Local vehicles must have airbags, ABS: Senate body
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ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Industries and Production on Tuesday recommended that internationally accepted minimum safety features, like airbags and antilock braking system (ABS) must be made mandatory in all vehicles manufactured in the country.
Chairman of the committee Asad Umar said that local car manufacturers were making heavy profits and it was noted that delivery of cars was being delayed by up to two months which was benefiting dealers.
“Duty should be reduced on import of safety-related material to make these features cheap in the locally manufactured cars,” he added.
Member of the committee Abdul Manan said that 50,000 accidents are reported annually in the country, while 13,000 people get maimed due to poor safety standards in automobiles.
Ijaz Ahmed of Engineering Development Board (EDB) said there was a need to revise motor vehicle rules to ensure safety of people.
The committee recommended to place cars on priority list of Pakistan Quality Control Standards Authority to ensure safety of people.
Industries Minister Murtaza Jatoi said that government was going to announce incentives for smaller cars in the new policy to provide relief to consumers.
The committee also took notice of sugar shortage at franchises of Utility Stores Corporations (USC).
The committee was informed that six departments under the industries ministry had no permanent heads and were being run through acting chiefs.
USC Acting MD Sultan Mahmood told the committee that tenders to procure sugar were floated several times but response of sugar mills was not encouraging.
He said that a case had also been moved to the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) to take action against sugar mills for their alleged cartelisation in this respect.
Asad Umar noted that sugar mills have formed a cartel and they were apparently reluctant to provide supply to USC. The committee recommended ending subsidy on exports in a bid to ensure supply to USC.
Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2015
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Comments (37) Closed
Nov 25, 2015 07:14am
Yes Airbags are must,plus Oxygen sensors,and Catalytic converters ,and emission tests each (this will generate revenue for government also)and GPS, and last not the least Seat Belts,and Baby Seats.More gadgets if Dawn allows.
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Nov 25, 2015 07:58am
Kudos. Not sure if they can get this implemented, but a step in the right direction none the less.
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Nov 25, 2015 08:04am
@Simple view Agreed with simple view, GPS will work if we have proper sign boards (international standards) to enable the foreigners feel free to move around + find the exact location as per GPS.
Secondly, make the seat belt mandatory whilst driving the car, will surely reduce the possibility of passengers get hurt and remain safe.
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Nov 25, 2015 08:07am
Seat belts, ABS, air bags play a major role in saving lives.
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Nov 25, 2015 09:02am
Yes there should be airbags and seat belts but the government must first assess the materials being used to form car body in Pakistan as compared to the same producer's vehicles in the west. For me, if you compare, the made in Pakistan cars are being made of substandard thin sheets.
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Nov 25, 2015 09:11am
Fake & counterfeit Parts,Drugs used By Drivers ,Police Coruption are Also Reason For Accident.
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Nov 25, 2015 09:11am
How many more years will it take for the members of the legislature to legislate basic safety first for those driving cars? This includes seat belts for both the driver and all the passengers; air bags and ABS.
Of course, it is a different matter who will benefit the most from it -- so, the sooner it is decided which scion of which family gets the benefit from such a legislation, the sooner it can be implemented.
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Nov 25, 2015 09:26am
Finally, some semblance of proof that someone in that NA building is awake! They should be told about how many Corollas (the car that IMC markets as Pakistan's favorite sedan) is involved in accidents due to its brakes skidding and how many Mehrans (THE only option for a brand new car in the under-1000cc category and one that is not even equipped with seatbelts) are involved in accidents and how many people have ended up killed in these vehicles.
If the NA Committee has a little more sense, then it should make the installation of immobilisers also a mandatory feature. If not mandatory, then the customer should atleast be provided an option to have on factory-fitted. It would not be completely untrue to say that it is in the interest of local car 'manufacturers' to have no immobiliser feature in their cars (kudos to Pak Suzuki for providing them in Baleno, Liana, WagonR and Swift) since having that would make their cars impossible to steal. That is what insurance people don't like.
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Nov 25, 2015 09:27am
Airbags are life savers and should never be ignored. This step must be implemented.
Government must implement safety standards and prioritize consumers instead of Paksuzuki which is selling globally obsolete 1980s era vehicles in the country.
No more monopoly by Japanese.
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Nov 25, 2015 09:46am
It is encouraging that government is finally taking initiative toward safety of their people. Hope this step should not go in vain.
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Nov 25, 2015 09:51am
and what about breaks? I am talking about violation of speed limits and radical driving.
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Nov 25, 2015 09:52am
My question is that when will we get a new model of an accident car called Mehran? Is not it a zulm that year after year after consumers are forced to buy crap at a very high price? Thanks.
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Nov 25, 2015 09:57am
First educate people for using seat belts and make others comfertable with them so that they will not laugh..
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Nov 25, 2015 09:57am
Cumpulsory driver training and tests. 1st people to learn should be islamabad traffic police testing centre. I am a pakistani expat and did my test in Islamabad. The police cars are so poor at the test centre that they will no pass any test in any country. Plus people pay money to get licences even though they can't drive.
Proper learning followed by proper testing. Revenue for the government and job creation for the people. Economy wins and people get educated to drive better
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Nov 25, 2015 10:23am
Before installing safety features in cars, first let's take a look at the car itself ... extremely light bodies, that one could just put his finger and press it all the way in ... so how can such a light body withstand a shock in case of a collision ...
Baseless arguments in favor of fuel efficiency should see how the cars in developed countries are manufactured ...
Nothing is more important than human life and therefore cars should be made of denser alloys.
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Nov 25, 2015 10:32am
Good move indeed. It is alarming that small cars dont even have seat belts for back seats.
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Nov 25, 2015 10:47am
who cares about peoples safety, when Govt is only busy on Taxes
Just RIP the people
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Nov 25, 2015 11:07am
Finally, our so called leaders awoke and started to voice for the safety measures in locally manufactured automobiles. Now the question is Can they really implement these safety precautions and end the monopoly of current car manufacturers or is just another publicity stunt??
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Nov 25, 2015 11:29am
@Karachi Spot on! if driver or passenger not wearing seatbelts and due to accident airbag deployed, it could kill a person. If a child is sitting on the passenger seat and airbag deployed it could kill a child.
On the different note: there is a big recall of particular brand of airbags lately from a different automakers (Ford, GM, Honda, Toyota etc) through out the world. Make sure we are using appropriate brand otherwise airbag becomes a liability.
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Nov 25, 2015 11:57am
A good suggestion by learned parliamentarians like Asad Umer, a new blood is changing the Pakistani environment - hopeful situation.
One more suggestions: for implementation a time frame may be given to car manufacturers to implement these safety features - after that set time, additional tax may be implemented on those who fall short.
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Nov 25, 2015 11:57am
Great News, they should also fix a minimum number of Air Bags, not just 1, I drive a entry level VW Golf which has 8~10 air bags and Most of cars manufactured in Pakistan have none.
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Nov 25, 2015 12:22pm
Very good approach. Must not skip these important safety features.
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Nov 25, 2015 12:42pm
Besides Airbags the Senate should also consider providing cheap cars of 600 cc. At present there is only one car of 600 cc which is also over priced as compared to its facilities.
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Nov 25, 2015 12:49pm
Incredible level of lack of information in senate among all parties. Most road fatalaties in Pakistan are caused by the transport mafia that uses poorly maintained buses, minivans and trucks and poorly paid drivers. Of course senators never travel in a bus so how would they know. Of course car assembler mafia is too greedy to provide safety features but less than 10 per cent of Pakistanis own a car.
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Nov 25, 2015 01:26pm
As always, our government think-tanks put the cart before the horse and expect results. You want road safety? 1) Why don't you start with professionally trained staff at the driving license office that do a genuine job and issue genuine driving licenses. No bribery; No special VIP treatment for the bureaucrats. 2) Centralized online database of licenses linked up to the mainframe for verification/ cancellation and fines. 3) Non corrupt police officers and skilled officers who can "actually" do their job. 4) Proper network of road systems, drainage systems, adequate street lights. 5) Introduction of Circular railway, subways, better public transport systems to minimize private vehicles and lastly 6) reduced or zero duty on export vehicles that already come equip with safety features so that local manufacturers pick up their pace. Cars have been around since the 20th century, They didn't have air bags or ABS back then .... stop playing with gadgets and GET REAL!
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Nov 25, 2015 01:30pm
I bet cars of our parliamentarians and their families have all the latest safety features!
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Nov 25, 2015 01:38pm
@Simple view ............ and yet no talk of proper Govt approved driving institutes where individuals should be trained and given driving licence for certain type of vehicles they are permitted to drive. we know such driving centers in place for namesake alone.
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Nov 25, 2015 02:13pm
and hence the price will increase.
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Nov 25, 2015 02:14pm
@Factual they have money you poor guy.if you had good education you can get all those safety too.
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Nov 25, 2015 03:40pm
About time Pakistan Quality Standards Authority should have some formalised standards even if they to copy from other countries that has developed these already.
All industrial production should produce to a minimum standard set parameters, if they exceed thats bonus.
Start with basics, do we have standard for electric switches? plumbing? gas heating and boilers efficiency and safety?
without any standards in place, industrial production is mostly mish mash and produce to own standards which may or man not be same across the industry!
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Nov 25, 2015 05:24pm
@khanman
"@Factual they have money you poor guy.if you had good education you can get all those safety too."
You are absolutely right on money part sir. As for education, I can assure you I will beat almost every parliamentarian. So would other readers on this news site.
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Nov 25, 2015 07:50pm
They just recommended but who will go for legislation?
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Nov 26, 2015 01:10am
This is definitely a good step to advance the automotive industry. All cars should have airbags, seat belts etc because safety should be our utmost importance. Also, dealers should not be allowed to sell cars that are 30 years old which are without seat belts, and airbags. Additionally engine standards should be imposed in order to make cars more fuel efficient and environmental friendly
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Nov 26, 2015 01:54am
Imagine:
1-You pay more than 2million and have only 1 air bag in Corolla? Think of scenario, Many Pakistanis can afford to hire a Driver employee. Now if that car happens to be in an accident, DRIVER may survive the accident because of air bag but the vehicle owner (who actually paid for the car) sitting in passenger side may not.
2-how would you fit airbag and ABS in Mehran, model 1980 (if i'm not wrong)?
All this discussion, will go down the toilet soon because car makers have envelops ready to send to the committee members.
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Nov 26, 2015 02:46am
some minister is being awarded under the name of "air bags" for vehicles.
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Nov 26, 2015 03:39am
Also please allow and incentivize the Chinese manufactures of Automobiles to come to Pakistan, specially under CPEC deal. Look at how much benefit the Chinese Motor Bike Manufacturers in Pakistan have provided to average Pakistani Motor Bike owner. You can buy a Motor Bike for 1/3 the price they were selling Japanese Motor Bikes for. Now Japanese Motor Bikes like Yamaha have realized that they need some latest tech models so they also invested even more to bring Motor Bike Industry into 21st century. Same thing can happen with Car Assemblers if enough Chinese Assemblers are allow to enter the market, the car prices will drop and latest model Japanese Car will also be brought in with ABS and Airbags by Suzuki, Honda and Toyota. They only need to see competition like exactly what happened with motor bike industry 10 years ago.
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Nov 26, 2015 04:28am
Why "“Duty should be reduced on import of safety-related material to make these features cheap in the locally manufactured cars,” . Why not set up industry in Pakistan to manufactures these?
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