Safety standards are poor on SA cars

[Jerez]

When you think about how the MK1 golf was reincarnated every few years... Makes you wonder of the manufacturer even considered passenger and pedestrian safety.

DSC will become a standard feature on 2014 cars in the EU- because safety matters

 

[Philip Foglar]

When you think about how the MK1 golf was reincarnated every few years... Makes you wonder of the manufacturer even considered passenger and pedestrian safety.

DSC will become a standard feature on 2014 cars in the EU- because safety matters

Well, this is all down to progress. The Chico Golf and even the Toyota Tazz to a small degree were the exceptions and given way too much of an extended life, but are of course have been off the market for a while now.

Even 10 years ago things like ABS and airbags were not really a standard feature on many cars, now it pretty much is, so things like traction control and all of these driver aids will be standard. Now the new bakkies being sold have things like PDC, which they in particular need compared to cars. So sensible modern features are being used more and more across the board.

 

[Rommies]

When you think about how the MK1 golf was reincarnated every few years... Makes you wonder of the manufacturer even considered passenger and pedestrian safety.

DSC will become a standard feature on 2014 cars in the EU- because safety matters

Well, this is all down to progress. The Chico Golf and even the Toyota Tazz to a small degree were the exceptions and given way too much of an extended life, but are of course have been off the market for a while now.

Even 10 years ago things like ABS and airbags were not really a standard feature on many cars, now it pretty much is, so things like traction control and all of these driver aids will be standard. Now the new bakkies being sold have things like PDC, which they in particular need compared to cars. So sensible modern features are being used more and more across the board.

+1

 

[Jerez]

When you think about how the MK1 golf was reincarnated every few years... Makes you wonder of the manufacturer even considered passenger and pedestrian safety.

DSC will become a standard feature on 2014 cars in the EU- because safety matters

Well, this is all down to progress. The Chico Golf and even the Toyota Tazz to a small degree were the exceptions and given way too much of an extended life, but are of course have been off the market for a while now.

Even 10 years ago things like ABS and airbags were not really a standard feature on many cars, now it pretty much is, so things like traction control and all of these driver aids will be standard. Now the new bakkies being sold have things like PDC, which they in particular need compared to cars. So sensible modern features are being used more and more across the board.

+1

PDC seems more of a luxury...its the features like airbags and skid control devices which need to be important driver aids.
13 years ago ,my fairly bog standard Alfa 147 came with 8 airbags my wifes Punto which was a bottom of the range 1.2 had 4 with ABS.

So,progress,when it comes to saftey is very very slow and the manufacturers should never be defended for their slow uptake on Passenger and pedestrian safety....and its not as though the car prices for the bottom of the range models are cheap either - so what the hell are you paying for?

 

[Rory]

I wish car manufacturers would stop trying to milk everyone by providing last decade type features at a premium and get on with progress.

Navigation would be a prime example. A 10" *touchscreen* tablet with IPS/HD display costs under 3k from china and a 5" garmin/tomtom under 2k, so why the hell is navigation an extra 20k+ on a car? Slower cpu, smaller screen, no touch sensor, only recently some 3g/wifi connectivity etc.

You can get PDC kits cheap cheap as well (under 1k) yet to add it on a car as an option usually costs well over 1k.

Ultimately cars are really "dumb" compared to last years smartphones which go for 3k.

 

[moranor@axis]

mk1 probably safer than the new Chinese imports :roflol:

 

[Jerez]

I wish car manufacturers would stop trying to milk everyone by providing last decade type features at a premium and get on with progress.

Navigation would be a prime example. A 10" *touchscreen* tablet with IPS/HD display costs under 3k from china and a 5" garmin/tomtom under 2k, so why the hell is navigation an extra 20k+ on a car? Slower cpu, smaller screen, no touch sensor, only recently some 3g/wifi connectivity etc.

You can get PDC kits cheap cheap as well (under 1k) yet to add it on a car as an option usually costs well over 1k.

Ultimately cars are really "dumb" compared to last years smartphones which go for 3k.

Well said Rory
Im talking about Sat Navs,MP3/USB connectivity in cars like the smallest Kias,Hyundais.
This sort of customer demand just isnt there - and the car base models start from about £10k,I THINK.
RIPOFF
Toyota - Nissan - Ford and VW have always and will always maintain their brand power in Africa and the Far east.

Bottom line....if buyers accept this crap then perhaps youll get another 2 airbags in 10 yrs time.
BULLPOOP and I share this anger cos I have Parents and Family who are party to these ripoff merchants.

 

[MikeR]

:thumbdo: add ons are all a rip off, especially satnav...and how long did it take for BMW to actually introduce the CD player :thumbdo:

 

[Clownshoe]

Just think how long a tablet would last if it was strapped to the dash and driven around all over the world in sub zero temperatures to the Sahara desert, vibrated to crap for years... While I do agree they are a rip off, they are abit more rugged than a tablet. The satnav in a Prado in Mauritania outlasted a Panasonic toughbook mounted on a RAM incar mount!!

I am sure that soon there will just be a bracket for your phone and that will do all the satnav stuff (maybe even dashboard) via apps.

 

[Rory]

Laptops generally have at least one moving part, the fan. These days any laptop higher than entry level uses an ssd whereas hard drives are a big point of failure where vibrations are concerned. Even a 1cm micro sd card can provide 64gb storage now. As long as everything is welded/glued together properly it should last quite long and car manufacturers have a lot more space to work with than say the 8mm that phones are these days plus they can easily add a fan to combat heat.

An example would be for my wife's hyundai they offer an Android based radio/Bluetooth thing. It costs R14xxx ex vat and fitment. It has the specs of a Chinese phone/tablet that would go for under 1k in sa. I'm not convinced that it would be any more robust than any of those either.

As for the dash thing you've been able to read gauge values via obd for a while now. Some guys installed carputers and could show a "dash" on there.

Right now plugging in a little Bluetooth dongle and installing torque (or dash command) gives you all kinds of options. You can monitor all sorts and mix and match gauges as you like plus it does cool stuff like automatic trip logging, automatic upload to dropbox, post to twitter/FB if you really want.

 

[Jerez]

Guys... Getting back for he safety aspects... Just dd a quick comparison of a new 1.0 Kia Picanto- UK price R108k - SA price R120k 1.2 ltr
UK features all the niceties ( cd, mp3 4 speaker soundsystem) as well as ESC ABS and airbags and something called hill start asssist,as standard on a 1.0 model.

Now , SA is by no means 3rd world when it comes to cars and we're no longer in the 90s... So why is there so much more focus on the fluffy ones, like sat nav , how big the screen is,and so on
Do the manufactures know that the SA market prefer the "gimmicks" over safety.
The EU market expect the the gimmicks as a standard but focus on a cars euro ncap ratings.

Why is this so?

 

[Clownshoe]

The market dictates the supply. And profit margins.

We are a market that happily bought their sons and daughters new first cars that were based on safety technology 20 years old. Because they were "reliable".
We are the market that falls for dealer marketing campagnes. Add a few stickers and hey presto everyone wants a citi.
We are a market that buys cars even though we know that we paying 30% more than the same car in another market (and it was made here).
We are a market that is prepared to spend 80-100% of their annual salary on a new car. People in SA drive new luxury cars that equivalent income earners in the US (where cars are cheaper) would not be buying.
Dealers get 30% mark-up on a new vehicle.
We are the market that complains the least. Suck it up it will be better next year, I can feel it.

And we wonder why?