.

Testing facilities needed

When technologically advanced countries have safety features and preventive steps available to ordinary consumers, why is it that our Government is dithering on setting up an institution similar to NHTSA?

It is time our Government recognised this and helped set up vehicle safety testing facilities in the country as quickly as possible.

CONCERT has demonstrated that with an investment of less than Rs 10 crore an excellent vehicle testing facility can be set up. (The only test that CONCERT’s testing facility could not have provided was head-on and side collisions of vehicles, which are available at ARAI.)

Almost all vehicles manufactured in this country have defects, but most of them are minor; as simple as incorrectly positioning the hand rest on a door. But there are more serious ones as well, such as the installation of a fuel line near a possible sparking area in the engine.

Safety norms in US

Although US federal interest in highway safety dates back to the 1920s, new impetus came with the passage of National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 and the National Highway Safety Act of 1966.

This came as a consequence to Ralph Nader’s book where the world famous consumer activist wrote that the US automobile industry had allocated wholly inadequate resources to safety and had exposed drivers, passengers and pedestrians to avoidable and needless safety hazards.

During the next few years, much progress was made in establishing the initial Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) and some Highway Safety Program Standards.

In 1970, several federal highway safety functions were consolidated into the current federal highway vehicle and traffic safety agency, the NHTSA, within the US Department of Transportation.

According to NHTSA, its mission is to “Save lives, prevent injuries and reduce economic costs due to road traffic crashes, through education, research, safety standards and enforcement activity.”

Safety-Related Defect

The United States Code for Motor Vehicle Safety (Title 49, Chapter 301) defines motor vehicle safety as “the performance of a motor vehicle or motor vehicle equipment in a way that protects the public against unreasonable risk of accidents occurring because of the design, construction, or performance of a motor vehicle, and against unreasonable risk of death or injury in an accident, and includes non-operational safety of a motor vehicle.”

A defect includes “any defect in performance, construction, a component, or material of a motor vehicle or motor vehicle equipment.” Generally, a safety defect is defined as a problem that exists in a motor vehicle or item of motor vehicle equipment that:

poses a risk to motor vehicle safety; and

may exist in a group of vehicles of the same design or manufacture, or items of equipment of the same type and manufacture.

The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act gives NHTSA the authority to issue vehicle safety standards and to require manufacturers to recall vehicles that have safety-related defects or do not meet federal safety standards.

Since the law was enacted in 1966, more than 390 million cars, trucks, buses, recreational vehicles, motorcycles, and mopeds, as well as 46 million tyres, 66 million pieces of motor vehicle equipment, and 42 million child safety seats have been recalled to correct safety defects.

(The authors are Trustee, CONCERT and Consumers Association of India, and Project Head, NHTSA, respectively.)

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