Even NDTV and veteran auto expert Tutu Dhawan went wrong on airbags

Delhi: With the tragic demise of business tycoon and former Chairperson of Tata Sons Cyrus Mistry, the lack of understanding about airbags is seen across the strata of the Indian population.

Not only a layman, even NDTV, which produces the “Car & Bike” show, and veteran automobile expert Tutu Dhawan were found ignorant about how airbags function.

Both were heard misleading their viewers with the wrong piece of information a day after Mistry died.

Quoting police, several media platforms reported that the airbags were not deployed on the rear seat of Mercedes-Benz GLC causing the death of Mistry and his co-passenger sitting on the rear seat.

NewsDrum on Monday reported that from a layman’s eye, the videography of the damaged car shows cotton airbags deployed on the front seats which are not visible on the rear seats.

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However, if one looks at the same video carefully, there is a green cover visible on the rear windows. That’s the proof that the rear airbags of Mistry’s car deployed as they should have.

But NDTV and Tutu Dhawan continued to believe that the airbags on the rear seat did not open.

In a video available on YouTube, Tutu Dhawan can be heard saying several good things about the importance of wearing seatbelts but his comment that if seatbelts are not strapped, airbags would not deploy was misleading and wrong.

First of all, this statement shows that the channel and Tutu Dhawan continued to believe that the airbags did not deploy on the rear seats as Mistry and his co-passenger were not wearing seatbelts.

NewsDrum approached luxury car makers including Mercedes-Benz and BMW to verify the statement.

Both the companies confirmed that airbag deployment and seatbelt in use are independent of each other and these two do not work in combination for the most effective resistance to collisions.

Even a simple Google search would throw thousands of informative articles saying wearing seatbelts has no correlation with the deployment of airbags.

“There is a need to educate car buyers how airbags work so that they should not depend on airbags only for their safety. I have seen the dealers not explaining the airbag’s function in detail to their prospective or existing consumers. Even if anyone does, the consumer is not listening. I’m sure this tragic incident will change things for the better and will open people’s eyes,” a BMW executive told NewsDrum on Monday.