[samaspire]

Originally Posted by Acharya

It looks like front bar of chassis has taken serious beating, as its bent inward.
If airbags don't deploy in such situations, god knows when else would they deploy.

But here it looks like the A pillar took the brunt of the impact first and then the bumper hit the wheels. By then the impact speed would have reduced to less than the threshold for Airbag deployment.

[Acharya]

If the speed was high enough to bend the metal bar of frame, then the impact should result in airbag deployment.
No two ways about it.

[ajmat]

The airbag sensors are located at the bottom of the chassis. The chassis might not receive a direct impact force but was probably bent due to the body distortion.

[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by Who_are_you

Toyota Fortuner crashes into a truck and gets totalled, airbags didn't get deployed.

Major scandal alert! There have been 5 or 6 instances of 1st gen Toyota Fortuner crashes reported on Team-BHP and in each case, the airbags never got deployed.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-s...ml#post4396569
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-s...ml#post4393644
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-s...nt-deploy.html
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-s...se-pg-7-a.html
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-s...ml#post2807655

I think Toyota needs to test the airbag deployment system on 1st gen Fortuner, issue a recall and fix the problem if it exists.

[chiranjitp]

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.

Wow, such extensive damage to a car after being T boned by an Auto is unheard off. The Autos that we have here in Guwahati are petrol powered & they only have a top speed of around 60kmph. So, the Auto couldn't have hit the Swift at a speed higher than 60kmph. I believe EURO NCAP conducts crash test at around that speed only & the European Swift has passed those tests.

So, if the theory of the Swift being T boned by the Auto is true, then we can be almost certain that Maruti are selling a structurally weak Swift in the Indian Market. It is not that you can't build a safe lightweight car, Toyota Etios is also a lightweight car while being structurally sound.

P.S- I have always hated the Auto rides because of the safety aspect & also due to the fact that they are very easy to topple. Now after this incident, if someone offers me a lift in the new Swift. I guess, I would be better off with an Auto-rickshaw .

[for_cars1]

Originally Posted by sudev

the s.... is totally deformed. Knowing the area and the way Auto's are driven on highway

Originally Posted by Vik0728

...M..... stooped down to keep the weight in check?
Looks like there objective is only to .... squeeze the best mileage. I don't see any other sensible reason to make such light cars, which are not even rigid

Originally Posted by jetsetgo08

No-star/3-Star/5-star. I wouldn't consider the E.... twins as safe either. Although, light build and strength could be disjunctive, lighter cars just don't inspire any confidence...

Don't intend to trigger any debate on light v/s heavy build cars. Use of composites and light high tensile alloys can indeed make car's structure light yet strong.

However the incentive to make light cars is more to the manufacturer than the buyer. Lighter implies lower overall manufacturing costs and higher profits.

End of the day, a light-well-built car is unsafe relative to a heavy-well built car. Studies have shown a significantly high fatality of lighter car occupants on collisions with heavier cars (both categories with crash worthy designs) (Link to source).

There is a reason why cars like VWs, Mercs, BMWs are structurally strong with crumple zones et-al yet are built heavy. Its not that they don't have the expertise to build flyweight yet strong cars. They may have gotten lighter than their previous iterations but still are quite heavy.

[IshaanIan]

Originally Posted by for_cars1

End of the day, a light-well-built car is unsafe relative to a heavy-well built car. Studies have shown a significantly high fatality of lighter car occupants on collisions with heavier cars (both categories with crash worthy designs) (Link to source).

I read the pdf, vehicle pools were considered between 1980 and 2005 with average model year being 1997. We all know how far crash safety has come since then. Even up until 2014 small cars were not capable of doing well in small frontal offset impacts. This includes relatively heavy small cars as well. It is very easy to come to such conclusions based on a few numbers but without fully reading how those numbers have come to be, it is premature to make statements.

[shaktisarangi]

Originally Posted by chiranjitp

So, if the theory of the Swift being T boned by the Auto is true, then we can be almost certain that Maruti are selling a structurally weak Swift in the Indian Market. It is not that you can't build a safe lightweight car, Toyota Etios is also a lightweight car while being structurally sound.

It is a fact that Maruti removes critical crash protection reinforcements in the India spec car. The other aspect of safety is crash prevention and the NCAP ratings are a combination of structural performance, restraint systems and active crash prevention. On this aspect as well Maruti has wilfully ignored the safety of Indian customers.
Crash prevention technologies include traction control, ABS, EBD, BA, ESP, rollover mitigation etc. Maruti still sells non ABS models and not a single Maruti model sold in the country is equipped with traction control or ESP.
In addition, not a single vehicle is sold with more than 2 airbags, while many manufacturers now offer up to 6 airbags in similarly priced cars.

The Indian customer unfortunately does not understand the concept of safety and is more than happy shelling out money a Maruti car due to mileage and resale values.

[samaspire]

This Fortuner accident has it own thread with links to the owner's blog.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/drive-...ml#post4396958

[ChiragM]

Came across this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kz2y...ature=youtu.be

When will people learn not to run across highways like this?

Cartoq posted an article on this incident. The comments on their Facebook post suggest that the person died on the spot. It seems he was trying to run away from a fight on the other side of the road.

Link to Cartoq article.

[TorqueyTechie]

A software engineer died after ramming his two wheeler to an electric pole yesterday morning around 4 AM. According to this article in TOI, police said he was carrying his helmet on his arm and not wearing it.

[mayanksabharwal]

New Dzire after colliding with a tempo. There is no damage to the tempo.

New Swift after ending in a ditch. Both happened yesterday. Came as a whatsapp forward.

[RaguHolla]

Two different rules by police. One for cattle class, and one for minister.

http://www.daijiworld.com/news/newsD...?newsID=508555

Read the above news link, which states minister met with accident. Escort vehicle hit Scorpio from back, which then hit by ministers car. Now police book Scorpio driver.

[Acharya]

Originally Posted by ChiragM

Came across this video:

Cartoq posted an article on this incident. The comments on their Facebook post suggest that the person died on the spot. It seems he was trying to run away from a fight on the other side of the road.

I wonder why Innova driver didn't try to make any maneuver after hitting the person and end up running over the guy with both front & rear wheels.
Either he was shocked, didn't know how to react or it's case of poor driving, he could have avoided running over the person.

There is no doubt it's a mistake from pedestrian, however there was a possibility of not running him over and perhaps, saving his life.

Unfortunate!

[ChiragM]

Originally Posted by Acharya

I wonder why Innova driver didn't try to make any maneuver after hitting the person and end up running over the guy with both front & rear wheels.
Either he was shocked, didn't know how to react or it's case of poor driving, he could have avoided running over the person.

I believe that the damaged windscreen also played a role by reducing visibility. Yes, I am sure that the driver would have been shocked.