Re: Ecosport toppled multiple times with none of the 6 airbags deployed Quote:
Originally Posted by Rahulbarik Hello, My name is Rahul and i belong from Kolkata. I am new to this forum and would be my first post here.
We were travelling around 80 kmph on a state by-pass road at around 3 am, when a Tata 407 came head on which made us serve left and off the road completely with all 4 wheels outside the road surface and almost into a roadside pond which was at least 4 feet lower than the road itself. Our car tilted left with left wheels touching the water, while still at 80 kmph, when my friend swerved right to get back up on the road but couldn't as the wheels couldn't grip. He kept on accelerating with the wheels spinning, hoping to bring the car up the road and avoiding getting submerged in the pond. The car was still probably at 80 kmph when suddenly the tyres gripped somehow and made the car jump up from the pond and on the road resulting in the car toppling on the left side and rolling atleast 8 times and hitting a light post and breaking a wall after hitting it and god knows what else.
My car is a TDCI TITANIUM PLUS with 6 airbags and NOT A SINGLE AIRBAG DEPLOYED. NOT EVEN THE SIDE AND CURTAIN AIRBAGS. Yes, we were having our seat belts on. |
Glad to know that you and your friends are safe. I have a question though...how did you remember the sequence of events in the crash?! Assuming a speed of 80 kmph, all the sequences you mentioned would take about a couple of seconds. Yet you remember everything in detail. I am amazed.
Coming to the point regarding airbag deployment, from experience I can say that even a deployed airbag would not have helped much due to a couple of reasons. First, curtain airbags are different from rollover airbags. The standard curtain airbags are designed to deploy for a single sideways deceleration. They deploy and get diffused with a tenth of a second. Rollover airbags, on the other hand, are designed to deploy for a longer period as rollovers tend to last much longer than a normal side impact. If you say that the car has done 8 quarter turns, this means that each plane has been contacted twice. A standard curtain airbag would have deployed in the first impact on each side plane but would have probably diffused by the time the vehicle had the second impact on that plane, leaving you exposed. Second, considering the intrusions on the pillars and side rails, the curtain airbag would have deployed right in your face.
My bigger concern will be the intrusions. Such intrusions indicate that the vehicle changed gradients during the rollover. You guys are extremely lucky that you did not contact the inside of the vehicle or the ground. A single variable change here or there would have given a different story. Next time, try not to do 80 kmph on a road in which there are chances of a head-on.
Can you clear one doubt for me: If you recall, can you confirm if the front belts have lost their retraction i.e. they got stuck and did not go back to their original position? Quote:
Originally Posted by Nomad In courts - The argument around technicalities of nondeployment of airbags will not stand. The company can write whatever they want in their manual. In court the argument is in the line of "what is the basic function of airbag". Its to protect in case of a fatal accident. Next is, you are paying extra bucks for a car with 6 airbags. So it implies a contract to provide a certain level of service. |
Interesting information. So, the court just throws out technical engineering details presented as evidence? What would the courts do if information is presented that the basic function of the side airbag is to save occupants from side collisions and not rollovers?
Also, I am curious to know..how will the courts react if information is presented that the occupants were not belted, a primary requisite for airbags to be effective? |