[FIAT3031]

http://www.rushlane.com/maruti-suzuk...-12174220.html

Having read this news in "rushlane"; its sad to see safety take a toss.
The body structure itself seems so weak leaving the car in a state none can believe is a premium & safe car from Maruti.

Just wished that had the structure been more rigid, the passengers in the car could have survived the impact.
Rolling caused the vehicle to dismangle

From the pics, one can see none of the pillars A,B or C could take the impact of the roll over.

[WRXXX]

Originally Posted by FIAT3031

http://www.rushlane.com/maruti-suzuk...-12174220.html

Having read this news in "rushlane"; its sad to see safety take a toss.
The body structure itself seems so weak leaving the car in a state none can believe is a premium & safe car from Maruti.

Just wished that had the structure been more rigid, the passengers in the car could have survived the impact.
Rolling caused the vehicle to dismangle

From the pics, one can see none of the pillars A,B or C could take the impact of the roll over.

Sigh... People tend to arrive at conclusions faster than accident itself !!
That rushlane article is poor journalism. Hope people go through some pages before this one before posting. No offense to anyone. It is just plain wrong to arrive at conclusions without evidences and data. I am not saying or defending anyone BTW.

[Karthik Chandra]

Originally Posted by madhav14

I regret to say this but -

I was already in a dilemma regarding the safety aspect of the car after reading many discussions and arguments on this thread. Now, I'm totally shattered after seeing that crash pic of Baleno, and I was in 2nd thoughts as I had booked a white diesel Alpha variant. Unfortunately, my parents also happened to see the same and just now we had a long, heated discussion on buying an alternative one (read - i20 elite).

Obviously, after seeing how it crumbled like a tin can, they are not ready to bring the car home, and ordered me to rather go with the i20 elite.

Of course, I would agree to the point that we can't come to a conclusion about the structural strength of Baleno unless we know what speeds they were driving and what are the other factors which included in that fatal crash. I'm also not saying that i20 would fare better in such an accident, but that pic is raising serious concerns about the structural rigidity of Baleno in my mind. As some one above rightly mentioned, all these airbags and ABS things can't protect us if the structure of the car itself is compromised.

Somehow, I'm getting a feeling that i20 may be a far safer car than Baleno, given the both cars face a same situation.

This is just my opinion. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I'd suggest what member volkman10 has suggested. Do not go for the car with doubts in your mind. Put the decision on hold for a couple of days, check for other reliable sources and then decide what is the best car for your requirements

IMO mostly a car is as safe as its driver.

The driver is the car's biggest safety feature - a maniac driver can get himself killed even in an S class.

So take your time and make a wise decision.

[m8002?]

Originally Posted by madhav14

I regret to say this but -

Somehow, I'm getting a feeling that i20 may be a far safer car than Baleno, given the both cars face a same situation.

Thats an hypothetical case and you are entitled to your opinion. Without actual crash test data, no one can provide answers.

If you search for crash images of any car (even the Volvos, Mercs, BMWs ), you would find much more mangled images of crash. Doesn't mean that Baleno is better than those.

Rather than take an emotional decision immediately, you might want to sit back, wait for sometime and take an informed decision after a few days/weeks.

[deepv]

Originally Posted by a4anurag

For the export market, hope Maruti doesn't do any kind of structural changes to make it safer and show us Indians step-mother treatment.

I thought it was a given that the vehicles that Maruti/Suzuki put up in European or other markets have better security rating than what we get here.

[ToyotaFan]

Originally Posted by Karthik Chandra

.

The driver is the car's biggest safety feature - a maniac driver can get himself killed even in an S class.

So take your time and make a wise decision.

Princess Diana was indeed killed in an S class if I remember correctly. She was not buckled up and hence even the plethora of airbags present was of no use. Seat belt, child car seat and basic road sense go a long way in increasing safety more than the car. There is no point speculating and I think we should stop talking about the safety aspect and focus on the other positive and negative aspects of the car.

[ajay_satpute]

Friends, I think we have discussed enough on the accident topic and everyone has made their valid point. All this discussion can continue on the Accidents thread in detail IMO.

[WRXXX]

Just a mention to say that the NCAP results may not arrive at the time you want,
so lot of factors that go into the process for example, E-NCAP selection is detailed here

http://www.euroncap.com/en/about-eur...ion-explained/

Not sure whether there will be a G-NCAP test done on the Baleno sooner either.

Sorry, this might be my last point on the safety aspects here. I agree we should move on.

[Vik0728]

Hindustan Times has an article of this mishap:

Link

Though not the biggest fan of Maruti car design and build qualities, IMO the following reasons could have "PROBABLY" resulted in the same outcome, irrespective of the car:

- The truck was over-speeding and considering it was on full load, the momentum and the corresponding impact was much higher/greater than an empty one

- The family started their journey around 10:30 pm on Wednesday. Whichever way one looks at it, darkness/silence/peace is a very huge sleep inducer. Personally, night drive is a big NO NO for me

- After the accident, the truck driver fled leaving the overturned truck. In the wee hours and on a highway, any sort of delay in medical help can result in dire consequences to the victim

- Lastly, the impact was so severe that after hitting the potato-laden truck, the car overturned, jumped the divider and rolled onto the other side of the highway. I really doubt if even the likes of VW, FIAT or FORD could have survived such a horrific beat up

This was a one off & unfortunate incident for Maruti is what I would like to believe in. However, I also would like to believe that Maruti design engineers have really not neglected the structural integrity in the name of saving some weight or adding insane FE numbers.

[rsidd]

Originally Posted by Vik0728

Hindustan Times has an article of this mishap:

In addition to the points you mention, here's more:

The accident took place at 2.30 am when Sanjay was overtaking a truck and couldn’t control the speeding car. After Sanjay overtook the truck, he lost control over the car and was hit by the same truck from behind. Following the hit, the car overturned and after it crossed over the divider, it was again hit by another speeding truck, Sehgal added.

So it was hit, according to this version, by two trucks. The second of which was on the other side of the divider, so the relative velocity would have been very high. I don't know what car would have survived that -- it's a miracle that two passengers are still alive. (I don't know whether the above is the survivors' version. It is attributed to an uncle who wasn't in the car.)

To drive a new and unfamiliar car, at such speeds, at 2:30am, sounds like very risky behaviour to me. Also, if it is true that he overtook the first truck and then lost control, I hope that truck driver does not pay the price for it. It's common to blame truck/bus drivers in these cases but it's not always their fault.

[edit]And according to the HT sidebar, 7 more members of the family, going to the funeral, were hit by a truck and two sustained serious injuries! What a horrible time for that family.

[WRXXX]

With an effort not to pollute this thread posted this

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street...ml#post3853861

Just shows how easy it is to get into this situation if two vehicles of different size collide at even 60kph.
Another warning and an eye-opener to tell everyone out there to drive safe no matter what your car is. Omen! And those speculating various structural aspects, lets back off a bit and focus on the aim of this thread

[rsidd]

Sorry, too many open tabs confusion: the information posted in my post above (which I can't edit now) is not from the Hindustan Times article, but from this Tribune article.

[hybridpetrol]

The car is mangled beyond recognition like a crushed water bottle!
Unfortunate for Maruti, that the photos of such crushed car surfaces. Honestly, the car doesn't look like it suffered an accident, but looks like it was crushed on purpose by some heavy industrial equipment.
In India, we love speed over safety. Be it a humble Nano or a Land rover, I see the same driving behaviour - i.e push the vehicle to its limits, and try to overtake the vehicles in front, even though if the vehicle in front is already speeding at 120 kmph, without bothering about the speed of oncoming traffic.
To those who see these pictures of a crushed Baleno, and say Baleno is structurally unsafe, I want to ask, whether any other hatchback on sale would have faced a similar accident (if at all we know the exact details) and still retained the shape.
The prime reason for such unfortunate events are not the cars we drive, but the way we drive our cars, whether it is Omni or Audi.

[Gill]

One must remember, that post accident car is cut or what ever is required to extract injured or other passengers. Accident related discussion should be moved to separate thread.

[romeomidhun]

Source: http://overdrive.in/reviews/comparo-...vs-honda-jazz/

Overdrive selects Baleno as the winner compared to i20 and Jazz.