Driving is more than steering a car to the right destination—it is also ensuring you reach there safely. Choosing a safer car, therefore, is a live-or-die decision. Yet, when it comes to buying cars, Indians don’t often enough ask, “Which cars are the safest?”

The modern automobile industry has made tremendous strides on safety, but most of these features are only available in high-end vehicles in India. Only in the past 2-3 years have basic features like anti-lock braking system (ABS) and airbags been introduced in economy cars like Maurti Suzuki’s WagonR and Swift and Hyundai’s Santro and Getz.

A Tata Motors official said it is easy to equip cars with safety features in India. “But,” he added, “in a country where low cost of ownership plays an important role in car-buying decisions, the purchasers prefer not to pay the extra Rs 30,000 or Rs 40,000 on these features.”

He pointed out that road conditions also have to be factored in. You can’t expect roads full of potholes not to take a toll on your car. The vehicles will get damaged, compromising both their efficiency and their basic safety.

There is a body that oversees issues of safety on Indian roads. The Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) works in consultation with the technical committe of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. But it is the ministry that notifies any relevant change in the Central Motor Vehicles Act—ARAI does not have any powers of its own to mandate safety rules.

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