Airbags are not the expensive part
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Carmakers leave side and curtain airbags out of their base models here because legally they don't have to, not because the airbags cost a fortune.
Global NCAP's Alejandro Furas gave me the numbers. A frontal airbag costs a manufacturer roughly 50 US dollars. A side or curtain airbag costs 30 to 40 euros. That's under a thousand rand a side, on a car selling for more than R200 000.
And side impacts are the ones most likely to kill you. There's about 25cm between the outside of the door and your ribs, and your head has only a pane of glass.
So, ask for them, and keep asking.
Global NCAP's Alejandro Furas gave me the numbers. A frontal airbag costs a manufacturer roughly 50 US dollars. A side or curtain airbag costs 30 to 40 euros. That's under a thousand rand a side, on a car selling for more than R200 000.
And side impacts are the ones most likely to kill you. There's about 25cm between the outside of the door and your ribs, and your head has only a pane of glass.
So, ask for them, and keep asking.
