Car Articles

Ever since the wonder car Tata Nano was commercially launched in March, speculations were rife about Tata Motors costs cuts on the product. A closer look at the Tata Nano by experts revealed that it was a much better car, than imagined. It’s cute exterior design, amazing driving dynamics and performance has left everybody's jaws hanging in suspended animation.

The final conclusion of these experts is that Tata Nano is a work of sheer genius. Tata does not seem to have compromised on any Tata Nano features for safety and comfort of the drivers and passengers even with its drastic cost-cutting. Car safety technologies in Nano have not been spoken much about since the car was launched. But to everybody's amazement, Nano's safety features is not the chink in the armour as Nano underwent severe safety testing to ensure passenger safety has passed in flying colors.

Unfortunately, in India car manufacturers never highlight the car safety features and always keep it under wraps until the car is delivered to the consumers. There is very little awareness in the country about the importance of safety for car passengers.

The biggest safety device is the body shell. Unlike conventional cars, Nano is not built on chassis structure. Nor does it have the monocoque shell on which most modern cars are built. Instead, the Tata has employed a mono-volume body in white - It is actually a shell minus the bonnet, door and bumper. The shell is much safer and stronger than the monocoque. But the technology is far simpler!

Tata Nano could have used the technology used in Smart Fortwo, where an extended aluminum bonded chassis extrudes on to the body to enhance safety. But Tata Motors officials reasoned that using this on Nano would increase costs, which they could never afford. After all the price tag had been decided even before the car was manufactured and the engineers had to work backwards to develop the car.

Engineers developed an intelligent technology to mitigate costs and enhance safety. The Nano was developed to meet all safety standards required for a passenger car. It is designed to meet the upcoming safety norms.

Though Indian safety standards are minimal and incomparable to the safety standards in U.S., Nano is developed to meet Indian standards and existing safety norms. The currents norms specify that the all cars should meet frontal crash tests, impact of head on steering wheel, body block on steering column, seat belt anchorage tensioning and others.