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Generally, X50 standard and City S and E models lack side curtain airbags in other models of their respective series. This is not only a reduction in the number of airbags, it also means that in a serious crash, rear passengers are not protected by airbags at all. Front and dual front airbags for driver and four side only.

Now, I would like to point out that Nissan has adopted AEB as the standard configuration of the new Almera, which is absolutely wonderful. This is an unprecedented measure that other Malaysian car brands should follow in the future. At the same time, compared with the VLP and VLT, the basic Almera VL has only two airbags, with side pockets and curtain pockets stripped off. So here, the safety of the front and rear seats is compromised in the base model. But in my opinion, it is still a bad move to equip the base model with only two airbags.

In the B-class sedan, Toyota is the unlikely hero here. Due to its backward safety (Vios didn't have more than two airbags and esp when it was sold in 2016), Vios now comes with seven airbags as standard even on the cheapest models.

Some of you may want to point out that the Mitsubishi Xpander, which is also coming soon, has only two variants of airbags. However, the Xpander story is a bit different because it is designed to provide no more than two. As a result, Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia did not intend to offer only two airbags to reduce costs or prices – the option of having more airbags simply doesn't exist.

This also applies to other models in Malaysia, such as Perodoua Axia / Bezza, Proton Saga, Honda BR-V and Toyota Avanza. Because the reason is predetermined, not a conscious choice, I'm here to give them a pass. Not ideal, but not all of them.

For car brands that deliberately offer substandard safety features on cheaper new cars, the same margin is unbearable. It should not happen again.

When asked about this, most brands give common excuses for “creating product differentiation” and “providing the product customers want.”. As for the former, I said that in addition to endangering safety, there is a better way to distinguish these variants. For the latter, if your customers think they don't need extra airbags, it's your responsibility to educate them not to do so.

In my opinion, the average car buyer should not have a choice in terms of safety. Basic safety is a must, a minimum requirement and should never be an option.

Take proton X50 as an example. Instead of reducing safety to differentiate between standard and executive models, proton could easily have offered it a cheaper set of headlights or smaller wheels, as it did on the X70 standard. Do not touch the airbag count. The same is true of cities and Almera.

Although I said I would give the old model a pass, some special cases do need to be exposed. Perodoua Axia G is priced at rm32485 and there should be no Axia GXtra with ESP at rm33940. And there is more information about Perodoua Axia price 2019 in the official website or Wapcar. Why offer customers choices here? Abandoning the cheaper version, they will be forced to buy safer products – there is no other option within this price range.

Proton is equally guilty of Exora, because both models now have damaged safety Kits – the Exora executive without ESP should no longer be sold (and for all seven-seater cars without ESP, such as the Alza and Avanza), and the number of airbags for Exora premium was inexplicably reduced from four to two in 2017. One of the decisions made here is to reduce the number of safes for the sake of economy – which, in my opinion, is a wrong decision.

I hope that Malaysian car brands will stop offering compromise safety packages on cheaper models.

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