[Latheesh]

Originally Posted by hserus

Agree RIP to the departed souls. However is there any car at all in the market that has the low / mid range variants ship with airbags and ABS? Yes I know about VW but they're priced well on the premium edge of the market.

TATA Zest - mid variant XMS has - dual airbags + ABS
TATA Bolt - mid variant XMS has - dual airbags + ABS

[aaggoswami]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Toyota Liva Diesel, you can pay 20K extra for safety kit which means 2 airbags. ABS is standard.

With revised diesel Liva, both, ABS and Airbags are standard across the range. For petrol, Airbags are standard, ABS is available from "V" model. I am considering selling off my grand i10 diesel, getting liva petrol as my usage per month is less and Liva "V" has Airbags and ABS. In Swift, one has to buy ZXi or VDi to have ABS ( Zxi will have airbags also ) and both of them touch almost Rs. 7 lakh.
Attaching screen shot of latest Liva Brochure :

[AutoAficionado]

Originally Posted by ::CMS::

Is this happened after the hump? As part of whitefield phase I traffic diversions, all vehicles coming from ABB towards Hoodi are forced to crisscross near the switchyard as the other road is permanently closed at Hoody Jn. If the spot is the above one then the verna might have been coming from the graphite india towards hoodi/itpl and while at the crisscross somebody who was going in the left side road have caused this.

CMS, You are right. This had happened near the hump just before the switchyard. But the damage had happened to the passenger side and not the driver side (though not sure). If your theory of someone crisscrossing to left side had happened, the driver side should have taken the hit, ain't it ? The Verna was facing the oncoming traffic.

Regards,
AutoAficionado

[speedsatya]

Originally Posted by venuvedam

AP and TG news channel TV9 presenter Badri died in a road accident today at Dwaraka Tirumala in West Godavari district.

Apparently he lost control of the car after the front tyre burst and ended up hitting a tree. He died on the spot while his family is battling in the hospital.

It was not a very high speed incident but he was not wearing a seat belt and there were no airbags in that car.

He is a pretty famous person in the Telugu speaking states. May his soul rest in peace. Hope the family pulls through.

Originally Posted by hillsnrains

These pics are of accident involved with Telugu news channel TV9 presenter Badri. May his soul rest in peace.

Vehicle seems like Swift Dzire LDI/VDI, I have seen the DDIS logo on the front fender in news and the following pictures also confirm it is Dzire.
One can notice it's not a hatch
Attachment 1338097

Door is quite evident it's Maruti
Attachment 1338096

Damage is quite nasty inside outside
Attachment 1338098

As per the news article car does not have air bags, so it should be either LDI or VDI. Speculated reason for the accident is tyre blast, which needs to be ascertained.

Source:Deccan Chronicle

Tires wouldn't burst at legal speeds. Even if they do suffer a sudden loss of air due to some foreign object , most cars can be controlled at 60-80 kph.

Looking at the damage to this car in the pics , it is clearly a high speed impact. I doubt airbags having helped here.

Most news reporters are idiots who have to say "rash and negligent driving" in the case of an expensive car involved in an accident. And I am sure , here these smart guys came to this conclusion for a tire burst seeing the tires which could have also burst after the impact.

[::CMS::]

Originally Posted by AutoAficionado

CMS, You are right. This had happened near the hump just before the switchyard. But the damage had happened to the passenger side and not the driver side (though not sure). If your theory of someone crisscrossing to left side had happened, the driver side should have taken the hit, ain't it ? The Verna was facing the oncoming traffic.

Regards,
AutoAficionado

Since both sides are one way, verna might have crossed from right lane to left and while crossing, the passenger side would be exposed to the vehicles that are already in the left lane, either waiting to cross to the right lane or a moron who is in hurry to go straight. Just my assumption, I havent seen the damaged car.

[hillsnrains]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

However it is sad to see people ready to spend money on alloy and after market seat covers (from the pic above) by dropping top end variants which has safety features.

Please be informed that in early days of Dzire launch there is no ZDI at all (means no airbags on top diesel model as well).

Along with the owner, car manufacturer & government are also equally guilty.
Manufacturer for selling cars w/o safety features like ABS, Airbags. Who knows ABS might have helped the car to steer better avoid hitting tree at least in this accident. Government for allowing these manufacturers to sell these cars w/o safety features. I know I am going OT but putting my 2 cents.

[rohanjf]

Since we are on the topic of tyre burst, I will mention here what I saw on National Geographic recently.

In a program, they showed videos of tyres bursting and vehicles going off the road. However, one truck driver actually managed to regain control, drive straight and then come to a halt slowly.

Then the physics behind the trick is explained. When the tyre bursts, the vehicle gets pulled sideways (in perpendicular direction to the vehicle's motion). This force from the burst is so much higher than the force produced by the engine that, the vehicle starts moving sideways:


If the driver accelerates at this point, the sideways force is somewhat compensated, and the vehicle moves almost in straight direction:


But the natural tendency during a tyre burst is to brake hard. This reduces forward acceleration to 0, and causes the vehicles to move completely sideways.

The driver should have presence of mind to identify the tyre burst and accelerate, in the fraction of a second. That seems hard!

[gurudutt]

Originally Posted by rohanjf

Since we are on the topic of tyre burst, I will mention here what I saw on National Geographic recently.

In a program, they showed videos of tyres bursting and vehicles going off the road. However, one truck driver actually managed to regain control, drive straight and then come to a halt slowly.

Then the physics behind the trick is explained. When the tyre bursts, the vehicle gets pulled sideways (in perpendicular direction to the vehicle's motion). This force from the burst is so much higher than the force produced by the engine that, the vehicle starts moving sideways:


If the driver accelerates at this point, the sideways force is somewhat compensated, and the vehicle moves almost in straight direction:


But the natural tendency during a tyre burst is to brake hard. This reduces forward acceleration to 0, and causes the vehicles to move completely sideways.

The driver should have presence of mind to identify the tyre burst and accelerate, in the fraction of a second. That seems hard!

And if you are already doing high speeds? I don't think there would be scope for further acceleration. Unless the tyre burst suddenly decelerates your vehicle and you counterbalance.

[rohanjf]

Originally Posted by gurudutt

And if you are already doing high speeds? I don't think there would be scope for further acceleration. Unless the tyre burst suddenly decelerates your vehicle and you counterbalance.

Good point. That responsibility should be on the driver, not to drive at 95% of the top speed of the vehicle.
Speed limits in our country (80-90 KMPH) are less than 70% of the maximum speeds of most light motor vehicles sold in India. This should give plenty of spare power for vehicles to accelerate.

But who will explain physics to us? And who will tell us that driving is not just about controlling the steering and ABC pedals?

[gurudutt]

At least 14 persons were killed Sunday in two separate road accidents in Assam.

http://indianexpress.com/article/ind...oad-accidents/

[akshay4587]

Originally Posted by hillsnrains

Please be informed that in early days of Dzire launch there is no ZDI at all (means no airbags on top diesel model as well).

Along with the owner, car manufacturer & government are also equally guilty.
Manufacturer for selling cars w/o safety features like ABS, Airbags. Who knows ABS might have helped the car to steer better avoid hitting tree at least in this accident. Government for allowing these manufacturers to sell these cars w/o safety features. I know I am going OT but putting my 2 cents.

It was the prev gen swift D that didn't have a Zdi version.
First gen Dzire had a ZDi with ABS and Airbags.

[fordfreak]

Saw this i20 lying outside Shakespeare Sarani Police Station. No idea what happened, but it looks pretty bad. Been lying there for around 10 days or more.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by gurudutt

And if you are already doing high speeds? I don't think there would be scope for further acceleration. Unless the tyre burst suddenly decelerates your vehicle and you counterbalance.

Based on my driving experience, i would suggest the following

1. On the NH, stick to around 90 kmph speed for better vehicle control, less fatigue while driving, better FE of vehicle and the most important aspect of other vehicle judgement.
2. Considering the situation wherein people come in the opposite direction even on NH, sticking to the above speed will help in better control of the vehicle if some moron ventures in our driving path.
3. In the event of tyre burst while driving at 85-90 kmph speed, the chances of vehicle going out of control is less.

[gurudutt]

Five persons were injured, one of them seriously, in two separate accidents in the city on Tuesday.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/46193818.cms

[hserus]

Originally Posted by fordfreak

Saw this i20 lying outside Shakespeare Sarani Police Station. No idea what happened, but it looks pretty bad. Been lying there for around 10 days or more.

It'll stay for some years if I know "superdari" cars

Looks like the victim of being sideswiped by a bus or truck.