svul.org

With the launch of Tata Nano in March 2009, it was evident that the Nano will be future of small cars in India. At a price of INR 1, 00,000 Tata presented “People’s Car” with features like good fuel efficiency, rear positioned engine, eco-friendly, stylish look etc. The car received quick recognition from Indian families who could not afford a four wheeler earlier. By May, 2009 approximately 203,000 people had placed orders for a Nano. But in 2010, the sale of the car has seen a sequential fall. In July2010, Tata motors sold 9000 units of Nano, which fell to 8,103 units in August, 5,520 units in September and only 3,065 units in October. In November, which is a festival month and when it is considered auspicious to buy new and big ticket items, the sale of Nano came down to just 509 units, even when the overall sales for Indian auto sector rose by 45% in October 2010. This resulted in the Tata motor’s overall domestic sales in the passenger vehicle segment fell by 25% to 15,340 units from 20,706 units in the previous year. Even high segment cars like Mercedes sold more than 500 units in the festive month.

The main reasons attributed to the consistent fall in the sales of Nano Cars are multiple fire incidents across India, increasing prices of the car and difficulty in obtaining the loan from the banks. Right from the launch of the Nano, there have been various cases of Nano catching fire. The number of such incidents rose to six in August 2010. Experts are blaming it on faulty cabling system which results in short circuit and smoke. Besides the fire incidents, lack of financing options available for Nano customers is also causing a dip in the sales. Banks are not willing to lend to the low-income customers with a concern that they might default. As per the statistics nine out of ten buyers of Nano apply for loan. Also the rate of interest which banks are charging for Nano is around 20-22% as compared to 13-14% for other cars. Tata has also increased the price of Nano, after which it is no longer a 1 Lakh Rupee car. Earlier this year company increased the price by Rs. 5000 due to BS IV emission norms and by Rs. 30,000 after few months due to increased input cost.

After having taken cognizance of the issues which led to the sales decline, TATA has taken various steps to rectify the situation. Keeping in mind the fire incidents, company will provide free safety upgrades. Additional safety features are proposed to be added in exhaust and electrical system of the car. Company has launched an exchange scheme under which customers can swap their two-wheeler for a Nano, by paying the differential amount. Company is also taking initiative to provide finance for Nano with the help of its financing arm Tata Motors Finance Ltd, by tying up with nationalized and cooperative banks etc. Company has improved interaction with customers and dealers to take their feedback in a bid to improve the product. There are various kiosks set up across the country to target the rural market, where people have neither driven a car nor visited a showroom. Also steps have been taken to reduce the lead time for the vehicle and to change the perception that there are still long booking queues for Nano.

It really is pretty much impossible to put an exact figure on the number of lives that airbags have saved since they began being installed in vehicles, but it is safe to surmise that the number extends well into the thousands. Still yet another figure that’s all too often passed over is the number of drivers and passengers who have been protected from being maimed in collisions.

So yes, airbags have had a huge positive influence on vehicle safety but it took years to develop a complete understanding of the dynamics that goes into their deployment, and even more years to harness it correctly. You see, airbags have been around since the early 1970 end even then concepts of some type of safety airbag was being tossed around for some years prior to that.

The biggest problem that stood between taking automobile safety airbags from the concept phase to actual implementation in cars, and trucks revolved around the actual safety of the airbags themselves back in these early years development. You see, they are in fact powered by a “rather powerful” explosive charge.

A charge that in an uncontrolled setting is powerful enough to maim and even kill, so it was no small issue that had to be resolved. Now bear in mind that it is a chemical explosion that’s powered by an abrupt chemical reaction that involves no flame, as you might picture in a more standard explosive reaction.

So the trick all long has been to harness and control the energy that’s released upon impact in an airbag completely. Also it all has to be done in a fraction of a second and in more precise terms, the time that it would take for a driver, or a passenger to impact a dashboard in the event of a collision.

The engineering that has evolved to make safety airbags a reality is nothing short of amazing particularly when you take into consideration that this highly advanced engineering is allowed a 0.00 failure rate. Now a 0.00 failure rate means that of all the millions of safety airbags that have been made, and installed, not one can be defective.

In the end though, in truth safety airbags on their own simply aren’t safe enough, so they must be used in conjunction with a seat belt and shoulder strap. Also for children and some smaller adults there remains some safety concerns that has warranted the addition of an “on or off” switch option for riders in the passenger side of vehicles equipped with safety airbags.

In short, an on-off safety switch allows the driver the option of temporarily disabling the airbag on the front passenger side of the vehicle if he or she feels that the person riding there fails to comply to the industry mandated criteria. That is either they are too small, or too young, or perhaps even have a mitigating medical condition that renders a rider vulnerable to injury from impacting an activated safety airbag.

Many would assume that a car that is no longer running is not worth anything and that the best thing to do is to give it away or maybe donate it to an organization. This is not necessarily the case however; there are ways to get cash for junk cars, you just have to know the correct way to go about it.

One way to get cash for junk cars is to do most of the work yourself and then take the car to your local junk yard and sell it to them. If you are familiar with the inner workings of automobiles, this may be the way to go. The main things you need to do is to drain all gas, oil, coolant, and other fluids from the car. Junk yards only take cars with four tires, so make sure you have removed the spare tire. Make sure that if the car is under 10 years old you have the title available to give to the junk yard. Arrange for transport to the junk yard and that is it.

If you are trying to get cash for junkers another option is to break it up into parts. You can then list some of the parts for sale on ebay or Craig’s list. Make it easy on yourself and only accept bidders that are willing to come and pick up the items, unless they are small enough that you don’t mind shipping them. A couple of other cash for junkers options are to recycle the catalytic converter at a scrap yard as this will bring in some cash and sell the tires if they are in good enough shape to do so.

There are many junk removal companies that you can contact if you do not want to do the work yourself. This way of getting cash for your junker requires you to have all the information ready- make, model, year, and title. You need to also be able to give the company an honest overall appraisal of the condition that the car is currently in. Next, pick a junk removal company; it can be local or national as you are going to be arranging for the towing service to come pick up the car for you and take it to the company. You may not get as much cash with this method as you are not doing most of the labor, but you will still be able to make some money.

You do not have to live with the eyesore of a non-working car cluttering up your driveway. There are ways that you can get rid of it and come out ahead with some extra money in the process.