[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by ajmat

There was no frontal impact so the sensors did not activate for front airpacts. The front A pillar was ripped off. Judging by damage, the car was travelling pretty fast and the A pillar got ripped by the truck. I doubt if any airbag would have helped.

I could be wrong.

Whatever it is , condolences to the departed soul

First up, condolences from my side as well - it is simply terrible to think that sometimes the best drivers with the best precautions run out of luck. Sometimes fate can be so cruel.

I think ajmat has said it.

If you look closely on the image, you see clear indentations on the left bumper and the bonnet which would have led to the left passenger airbag deploying. on the other hand, despite the bumper getting ripped off from the front - there is no indentation. So stupid as it may sound, the hit on the right front fender took out the bumper but the RH sensors did not sense a frontal impact. As the car spun and impacted on the LHS, the LHS airbag deployed. Just as unfortunate as that - in my little read of it.

that said, I would want a button if I ever have a car like that - to be able to choose (i.e set configuration) multiple airbag deployment from a single collision, or atleast ensure that all the airbags in a plane of impact deploy. Clearly the obvious use case that mercedes missed/did not test adequately was that impact on the LHS and RH front fender can kill the driver sitting in the LHS. So a "frugal"/conservative (if i may say so) machine logic from Mercedes cost him his life.

Personally if I have a car as well equipped as that - I'd want every darned airbag to deploy. The sensor's linear logic failed in this clearly random accident (and which is what accidents are - unplanned, and random).

I have a different but dumber question - what if tomorrow I drive such a car and end up hitting a tree. just because the impact is on one side doesn't mean that the other airbag should not deploy? I think not. The shock/compressive forces don't particularly distinguish all of that!

[vb-saan]

Heartfelt condolences Mark.

What Ajmat mentioned could be the likely reason for such an impact, but I they would designed it to have both the airbags deployed in any kind of frontal impacts. AFAIK, manufacturers do provide an option of switching off passenger-side airbag (for safety reasons), but never on the driver side.

[gururaj r]

Heartfelt condolences Mr Mark.

I am a novice. The sensors for airbags should have been kept all around the vehicle. Even while testing, only frontal impact, collision, crumpling of pillars are tested and not side impact and trigger of airbags. (as far as I have seen in various testing simulations).

Not having sensors for side impact could have resulted in the airbags on the driver side (both front and back) not firing since the manufacturers would not have expected such an impact. But in such said to be safest car, these points should have been incorporated. Very sad.

[krish82]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

I have a different but dumber question - what if tomorrow I drive such a car and end up hitting a tree. just because the impact is on one side doesn't mean that the other airbag should not deploy? I think not. The shock/compressive forces don't particularly distinguish all of that!

This is very sad. i wonder if there were curtain airbags in the sides shouldnt those would have opened? Normally airbags may not open when you it a Tree or pole, this is written in my cars booklet. But i dont know about the S class.

[ajmat]

The objective of an airbag is to reduce the human body impacting the hard surfaces. The A pillar is almost as good as an axe which would scythe through any airbag and cause injury

[markmytravel]

Originally Posted by ajmat

The objective of an airbag is to reduce the human body impacting the hard surfaces. The A pillar is almost as good as an axe which would scythe through any airbag and cause injury

Given the fact that he died while on his way to hospital due to excess blood loss, any amount of impact reduced MIGHT have been useful. And again, the purpose of airbags is to deploy upon impact which didn't happen in this case. We cannot change the fate of my BIL, but there are other lives at stake here. Certainly we don't want big brands to take Indian market for granted and compromise on our safety.

[Thad E Ginathom]

The airbag starts to deflate as soon as it inflates. It is there in the moments after impact only. Where part of the body has been crushed, and, in turn, crushes someone inside the car, I don't think it could help at all. As ajmat says, that pillar would have been like an axe.

It still leaves us with many very valid questions about how airbags work, how they protect, and when the should or should not be activated. If there is not a thread on this, we should have one.

Sadest thing, in this thread, is when death strikes someone close to our members. Condolences to you and other family and friends.

[krish82]

This is a complete misfortune that in spite of being in a S class the person lost his life. i would like to know the speed in which the car was travelling, it should have been more than 120 or 140, i think a S class should have fairly stopped quicker if the person was doing 100 or so and not crossed the divider and hit the sides, as the person would have braked when the truck would have it him.

[architect]

My condolences to Mark.

It is indeed sad that being in one of safest automobiles of the world, the active+passive safety features were not successful. The only thing that gives me shudders is how many times a day do we face a situation which could turn potentially ugly. No amount of defensive driving can help when the other guy is mad.

As far as overtaking from left is concerned, as someone pointed out, although it might not have been the case here, it is a practical reality in North India. The slowest vehicles hog the right most lane and never move despite repeated flashing and honking. In fact they expect you to overtake from the left lane. I am not saying its the safest thing to do but it has to be done.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Mark, this is not about you, and the last thing I would want to do is to cause you offence at a time of grief. I also think your questions are valid as to what worked and what did not, in this particular car.

It is about expectations and responses that seem to be normal, but I think they should be challenged....

People die in an accident: The safety devices failed.

People die in an expensive car in an accident: that's not supposed to happen in expensive cars, they are supposed to be safe.

In any given situation, one or the other might be true. In general, I think they are fallacies, and very dangerous fallacies.

[aerohit]

Instead of cursing Mercedes, how can all forget to blame the real culprit the truckdriver.
Its like saying- better to make cars safers instead of making the roads safer, which it totally wrong approach, and this accident proves it.

[Suess]

Originally Posted by vkochar

Although I did not know the person ( Nirmal Saraf ) who died in the S Class Accident on the Agra - Jaipur highway, my family however knew his wife's family. His wife was also known to my younger sister and it is only my moral duty to spread this message as Mercedes's so claimed 1 crore rupee safest car in the world held no meaning at all when someone lost his life to such a tragic accident.

I can understand if all airbags had opened then yes the accident may have been so massive BUT the airbags not opening even when car has turtled and done possibly all the aerobics before finally stopping. This is just unacceptable.

Here is a pic I am sharing -

Attachment 844039

Also users can know more by simply typing Mercedes Exposed on facebook. A page has been created to bring awareness.

RIP Nirmal.

My heartfelt condolence to Nirmal's family and friend. I am sorry for what has happened and wish if there is something which could help anyone involve in this tragic accident.

As many of us are trying to understand the circumstances and all to understand better what could have happened, there are many unanswered questions. some of them might be answered by close inspection by Benz itself.

Regarding airbags, these can save you when your car body is not damaged so badly as in this case. car body is primary safety and if that is gone airbag not going to save you. and as far i can see there are more than one airbags which got deployed. (those light blue things on back side of damaged body?) what i can infer is that the side bags also got deployed but the entire right side is ripped off and crumbled by impact so driver sustained fatal injuries after airbags got deployed.

I can't think much after reading and seeing all these pics. it's very heart wrenching. RIP Nirmal. Amen. :-(

[DevilsCry]

Originally Posted by vb-san

AFAIK, manufacturers do provide an option of switching off passenger-side airbag (for safety reasons), but never on the driver side.

That makes me think what if the S Class' airbags system was designed for right hand drive? In that case, the car would assume that the driver is on left instead of right. But then Mercedes would not ignore such a thing, I think.

[GTO]

I'm deeply saddened by your accident, Mark, please accept our condolences. May God give you & your family the strength to cope with this tragic loss.

There is an update on the case:

Court asks police to file case against 11 auto company officials

Jaipur: Nearly a month after a youth from Jaipur driving the high-end Mercedes Benz car was killed on the outskirts of city, a local court ordered to register a criminal case against 11 persons, including top officials of the auto-major.

Hearing a petition filed by Vimal Sarraff (father of the victim, Nirmal Sarraff), the additional chief judicial magistrate (IX) court in city on Friday ordered that criminal case be registered against 11 persons at the Sodala police station.

The court ordered to register a case against 11 persons, including Bharat Balasubramanian (head of Mercedes Benz India), its director Raghunand Balakrishnan, MD of TNT Motors (authorised dealers in Jaipur) Vidhur Talwar, besides company's global top-brass.

Credit to, and full article on Bhaskar.com

This matter needs its own independent discussion, hence the posts have been moved out of the Accidents in India thread.

All of us should remember that there is no such thing as a death-proof car. I'm going to be keenly following this case, and also the findings of the government authorities.

Please drive safe, guys. Indian roads couldn't have been any more dangerous, what with our poor driver training standards, shoddily maintained vehicles and an absolute disregard for life & other road users.

EDIT : While on the topic of airbags being deployed, I'm thinking.....in a severe accident, irrespective of the point of impact, why not have all airbags deploy by default (or atleast those around the seats that are occupied by passengers)? It's not like they are going to harm anyone, but they can sure save a life. I think the lobby of insurance companies has a hand in the selective activation of airbags.

[shankar.balan]

I offer my condolences too, to the bereaved family. I appreciate Ajmat's objective point below.

Originally Posted by ajmat

There was no frontal impact so the sensors did not activate for front airpacts. The front A pillar was ripped off. Judging by damage, the car was travelling pretty fast and the A pillar got ripped by the truck. I doubt if any airbag would have helped.

I could be wrong.

Whatever it is , condolences to the departed soul