[poloman]

Originally Posted by dailydriver

A friend and I went to XXX showroom looking to evaluate a two wheeler. Checked out A and came back unimpressed. That's when the SA asked me to check out B parked outside, facing the glass wall of the showroom.

The SA brought the key, got on the two wheeler and started it. Before he could reverse it, I - standing in front of B - bent forward and raised the accelerator to check for vibrations and engine noise, royally forgetting the fact that this was a non-geared two wheeler (unlike the Hero Honda Splendor, which was my last ride). The two wheeler rushed forward and was about to crash into the glass wall when the SA got hold of the brakes and my friend lunged for the keys. Almost at the exact moment the brake was applied, ignition too was turned off: saving me from a huge embarrassment and possibly a repair bill (glass wall+scooter) that could have left a huge dent in my savings.

.

This was the exact sequence of events I experienced in my only accident since I started driving around 25 years back. I am used to geared motorbikes and was trying to ride my wife's gearless scooty. Its accelerator was not properly tuned and the engine was switching off intermittently. So I tried to raise the accelerator 2-3 times real hard, the way I used to do in my bike during cold starts. I forgot to apply the brakes and the bike lunged forward and hit the parking area pillar which was in close vicinity. I could jump off the scooter but my hand got badly sprained in the process.

Let us be not too harsh on the lady. Even experienced drivers can make mistakes when they are not familiar with the equipment or used to a different driving style.

[pavi]

Originally Posted by ani_meher

Difference between erring while riding a bicycle vs driving a car is the possibility of getting hurt. In a safe cocoon like a car, the responsibility of the driver is multi-folds than on bike/two wheeler because the damage to driver vs recipient can be un-proportionate. Besides, it is of no business of a non-confident / learner driver to floor a car, especially in a showroom. This shows the sheer lack of awareness if one can't tell the car is ON and accelerator shouldn't be touched.

In that case, let me reframe the sentence in my previous comment, ‘remember the time you started learning to drive a car’. An accident can occur even after applying the best possible steps to avoid it. Under a panic situation, human instincts may or may not avoid mishappenings. Heard of Jim Clark?, the best racing driver of all time died in a car crash in a racing competition. People used to say his methods were perfect, and believed he would never cause any accident. Basically it’s not about just experience, it’s also about circumstances and sheer luck.

[cp171185]

Given that, Hyundai had made at least driver side airbag standard across all variants of i20, I wonder why the airbag dint deploy? It was enough crash right? is it because the driver was not wearing seat belt or something else?

[Wolfconsole]

Here's a similar incident that happened in China few months back. The lady here panicked after hitting the door and then floored the accelerator instead of hitting the brakes.

https://youtu.be/_DM8o37q4es

[NiInJa]

I was not surprised one bit to see such a mishap happening in India. In fact I was waiting to see such thing (not in a positive way). Two months back when I went to check out the Ertiga, it had the keys inside the cabin and the car was completely functional. The sales guy even showed some curious customers how the car sounded like after ignition. Whats more, the car was on the first floor of the showroom facing towards the glass facade. There were kids fiddling around as one would expect and no one was actually paying attention. The keyless entry system means someone just has to press the button along with the clutch and the car will start rolling!

Very stupid of both the customer and the sales people. I mean, why does anybody want to start a car in the showroom? We have test cars for that.

Originally Posted by cp171185

It was enough crash right? is it because the driver was not wearing seat belt or something else?

My guess is because the impact was not a high speed to trigger airbags or as you said the seat-belt was probably not worn.

[PearlJam]

Without taking anything away from the seriousness of this accident, the reaction of the black-suited 'manager' at the desk (0:25 to 0:33 secs) is priceless.

[Ravi Parwan]

I believe the Air bags only deploy after a certain speed or high intensity of impact. In this case, the car was slow throughout, (picked up speed, went through glass, slowed down on hitting the ground, sped and hit the parked cars before stopping).
Seatbelt and airbag systems are not interconnected.

[bharatbits]

I have seen many such morons (for lack of a better word) usually asking their wife; who doesn't know D of Driving; to drive the car for the first time atleast for a few metres, or on lemons to ward off evil spirits etc for purely sentimental reasons. They believe a woman doing so brings good luck during the entire ownership period of that article; be it car, refrigerator etc. That's plain stupid in my view.

I have been driving for 16 years now. Even then if i bought a car i'd ask the showroom staff to keep it ready for me at the gate. Not allowing anybody else to touch or start the car before a woman in the family does is stupidity.

[Chetan_Rao]

Irrespective of the driving skills (or lack of it) of a customer, it should be impossible to drive a car inside a showroom for anyone except authorized dealer personnel at all times.

I'm inclined to consider this negligence on part of the showroom staff.

[DeepakS]

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

Not sure that's the case here. Hyundai keyless systems are highly sensitive. The car won't start even if the key is just outside the vehicle. Atleast that's the case in my Creta.

In this facelifted i20, the keyless(start/stop) ignition doesn't come in the lower end variants. The car doesn't have alloys but has fog lamps so i think it's SPORTZ. And sports doesn't have start/stop button.

[speedguy]

Originally Posted by cp171185

Given that, Hyundai had made at least driver side airbag standard across all variants of i20, I wonder why the airbag dint deploy? It was enough crash right? is it because the driver was not wearing seat belt or something else?

Because there are no 'IMPACT' sensors that triggers the Airbag. There are actually "Deceleration' sensors.
A sudden & rapid deceleration triggers the Airbag circuit. And in this case there is not enough deceleration to actuate the airbags.
Really sorry for the lady. She must be inconsolable right now. After all,the mistakes are part of everyone's life, but this is gonna cost her or her family real bad.

[asingh1977]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

Irrespective of the driving skills (or lack of it) of a customer, it should be impossible to drive a car inside a showroom for anyone except authorized dealer personnel at all times.

I'm inclined to consider this negligence on part of the showroom staff.

Well at times, the handover ceremony is done inside the showroom, and the customer is eager to "drive" the car out. I have seen people driving their new cars out.

I did not, though. I asked the Sales Rep, to take it out to the curb, and hand-over. Agree, inside showroom driving should be strictly no-no.

[silverado]

Cars these days come with lots of features.Showroom guys have to show them off, hence I believe all the keys must be in display cars.
Ideally the show off thing should only happen in Test Drive car, but Test drive cars are used for multiple things.

The big question here is WAS THE HANDBRAKE DISENGAGED in display car or did the lady disengage it?

[bordeaux]

Originally Posted by satishv1987

The car seems to be an automatic.It looks like the lady had one foot on the accelerator and the other on the brake pedal. The car must have been in "D" mode. When it started moving, she panicked and pressed the accelerator pedal instead of the brake.

Rookie drivers who learn driving on a manual car are never taught to change how to work the pedals once they start using an automatic. One foot on each pedal is a disaster waiting to happen.

Not just the rookie drivers mate! I made that mistake first time I was in an automatic after having driven manual cars for over 120,000 KMs. Your feet are simply confused as to what to do.

[gkveda]

In my view, the root cause for this is the rat race culture / the human desire to some how do more than Competition does. I substantiate my statement with below naration.

Recently, I had been to 2 different dealers led Bajaj Showroom. I asked for test drive of Dominar (Seriously, I am considering to purchase one.) Immediately the sales guy came and gave the keys of a display vehicle(That was inside the showroom) and asked me to drive out myself.

I, being very conservative, asked him to get the vehicle out himself and I will start driving on road. Then, he realized his mistake and asked my driving license.

Second dealer also took the same approach. But, he added one point at the end. He said, other dealers do not allow to "start" the display vehicles inside show room but only they allow.

During Initial days, there was no test drive concept at all. There were no TV /Radio Ads etc.

If one wanted to buy the car, he/she had to borrow friend's vehicle to feel the car and he had to visit showroom to "see" the car available for delivery of other owners and decide.

Then came Advertisements and display car concept. People started seeing the car /bikes within showroom and on TV from various angles. But Dealers still had not invested on TD vehicles.

Then came Test drive concept. A small test drive after DL verification of the owner only after confirming that the opportunity win rate exceeds certain percentage and experience of driver, people started getting their hands on the vehicle.

This trend continued till such an extent that today, every dealer allows the display vehicle to be started inside the showroom and allows the driving within the showroom for any stranger /window shopper(Pun Intended) and this case is a perfect example of Window Shopping

All this is just to beat the competition, in my view.