5 'UNSAFE' Missing Features In Indian Cars For Cost-Cutting On Base Models

What missing feature in your brand-new car has dampened your spirits? The missing sunroof? The lack of an inbuilt audio system? No ADAS features? No ventilated seats? 

Car makers still rely on stringent cost-cutting measures to make their popular models more accessible and grab headlines as well. While the top-spec variant gets all the advertised bells and whistles, the more mass-market-friendly mid-spec variants start filtering out the luxuries. The base variant is usually the one that totally focuses on the essentials – no luxuries of any sort. 

We get why manufacturers do so and we stand by their decisions. You need to cut down on some features to make your newest car more accessible. 

That said, car makers often skimp on core safety and essential features that are crucial to a modern-day car driver. Brands like Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Tata Motors, Kia and Mahindra are often found skipping on features as basic as fog lamps and auto-dim rear-view mirrors! Even something as basic rear wash wipers isn’t a standard feature on hatchbacks and SUVs in 2025! 

While the PR teams of the abovementioned names may jot down economics as the sole reason, the omissions are crucial to driver safety. We list down the top five unsafe car feature omissions seen in India for cost-cutting.

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5 'UNSAFE' missing features in Indian cars for cost-cutting

No rear wash wiper

For any vehicle with a hatchback body style, a rear wash and wiper arrangement is an absolute necessity. Hatchback cars and SUVs tend to throw up dirt and mud onto their rear window, which restricts rear visibility for drivers, especially via the inside rearview mirror. Most drivers eventually have to stop and wash/wipe the rear window manually. 

With rear window demisters now a standard feature, it is high time that brands start offering a rear wash and wiper system on all hatchback vehicles as a standard feature. An inbuilt feature makes it convenient and safe for drivers to quickly clean their rear window, thus making the roads a tad safer. 

No electronic outside mirror adjustment

 Most manufacturers continue to offer manually adjustable outside rearview mirrors (ORVM) on base and mid-spec variants. Manual adjustments require the driver to take their attention away from the road and struggle physically while doing high speeds, which is outright dangerous. The dangers are amplified further by the passenger side mirror, which is usually out of reach for drivers. 

Electronic mirror adjustment needs to be a standard feature on all cars today. Automakers, you can skimp on the auto-fold functionality for cost-cutting but include electronic mirror adjustment as standard. PLEASE!

No Auto-dim inside rearview mirror (IRVM)

We have an emerging economy with mushrooming wealth but a total lack of basic civic sense, at least with regards to cars and driving. New-age drivers with their imposing SUVs love to keep their eye-piercing illegally bright LED headlights on high beams and rely on flashing to force drivers out of their way and pamper their ballooning ego. Since money doesn’t buy common sense (education and empathy do), it falls upon automakers to help law-abiding drivers with auto-dimming IRVM.

Auto-dim IRVMs drastically cut down on the glare from high beams from the rear upon detecting certain levels of light. Base and mid-spec variants usually lack auto and manual dimming IRVMs, thus making life of their owners tough on the road. Automakers, we sincerely request including auto-dim IRVMs as a standard feature until Indian drivers learn the art of using headlights meticulously. 

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No fog lamps (front and rear)

Base and mid-spec variants of most cars still miss out on fog lamps as a standard feature. In the Northern and North-eastern parts of the country where fog and smog are grave safety concerns during the winters, the presence of a fog lamp might help drivers navigate through low visibility patches safely. Yellow fog lamps are highly recommended to cut through dense white fog/smog and illuminate the road surface better. Bright rear fog lamps work in tandem with the tail lamps to notify motorists of the vehicle’s presence from a respectable distance. 

Drivers, it is also advisable to stay away from bright blinding LED foglamp bulbs. If your foglamp is as bright as the headlamp and focuses its throw upwards, it defeats the purpose of the fog lamp!

No LED DRLs

Daytime Running Lamps (DRLs) or driving lamps have been mandated by Indian law, wherein your vehicle needs to make its presence visible to oncoming traffic with a bright light even during the day. While many manufacturers rely on bright LED strips incorporated into the headlamp or the front fascia, some economy-minded automakers found a loophole – the law doesn’t define what kind of bulb or light source needs to be used for DRLs. Hence, a lot of affordable cars and two-wheelers keep their headlights switched on always on low beam. While the arrangement works to an extent for LED headlamps, the halogen-based systems miss the purpose. 

Hence, automakers are requested to use LED strips instead of old-school halogen bulbs as DRLs.

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