Malaysian car buyers have come a long way in the past ten years or so. From only caring about looks, performance and spaciousness, we now have a demanding consumer base that asks more pertinent questions regarding safety features (i.e. how many airbags does it have? Does it have electronic stability control? What about active safety features and crash safety ratings?).
That’s great to know, and in general, car specifications in Malaysia have seen gradual improvements over the years. It wasn’t too long ago that a brand new Toyota Camry, a D-segment sedan, was sold here without any form of electronic stability control (ESP, ESC or VSC, whatever you want to call it).
Now, not only does the latest Camry have ESP as standard, but it also gets the full suite of active safety features, complete with autonomous emergency braking (AEB), adaptive cruise control, lane keeping assist and blind spot monitor. In fact, pretty much the entire Toyota range in Malaysia is fitted with ESP as standard now, down to the cheapest Yaris. Only the long-in-the-tooth Avanza is an exception.
The same goes with more basic safety features such as airbags. A few years back, you’d need at least a C-segment vehicle to have anything more than two airbags, but now, even the Perodua Myvi gets at least four. The Kia Picanto, technically an A-segmenter, gets six airbags. Similarly, AEB and other active safety features were once exclusive to high-end premium cars, and now they’re available on the Perodua Axia and Bezza.
But it’s not all roses, obviously, because while we have seen great advancements in most areas, some things have stayed the same. Even with Malaysian car buyers being more demanding of safety equipment in new cars, quite a few car brands in the country still have the habit of offering compromised safety kit on lower, cheaper variants.
I can forgive older models that were launched a few years ago. It was a different time, then. The Proton Iriz, for instance, only offers two airbags in Standard and Executive forms, but let’s not forget that it being offered with six airbags in Premium guise was a landmark moment for the industry in Malaysia way back in 2014.
Back then, the Perodua Myvi only had two airbags and no ESP, even in its most expensive variant. It was not until the end of 2017 that it matched the Proton while moving the goalpost even further with the inclusion of AEB. Stability control was also fitted to the Myvi and added to the Axia and Bezza more recently. A great byproduct of competition (however lopsided) – all parties improve.
But back to the matter at hand, we still have brand new car models launching with compromised safety kit here and now in 2020. Of the three biggest launches in the past month – the Proton X50, Honda City and Nissan Almera – all have fewer airbags in the lower variants compared to the more expensive variants.
The X50 Standard and City S and E variants miss out on side curtain airbags that are fitted on the rest of their respective ranges. More than a mere reduction of airbag count, this also means that rear passengers are not protected by airbags at all in severe collisions. The four airbags – dual front and side – only serve the driver and front passenger.
The base Almera VL, meanwhile, only gets two airbags versus the VLP and VLT, with the side and curtain bags stripped out. So here the safety of both the front and rear occupants are compromised in the base model. Now, I should point out that Nissan offers AEB as standard across the range for the new Almera, which is absolutely fantastic – an unprecedented move that other car brands in Malaysia should follow from now on. But giving just two airbags for the base model is still a bad move in my book.
In the B-segment sedan class, Toyota has become the unlikely hero here. From lagging behind in the safety stakes (the Vios was sold with no more than two airbags and no ESP as recently as 2016), the Vios now offers seven airbags as standard even on its cheapest model.
Some of you may want to point out the Mitsubishi Xpander, which is also being launched soon with just two airbags for the sole variant. However, the story is a little different for the Xpander since it was designed to offer no more than two. So it’s not the case of Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia intentionally choosing to offer just two airbags to lower the cost or price – the option of having more airbags simply does not exist.
This applies to quite a few other models in Malaysia, such as the Perodua Axia/Bezza, Proton Saga, Honda BR-V and Toyota Avanza. Since the root of the cause is pre-determined and not a conscious choice, I’ll give them a pass here. Not ideal, but they’re not entirely to blame either.
The same leeway cannot be afforded to car brands that are deliberately offering substandard safety features on the cheaper versions of their brand new cars. It just should not happen any more. Period.
When asked about it, most brands give the usual excuse of “creating product differentiation” and “offering what customers want.” Well, to the former, I say there are better ways to differentiate the variants other than compromising safety. To the latter, if you have customers that think they don’t need the extra airbags, it’s then your responsibility to educate them otherwise.
The way I see it, the general car buyers should not be given a choice when it comes to safety. Basic safety is a necessity, a bare minimum – it should never be an option.
Take the Proton X50, for example. Instead of cutting down on safety to create product differentiation between the Standard and Executive variants, Proton could just have easily given it a cheaper set of headlights or smaller wheels, just like it did with the X70 Standard. The airbag count should not have been touched. Same goes with the City and Almera, too.
And while I did say that I’d give older models a pass here, a few special cases do need to be brought to light. The Perodua Axia G at RM32,485 should never have existed, not when the ESP-equipped Axia GXtra is priced so closely at RM33,940. Why offer customers the choice here at all? Drop the cheaper version and they’d be forced to buy the safer product – there are no other options in this price range anyway.
Proton is equally guilty here with the Exora, as both variants now have compromised safety kit – the ESP-less Exora Executive should no longer be on sale (the same goes for all seven-seaters without ESP such as the Alza and Avanza), while the Exora Premium had its airbag count inexplicably slashed from four to two back in 2017. A decision was made here to reduce safety kit in favour of affordability – a wrong one to my eyes.
If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading my ramblings. I really do appreciate it.
Please, car brands in Malaysia, stop offering compromised safety kit on cheaper variants. You’re better than that. And dear Malaysians, it’s time to show them that we know better, and that we will no longer accept cars with sub-standard safety kit from now on. We deserve better than that.
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Bravo gudjob PT! What i alwiz fighting for, safe cars for all fellow Malaysians… even the Perodua Myvi gets at least four airbags.. make Malaysia roads safe n great again…. Jom Ubah!!
I agreed with Paultan. It was huge mistake for not giving Honda Sensing with Lanewatch (except for V and RS) for all variants of Honda City except for RS. Yet, Honda City still have 4 airbags from low to mid spec cars. Especially, Civic still doesnt come with Honda Sensing for 1.8 and 1.5 TC. Moreover, even HRV and BRV still doesnt give Honda Sensing. This shows that Honda Malaysia is too greedy and have no priority for their customer lives and safety. So it is time for Honda Malaysia to listen to the customer complaints.
Copy and Paste II: “ Earlier on, someone said Honda Malaysia have improved their quality same like Honda Japan. But some owners are right. Few of them owned civic facelift 2020 for a while, but come out with so many problems. So is that called an improvement for Honda Malaysia quality. Did you think should believe “UP” again?”
Who should trust now?
Highly rated feedbacks who recommended you guys to buy with ADAS system and always maintained good reliability
OR
The fake news guy with at least 5 dupes who claimed that Honda Malaysia has already improved their service like Honda Japan.
As long as sales is moving uptrend means no problem
Manual cars are somehow safer than automatics by far. Driving a manual car warrants more attention & more control, other things, automatics people played fesbuk, tiktok, gaming & netflix when driving. So manuals + aeb hangpa mmg safest wei.
Copy paste.
“PENGELUAR KERETA CHINA GAGAL MENYINAR DI PASARAN SENDIRI. PENGGUNA LEBIH SUKA JENAMA ASING”
Bravo to Perodua for giving good safety Myvi and reliable japanese engine. P2 is anytime demand more RV than Proton.
yea true about that but sadly no toyota and daihatsu, perodua died long time ago. so stop saying that shit all the time. pipu know that. its getting lame.
Doesnt matter as long it works and people are happy.
How much is X50 price in China? Rakyat malaysia over pay for China car. If price at 30% off, it will be reasonable. At least P2 giving competitive pricing.
Where got competitive pricing! Indon selling Rusa for Rm59k but Perodua ripping us off selling Aruz at Rm73k.
yeah right P2 giving competitive pricing go see the Axia see how bad is the build & quality yet price above RM30k & Stlye 40k. compare that with the Iriz you can see different like hell & heaven :-)
Axia std no ABS. Shame
We trust the proven X50 with SAE award-winning 1.5 TGDI engine & 7speed wet dual clutch combo used in 1.6 million cars sold in 21 countries worldwide. We don’t care if the design is boring since the is reliable. What we hate is boring Japanese cars with unreliable engine and problematic fuel pumps that will lead to accidents on the road. High RV only tells us high Rip-off Value!
Support geely to become the best low to medium end car producer in the world.
Just folo Volvo 180 km/h speed limiter…Konfem cutdown 80% eksidens n roadkills. Highways 110 km/h anyways.
Bezza has this built in: 120km/h top speed. Savest car in Malaysia!
Hafriz Shah (Member) on Nov 07, 2020 at 2:42 pm
The Flagship. Full ADAS at that price, no brainer.
Meanwhile Perodua still selling 7 seater Alza with only 2 airbags with NO ESC, NO Traction Control, NO AEB. Why did PaulTan missed this car… hint, hint. Perodua doing Jekyll & Hyde act with safety features is worse than Proton.
Dear Malaysians, please dont banyak complain cars with full safety equipment overpriced.(such as the X50, Almera)
If u cannot afford then diamlah.
Dear Malaysians, be more wiser, listen from paultan advisor. They are right. AEB is more compulsory to all than driving without AEB. City doesn’t come with AEB for basic spec, including executive spec and premium spec. Nowadays, people will not be blind that they are now buying with AEB. Quality is highly highlighted which is also important, in order to save your money from not always repairing your car like Honda too much.
Thats the reasons why Malaysians all buy car with AEB. And you guys should also do same thing before you buy, you dont want to end up in the accident without AEB and low quality
One point I keep harping on.
Get AEB.
If AEB can help you just ONCE , in a moment of inattention (we all know how distracted we are now), it can save you your NCB, and over 3-4 years to fully claim your NCB back, cost you more than the AEB option you could have gotten with your car.
Think about that.
Y’know it’s kinda shocking and disappointing that both the Malaysian-spec and Indonesian-spec Avanza doesn’t come standard with ESC, considering the fact that its rivals have it and that even African-spec and Middle Eastern-spec Avanzas come standard with it, despite being produced back in Indonesia.
Boyocott Avanza.
UMW, the Toyota only distrbutor in Malaysia faced the wrath of Malaysians for offering safety-less products on top of premium prices. Its Japanese peer, Mazda and Honda showed the way. UMW sales plummeted and still could not regain its former glory.
What I can say is, we as consumers should exercise our rights diligently and consistently to safeguard our safety and interest.
Good write up Hafriz! Hope all the car brands you mentioned hear you… I remembered you have written an article on VSC years ago and now we have majority of cars with VSC… Thank you!
Agreed 100%. In any vehicle, regardless of the type, ‘all lives matter’ to coin an oft mentioned saying. Just because you pay less does not mean you aren’t concerned about safety. What are those local sellers thinking?
I agree, carmakers should stop offering compromised safety equipment on cheaper variants. The base spec X50 is a huge mistake, by giving 4 airbags, the base spec X50 will be Game Over as there are other choices with better safety equipments. I hope Proton can realize this mistake and immediately update their base spec X50
Copy paste: “Game-Changer indeed. No other car would need you on taking delivery and having to go straight into service center for replacing the faulty fuel pump. Not even China car is this bad reliability.”
D55L 1.0 Std 4 airbags RM60k, ok?
Dear Hafriz, thanks for the article.
But you are wrong. Why do you give an excuse to that two airbag Mitsubishi POS? It shouldn’t have been designed with two airbags anywhere on the globe, full stop. It does not deserve any positive mention on Paul Tan.
As mentioned, it’s not ideal, but unavoidable at this point. Same goes for quite a few other models as listed above. We’ll leave it as that.
Between omitting at lower variant (which is added at higher variants) and designing from scratch with mere 2 airbags (which cannot be added even at highest variant), which do you think is worse?
I’m sorry, but the Xpander was actually designed to meet the demands of the Indonesian market. And unfortunately, 6 Airbags isn’t one of those demands. No wonder now Toyota (in Indonesia at least) has made 7 Airbags an option (previously it was fitted as standard).
Clearly mitsu wasn’t expecting the shit storm that followed.
There’s two points that we need to understand. First of all, the Xpander was primarily developed for the Indonesian market, where the Avanza dominates. And this leads to number 2, which is that people in Indonesia think that 6-7 airbags is just too much for a car. Hence, manufacturers here in Indonesia just install it on select models, but the Xpander is not one of those cars. As an Indonesian, I find this not surprising, but I’m disappointed by it. That’s why even the recently facelifted Yaris (launched in September in Indonesia), Toyota Astra Motor (for no reason) decided to make 7 Airbags an option (RM1,600 more than the 3 Airbag Yaris) when the to-be-launched Yaris will be available with Toyota Safety Sense (TSS).
Exora does not even have ISOFIX
X5 3/5 series all don’t hv active cruise control and yet the sales are not affected. Time for Malaysians to consider this too.
At least BMW got Driving Assistant Package with AEB. Maybe Cruise control not so important, if im wrong or correct. But Honda still dont come out with Honda Sensing like Standard City still omitted and Civic but only come out with full spec
well said Hafriz, but imho, back then, car doesnt have airbag, but i can safely say there were less accident compared to now…..it boils down to the present generation of drivers, some think they are Michael Schumacher the minute they obtain full driving licence, also present generation of drivers are impatient. Also,Try observing cars in the shopping mall parking lot, one can definetly see many cars with tyres with less than minimum thread, also ppl driving around on the space-saving spare tyre, those tyre are not for driving any further than to the nearest tyre shop where the car had a punctured. so, car manufacturer can have 2, 4, 6 airbags, disciplined driving is the best form of safe driving.
If you want to offer a stripped down kosong spec, take out the radio, put smaller steelies on, el cheapo halogen lights, wind up windows , no alarm and keyless entry and push start, hell, even offer only 1 colour choice. I can actually find that appealing.
But leave in the airbags and active safety gear.
Everything else can be added aftermarket should the owner want to, later in ownership. All except factory safety gear.
With every manufacturer offering options like body kits, radio upgrades, accessories, even on base modles, clearly the buyers could afford additional airbags and AEB.
i wonder which idiot doing costing for the car companies ^^
“ditch some safety thingy to earn huge profits”
Only for honda, omitting safety specs and make more affordable by boost more profits
Well said Hafriz. 6 air bags and Electronic Stability Control should be made mandatory for base line models in Malaysia. In Australia, I remember buying a second hand Yaris back in year 2012, they already fitted 6 air bags and Electronic Stability Control for their base model car back then. Now the new Yaris sold there have AEB, Lane Departure Warning, Adaptive Cruise Control, Blind Spot Monitoring, and even 8 air bags for their base line Yaris in Australia!
“Car brands in Malaysia need to stop sacrificing safety equipment on cheaper variants” – the headline should read like this. The current one sounds like they’re offering safety equipment but of the compromised variety.
It’s the government’s responsibility to end all this. The BIG problem is most of these local companies are owned by GLC. If they do, it’s like shooting your own foot with a gun. PT should start putting remarks in red for variant to avoid whenever a new car variant is launched with below par safety specifications.
Completely agree. Government has the end responsibility to regulate this issue and should just point blank refuse certification of any new vehicle that omits safety gear. As someone pointed out earlier…omit the radio/fancy wheels/fancy headlights/leather trim etc. Just ensure that safety equipment is standardised for all variants. In any case it’s harder/impossible to add safety equipment because of the wiring/sensors involved and integrated in to the car. The other cosmetic stuff can add later if the owner so chooses.
It’s the government’s responsibility to scrap all old vehicles in order to boost safer motoring. Why took the slow government so long… at the very expense of rakyat safety sigh.
also, make the safety features such as aeb, blind spot monitoring available on lesser variants, not everyone needs 20 inch rims, black roof, leather seats etc luxury items
It was Mazda, Nissan and Perodua that put the pressure on the market with these features. Toyota and Honda were the last group that are finally willing to change.
Great article, we are having the same difficulties in terms to car safety in Latin-American countries.
Hi Mr Hafriz, the govt (Miti, Jpj) also partly responsible for this issue. They should impose stricter mandatory car accessories such as 6 airbags and traction control.
Maybe you should forward it to the related agencies and hopefully they can consider it as new law soon.
Oh ya, suggest also minimum 10-years car warranty, that’ll save lots of headache for car buyers too. Now that’s worth buying a car here after being taken for ride for so many donkey years without proper consumer rights not to mention the crazy car taxes too.
“Drop the cheaper version and they’d be forced to buy the safer product”
Talk is cheap when many Malaysian are living with low wages even pre covid.
Also, Malaysians dont like to be forced or challenge. Remember when people asked “how much do you know about cars?” when their cars are not selling? Malaysians sent them hell.
i thinking is that not because car manufacturer want to cut cost for these safety kits but rather is because of our car tax structure which resulted in the higher car price and thus resulting in even higher car price which will makes the the car even more unattractive to many car buyers and affordability of larger buyers. unless our government will give a tax incentives for those car that has full safety kits, this will help.
I think the MIROS should push for more safety equipped (be it passive or active) with an incentive and compound type of push. Give incentive for car makers that introduced full fledged suite of safety features across their range, and compound those who hung on to lackluster safety features.
not fully agreed…
all kinds of safety eq will increase the cost of ownership…. n not everyone need those too….
like p2 ASA… this is like encourage the driver 2 play with fon or do other things during driving… (no offense to anyone)… but front 2 airbags (active) n side steel beams (passive) features e muz.. traction control is not really needed for MT car n etc …
increase of cost is like indirectly ripped off the right of poor ppl to own transport… instead of putting all kind of electronics safett features (which may fail when time come), y dun increase the strength of the car body to protect the passenger inside like the “smartfortwo”…
no offense… juz diff opinion…
Well said Hafriz.
You have the audience and platform and you’ve used it to improve awareness on safety.
Don’t just stop at equipment (AEB, airbags, carseats, seatbelts) though, focus on the driver as well for example advanced driving courses, driver retraining after they’ve reached a certain age, potential driver aids to help when they’re sleepy or in a dangerous situation
With your audience you likely have some say with the authorities too eg. better road conditions, lanes markings, signs, maybe even dedicated bicycle tracks like the one around Bangkok airports
Kudos and keep up the good work
Can’t blame the manufacturers because if us the consumers still buy those unsafe cars just because to save few thousands then they will still continue to sell unless we change and stop buying…
Alza is untouched?
Brv xpander
No AEB, 2airbags for 2021?
Can buy 2 alza long wheelbase too
But no VSC definitely not good too
Aruz has them all, with 6 airbags
Waiting to see Geely Haoyue X80 too
I just want to let those car manufacturers know. If you gonna sell sub standard product. Don’t waste money giving it a launch. Just don’t sell. Or else get out of this market. Now we in the age where consumer will take the phone out and compare specs infornt of you. If you gonna offer nothing. Stop selling. Else be in the game anyway. As usual. Manufacturers is always giving shit products hoping they can sell some.
But hor, i don’t think Berukdua will heed your advise, even no standard (not substandard) and unsafe junk products also still can sell (not some), but sell like hotcakes because it’s cheap not because it’s good, yes, so damn cheap until can’t afford to put a simple temperature gauge.
temperature gauge is functional, but it’s obsolete for Modern Cars, especially cars like Perodua that use simple but advanced alumnium block 0W-20 spec engine.
even BMW dont use temperature gauge too.
They really don’t need a temperature gauge anymore. The engine management systems are that good. They will detect an overheat and display a warning. They are active management system, so they will do things to prevent damage to the engine. When before you were dead on the side of the road, these new cars will manage the engine and eventually go into limp home mode and keep you moving, slowly, for as long as they can without causing damage to the engine. Yes, they eventually can do no more and they will shut down.
That is why they don’t need a temp gauge anymore.
No, you should not start a cold engine an go to WARP speed before the engine is up to operating temperatures.
Perodua and BMW both still keep the temperature indicator for cold starting engine.
We should have BSM
We have no clue how to stop bike rempits, grab rempits, foodpanda rempits,
At least we have blind spot monitor to help.
I dont want involve in accidents due to blind spot or rempits case, not even my fault!
Go to court I sure have a difficult time.
And yea, you can say 360 full time recording camera will be excellent too.
Any car in Malaysia have this function rather than helping parking?
I only aware Tesla have this features.
Other people can turn their head, don’t need 360 full time recording camera.
Reae cross traffic alert
Also very important,
360 camera and turning head unable to help
I would say AEB is a must nowadays, especially in our country
AEB is needed globally. Ignorant drivers are not limoted to thos region only.
Just let the market choose.
Additional air bags, radar, adaptive cruise control or even tyre air pressure monitor do help on safety but increase car price.
Keep the car price low, keep the option to select. A car without all above still safer compare to a motorcycle on a crashed.
Please do constructive comparison for example price other countries offered with similar standard? Giving a blunt comment dropping cheaper variant and forcing more expensive goods as simple why not stop selling all BMW 3 series and make it a minimum requirement for 5 series because 3 series is too small and not safe?
Last time C segment Preve was sold RM60k. 6 airbags, ESC, TC, BA, HPF steel frame etc. Now what happen?
Last time Proton was making losses and haters were keep asking to close it down. Now Proton is making money haters still bash it. Apalancau.
Now become no.1 global car very laku until no more stock stop production
Why only pick Japanese and local brands? It wasn’t too long ago that expensive ‘premium’ cars like BMW and Mercedes Benz also lack active safety when much much cheaper Japanese cars had them!!
I’ve mentioned this before. The government must provide incentive to all car manufacturers by exempting the calculation of duties and taxes on safety equipment. All mechanical and electronic safety systems can be deducted out of the price of the car that are to be taxed. Insurance companies can also play a part by reducing insurance amount as per the safety equipment available in cars. It’s time. It’s 2020.
Ah, I remember the days when UMW decided that a Toyota Camry doesn’t need ESP cause the car is good enough. LOL
i think you miss-aimed your shot Hafriz…
you want a better spec for base variant, ask the govt to increase the requirement for new vehicle introduction…
those so called “compromised safety” base variant at very least meet the minimum requirement by the govt… else they cannot sell the cars here… some manufacturers gave more than the minimum requirement at their base variant…
All the advance safety features cost money… you think malaysian are ready for higher car prices?
I second to everything you’ve said in this article Hafiz, thanks for highliting it.
I think the root of the issue down to the governing body. Why the manufacturer want to put that features for safety shall they still can score 5 star in ANCAP?
This also indicate something to public that their car still safe without those features which i believe, the governing body also make some research to give less score to those safety kit.
UMW, the Toyota only distrbutor in Malaysi faced the wrath of Malaysians for offering safety-less products on top of premium prices. Its Japanese peer, Mazda and Honda showed the way. UMW sales plummeted and still could not regain its former glory.
What I can say is, we as consumers should exercise our rights diligently and consistently to safeguard our safety and interest.
The other way around:
“ Honda, the only distrbutor in Malaysi faced the wrath of Malaysians for offering safety-less products for all variants but only full spec. Its Japanese peer, Mazda and Toyota showed the way. Honda sales plummeted and will be game over.
What I can say is, we as consumers should exercise our rights diligently and consistently to safeguard our safety and interest.”
dealer greedy
This is not about car maker. This is about the law maker, make the law, force the car maker to follow.