[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by sidindica

Received these on whatsapp. The auto reportedly T boned the swift VXI. Newly married couple in swift killed. Auto driver's whereabouts unknown.

The crumble zones in the Swift worked (as expected, some might say) faster than the tin can auto - which some consider as the most unsafe.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by sidindica

Received these on whatsapp. The auto reportedly T boned the swift VXI. Newly married couple in swift killed. Auto driver's whereabouts unknown.

To me it feels more like a bigger vehicle T boned the swift. The damage is flat, which looks like a bus or a truck was the culprit here. Had the auto really caused the damage, the doors would have curved inside and not smashed flat.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by audioholic

To me it feels more like a bigger vehicle T boned the swift. The damage is flat, which looks like a bus or a truck was the culprit here. Had the auto really caused the damage, the doors would have curved inside and not smashed flat.

Same here. Also no yellow or green paint on the swift anywhere. How is that possible.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by audioholic

To me it feels more like a bigger vehicle T boned the swift. The damage is flat, which looks like a bus or a truck was the culprit here. Had the auto really caused the damage, the doors would have curved inside and not smashed flat.

And the Autorickshaw whatsapp group will be having a field day showing the pictures of the Swift and saying how a non NCAP tested 3 wheeler smashed the heck out of a car!!

[Arjun Reddy]

Just wish Maruti starts to build safe cars. They have a trust of a nation in them. It is sad that a newly married couple lost their lives.

Had enough of this kitna deti hai nonsense.

Irrespective if the Auto hit the car or some other vehicle there is no paint to guess from. There seems to be a serious build quality issue.

Just check the European variant tested for a 3 * rating in the Euro Ncap.

The side impact has held on quite well. Looks like a big compromise on the Indian version. Why Maruti, why?

https://youtu.be/mpd6DG68F-c

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by Arjun Reddy

Just wish Maruti starts to build safe cars. They have a trust of a nation in them. It is sad that a newly married couple lost their lives.
The side impact has held on quite well. Looks like a big compromise on the Indian version. Why Maruti, why?

Well, the difference is that the NCAP side impact test is done against a deformable barrier, while in our country trucks and heavy vehicles have nothing deformable at front except a few chillies and a lemon. Many owners get additional bull bars and reinforcements welded onto the frame. Hence, if you compare both the cases of the Indian swift and the one undergoing the NCAP test, the damage is lesser in the latter because the deformable barrier also absorbs some force. You can see that in the whiplash test, the car undergoes more damage due to the impact being against a rigid pole.


Image source: https://www.euroncap.com/en/vehicle-...obile-barrier/

I dont want to enter the debate of safe v/s unsafe, but comparing both the Swift, either the European one is as unsafe as the Indian one, or vice versa. It is just that when accidents happen in India, they never follow the book and thats why we see such mangled wrecks compared to the same cars crashing in Europe or any other developed country, where nature of accidents are far more limited than here, which allows the development of safety systems to be based on a limited set of use cases.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by pkulkarni.2106

... when I said the "moron" should do something to let other's know of the broken down vehicle, I thought I didn't ask much. ...

I completely agree, and I would ask the same. But sadly, yes, reality is that we are asking too much. I think we can both share a on this.

There are many ways in which vehicles from bikes to trucks could be said to be absolutely inviting accidents. They should not do it, but they do, on an every-day basis. Let us look after our own skin, both metal and flesh, by driving accordingly.

[chandra1]

A had an accident a few days back when as driving from Noida to Hyderabad. The place was near Seoni, MP. These were smooth ghat roads, the traffic was sparse and I was cruising at a speed of 90-100. It was drizzling that morning and the roads were wet.
There came this turn with good slope angle and I started applying brakes. I suddenly felt like the car was not in control and was was going to left. I tried to control it with steering while applying brakes but to no avail. I thin two quick turns, slope, slippery roads and sudden braking and steering input led me to lose control of the vehicle.

The car skidded, took a 180 degree clockwise turn and the left corner hit the divider hard. The impact caused the car to take another 90 degree clockwise turn while it also caused the rear of the car to jump a little and land on the divider. Luckily the divider had loose gravel and moist soil on it which stopped the vehicle right there.

I was with my wife (got married just 3 months back) and we both were buckled up. As all the vehicles come down at good speed at this turn, we got out of the vehicle immediately. With God's grace we didn't even get a scratch. I local biker saw the whole incident and he was shocked to see us coming out of the car like nothing happened. We were definitely shaken but knew we were really lucky that day.
The left steering rod came out of its socket and something called Kainchi plate by the local mechanic were broken and the rear left wheel was bent towards inside a bit (due to bent tube). I don't have much technical knowledge of auto parts so I am just quoting what the mechanic said. We still had 700 Kms of journey left and were in the middle of nowhere. The locals helped us find a mechanic who did the welding of the broken plate (took 5 hours) and asked us to go to the nearest Maruti workshop which was 40 Kms away. The slowly took the car to the workshop. The guys there were kind enough to have a look at the vehicle even when they were too busy with work.
They said they can't do anything as they don't have the parts and they doubt that it would take at least 2-3 days to procure the parts even if I take the vehicle to a MASS in Nagpur. They advised me to give the vehicle for repairing in Nagpur but it sounded very problematic to me so I asked if the vehicle is in condition to be driven till Hyderabad even at slow speeds.
They said they won't recommend it but if I keep the speed below 60 I can drive it upto Hyderabad. He said the worst damage that could happen is the rear right bent tyre will wear to the extend of needing replacement. They also advised me to keep checking the tyre every 100-150 kms.
I really didn't know what to do so asked my wife and she said we should drive to Hyderabad slowly even if we reach there in 24 hours. Because there we can at least leave the vehicle for repairing and continue with our work. So that's what I did.
That 700 kms. distance was the most scary driving that I have ever done. I was already shaken from the accident and I had to drive my damaged car at speed of <60Km/h for this distance in night. There are not even good dhabas or petrol pumps on this stretch in case we need help. Fortunately we reached Hyderabad safe by 3 AM.
Gave the vehicle at MASS and the bill was 1 Lakh. The Insurance paid 84k. I had to pay 16k which included the price of 3 wheel bearings (consumables) that were damaged because, according to MASS, I drove the vehicle this long in that condition.

[for_cars1]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Driver shouldn't be a driver then.

Basic driving skill. If a person can't do it they should not be driving. Admittedly much harder at night.

.... We learn skills to be out there. They are not easy, and part of the problem is that some people think they are easy, and some people think they are impossible. They are neither. They are to be learnt and practised. And we should drive within the limits of our practice.

Nobody is perfect, and there will always be mistakes, and they may result in accidents. But they were mistakes, not something inevitable.
.

There is no denying any word of what you mentioned above. Every driver is expected to make the right judgements and have the right (and absolutely expected) skills and realize the situational constraints and drive within the limits.

All I wanted to imply is that there is a serious/ heightened risk of a stationary vehicle (whatever lane) getting rear
ended on highways mainly because of the higher speeds of the vehicles passing by and lesser time available to realize and react and stay clear off the stationary vehicle. 99 out of every 100 drivers may be skillful, even if one among 100 vehicles passing by makes an error of judgement, its a high price to pay.
The best possible defensive approach is for drivers to stay within limits and stay alert, move stranded vehicles off the highway lanes, wherever its not possible as in case of heavy vehicles, have safety aids such as blinkers/ parking lights ON to minimize the chances of a rear shunt.

[hajaar]

We had a close call a couple of days ago.

My family & I were on our way to Ooty for our summer vacation retreat when our cab driver dozed off near salem. He hit a barricade - but luckily he woke up just before the collision and converted the dead-on collision into a side swipe. The barricade hit the quarter glass and showered my kids and I with glass. Minor scratches were the outcome but we decided to come back to chennai.

To add insult to injury, the cab company insisted that we pay for the entire journey.

The funny thing is that I was supposed to drive in my CRV but did not do so since I was recovering from an illness.

[venkyhere]

Originally Posted by audioholic

I dont want to enter the debate of safe v/s unsafe, but comparing both the Swift, either the European one is as unsafe as the Indian one, or vice versa.

https://www.marutisuzuki.com/channel...tchbacks/swift
v/s
http://www.globalsuzuki.com/automobi...pec/index.html

Indian swift petrol (1.2K) max weight 880kg
Euro swift petrol (1.6K) min weight 1045kg
A difference of 165 kg cannot be from just having a larger engine. The euro version HAS TO BE structurally beefed up w.r.t the indian one.

[VinodDevil81]

Originally Posted by audioholic

To me it feels more like a bigger vehicle T boned the swift. The damage is flat, which looks like a bus or a truck was the culprit here. Had the auto really caused the damage, the doors would have curved inside and not smashed flat.

I too feel the same. The impact seems to have been caused by something more broader and substantial than an Auto.
The point of impact starts from the front fender and reaches till the rear fender of the Swift, and a Bajaj Auto (or any other Auto) is just not wide enough to cause such a wide contact area of impact in the event of a T-boning.

Though the lighter build and thinner sheet metal of the new Swift may have contributed its own share to this extensive damage, still somehow I feel that something is not right about this story.

Infact I had received this same set of photos as a shared post on Facebook earlier today which contained few more additional photos of the 2 vehicles, with the caption "Think twice before you buy Tin cans from Maruti just for the sake of mileage".
That caption which seemed like unnecessarily targeting a brand without any further details about the accident made me look a second time at those photos and take note of a few things.

Firstly, none of the photos had the 2 vehicles in the same frame.

Secondly, the Swift is Haryana registration and the Auto has Rajasthan temporary registration number plates.

While it is very much possible that the Swift owners might have been visiting Rajasthan when this accident with the Auto occured, still somehow I feel that the 2 vehicles photos are from 2 separate accidents.
I may be wrong in my assumptions, but somehow I can't fully believe the given story without further details.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by audioholic

... ... ... I dont want to enter the debate of safe v/s unsafe, but comparing both the Swift, either the European one is as unsafe as the Indian one, or vice versa.

I thought this was accepted, and was one of those scandals that everybody forgets about. The Indian Swift is/was not built to the same standards as the European one.

[srvm]

Two people were killed and a woman severely injured on the morning of 6th May after a taxi (Swift Dzire) they were travelling in collided with an SUV (Scorpio) that came towards it at a high speed from the wrong side of the road in Gurugram.
The injured woman was a pilot with IndiGo airlines.

How many more have to die before our authorities act on offenders such as wrong-side drivers?

Source: Link

[mayanksabharwal]

New Maruti Swift first crash reported. This looks as bad as the new Baleno's first crash reported where everyone had died.

As per the newspaper report, the husband and wife were in a fight and in his anger, the husband started driving the car fast. This resulted in the car going out of control and colliding with a rickshaw. The rickshaw itself was overloaded.

Two women from the rickshaw and both husband and wife from the car died on the spot. The incident happened near Bikaner in Rajasthan.

Source