Team-BHP - Accidents in India

Another tragic accident :Frustrati!.

Yet another reminder to all of us. DO NOT let your guard down even for a fraction of a second!. I know it is exciting to gun down the A pedal of a Volvo on a beautiful NH and enjoy it. Well enjoy for sure, but please don't assume the roads have been cleared for us to zoom away to glory!.

Can't imagine the shock the surviving member must be going through.

Most of under-run bar breached cases correspond to older trucks. Or so I believe.

IMHO, these underrun bars should be part of the original ladder frame chassis itself, when it comes out of factory, and must not be the prerogative of the body builder. It has to be something that is 'just there, cannot be touched by body builder or jugaad mechanic'. I sincerely hope that the same is the case with all the new-gen chassis rolling out of TATA and AL plants in india. If my hope is misplaced, and still truck chassis are rolling out without the rear/side underrun bars which are permanently welded to the chasiss, then god save our country. Such an important safety device, has to come from factory, preattached to the naked chassis.

Quote:

Originally Posted by balenoed_ (Post 4875716)

The sequence of event must be in reverse. The driver lost control and then hit the divider and the tyre burst. How else would a brand new tyre burst on a seemingly good road. He was too close to the divider and must have mis-judged the width of the car.

I found a YouTube video regarding this accident, as per the video showroom employee was driving the car and customer was recording video to check sound quality of speakers and suddenly car lost control and turned towards divider.
Video recording stars around 2:20 and car stars turning around 2:40.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ8hlftScAQ

Volvo had undertaken an ambitious target of zero passenger fatalities in a Volvo automobile by 2020, clearly it is a target they will not achieve thanks to Indian roads.
The V90 CC has radar guided cruise control, collision mitigation and active emergency braking, making it one of the safest cars on Indian roads.
The only explanation for this accident is that the car was tailgating the truck and did not realise the truck has braked. These European luxury cars mask speed unbelievably well and it is very easy to lose sense of how fast you are going in relation to other traffic.

Quote:

Originally Posted by shaktisarangi (Post 4875799)

The only explanation for this accident is that the car was tailgating the truck and did not realise the truck has braked.

Not sure probably. The pics in the original post and various other pics and videos shows that the truck was parked off the road. The car seems to be jumping over to the shoulders and going underneath. Probably he hit the 2W, swerved and momentary lapse of not knowing what to do (brake). Such must have been the speeds.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 100Rabh (Post 4875797)

suddenly car lost control and turned towards divider.

My god!
Then one should never ever buy this car.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AJ739 (Post 4875396)

Tata Hexa from BIAL fleet, spotted this at Tata ASS. Apparently the car has been lying with them for over 30 days now. No airbags deployed and dash seemed unaffected but the MID was shattered.

Looks like a side impact. I don't think this variant may have side impact airbags.

Also, I don't think Aria/ Hexa ever had side airbags.

Quote:

Originally Posted by balenoed_ (Post 4875830)

This video gives a better explanation on how the accident occurred. The news anchor says a bike was trying to cross the road on the NH and the car tried not to hit the bike and rear ended the parked lorry. So, the Volvo was probably driving on the right lane and the biker wanted to cross and underestimated the speed of the car and continued with his road crossing. The driver of the car probably wasn’t expecting the biker would cross the road, but he did. At such speeds, time runs fast. The driver might have tried to not run over the bike by banking left (a natural reflex) and to brake. However, the biker might have assumed the car would have braked in the right lane and he could get away with it and wasn’t expecting the car would move to the left lane. This explains why the biker was found beneath the lorry. If the parked lorry wasn’t there, the biker would have been seriously hurt or would have died, but nothing would have happened to the passengers in the car. The car should have naturally slowed down when crossing an intersection and biker should have waited for the car to pass. Such a tragic and totally an avoidable accident.

https://youtu.be/azNzWlvkJeg

Quote:

Originally Posted by 100Rabh (Post 4875797)

Isuddenly car lost control and turned towards divider

Quote:

Originally Posted by balenoed_ (Post 4875830)

My god!
Then one should never ever buy this car.

Except for possibilities like oil (not ice, in this part of the world) on the road, you can be fairly certain that the car did not such thing: the driver did something stupid.

Buy the car :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by balenoed_ (Post 4875830)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 4875845)

Except for possibilities like oil (not ice, in this part of the world) on the road, you can be fairly certain that the car did not such thing: the driver did something stupid.

Buy the car :)

I'm sorry, I should have explained it properly. As per the video, reason told for lost of control was tyre burst.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 100Rabh (Post 4875858)

I'm sorry, I should have explained it properly. As per the video, reason told for lost of control was tyre burst.

That video is crap.

I am sure it is a cooked up video by a vlogger to gain some subscribers. It does not even mention driver error as one of the the probable causes that he has come up with. And what? Checking audio by recording in mobile phone!!?

The video mentions it could be due to high tyre pressure, but does not even say that it could be also due to low pressure - which is actually a more probably cause for a tyre blow out than high pressure.

Tyre cannot just like that dangerously blow out, in a demo car especially. Probable causes of tyre blow out needs to be:

Low/High Pressure - Here not sure why would they overlook a city driven test drive car's pressure level. And blowing out dangerously in a city drive is unlikely.
Direct Impact - Here the roads surface looks to be good and no reason to have a pothole impact. But yes, the sidewall must have impacted with the divider which is what the actual cause must be.
Overload - Unlikely, may be 3 pax were there in that car.
High Speed - Evident in the video that it was not.
Bald/old tyre - In a TD vehicle?

Quote:

Originally Posted by VRJ (Post 4875838)

This video gives a better explanation on how the accident occurred.

from the video - I have to assume that people wouldn't have been belted up, otherwise there is no way (I know it sounds blasphemous) someone could have died inside. The left side A pillar and door are completely fine, the policeman was able to neatly close it. THe right side A pillar looks only slightly bent. I would say the swedes indeed stayed true to their reputation - the car is a tank. Any other car, I'm mostly sure the A pillar wouldv'e shattered. But there is only so much a car manufacturer can do - if the people inside dont wear seatbelts, there is no engineering in the world, that can prevent physics from happening.

Quote:

Originally Posted by venkyhere (Post 4875961)

from the video - I have to assume that people wouldn't have been belted up, otherwise there is no way (I know it sounds blasphemous) someone could have died inside.

Please look at the video again and observe the way the roof has been sheared off till the B pillar. Even if they were wearing belts (looks more likely since the airbags have deployed), the occupants would have sadly been decapitated.

Quote:

Originally Posted by balenoed_ (Post 4875368)

Not sure if it's just to me - Take a close look at the reflection on the display of the driver. He seems to be steering left and right lightly after that tight overtake. Probably checking the response of steering? And went too close to the median and lost control.

Spot on! I think after that tight overtake he was surprised to see that red obstacle near the median so he tries to correct the steering by turning left and ends up overcorrecting and again turns it right and then left and right and BAM! I think he was also bit panicked because just when he is overtaking that mini truck from left, an auto also overtakes it from right. So when he finished the overtake and moved to the right lane the Auto also would have been on that lane which he would have noticed late. Add that red plastic thing near the median, the driver panicked and started overcorrecting his steering. That's what I think has happened unless there was a tyre burst before the collision in which case I am wrong.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nagr22 (Post 4875964)

if I remember correctly, I have read somewhere that the welding seams of the roof to the structure are intentionally done in such a way as to make sure that the roof peels upwards-and-out, instead of downwards-and-into-the-cabin for such scenarios where a protruding structure hits the car roof first. And if the above impression that I have is indeed correct, then I am sure volvo will be the first in line to have implemented the same.

Quote:

Originally Posted by VRJ (Post 4875685)

Indians are such lovely people that show bucket loads of love to family and friend and are always ready to help. I don't understand what happens the second people get in to a car. All of a sudden people become inconsiderate and impatient. Everyone wants to reach their destination in record time everyday. It's like everyone has a medical emergency and they need to reach a hospital ASAP.

I know time is money, but at what cost?

So true. Its as if there is a complete change in persona when folks get behind the wheel. Or have to queue up in public.

Discussions related to build quality, safety equipment, and tyres become more or less academic when a car at triple digit speeds hits a stationary truck.

Quote:

Originally Posted by venkyhere (Post 4876013)

Even if the roof peels upwards it won't help because the decapitation would have been done by the truck chassis. Moreover in this case the seat belts would have actually made the situation worse since the pre-tenstioner would have kicked in holding the passengers firmly in place. Otherwise there is a chance that the passengers may have ducked naturally due sudden drop in velocity.