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Originally Posted by Seenz So the Hyundai Venue and Kia Sonet seem to have made a massive upgrade from being based on K1 platform to K2 platform (sorry to be specific QXi platform) |
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Originally Posted by RSR Did I ever, ever mention the Indian Venue will ace any crash test or did I ever, ever try to prove the Indian Venue or Sonet are very safe cars??? |
Due to my work, I have acquired a particular taste in bodies, underbodies in particular, and chassis. I have observed the Hyundai vehicles, and others, up-close; and would like to share my observations (minus the sarcasm).
But before that some generic information for everyone's consumption (you guys may add/ correct whatever I missed) :
Material Grades :
Commonly used steel grades in Indian cars are in range of 240, 340, 440, 560, 790. Higher the grade, forming becomes difficult at room temperature and defects like spring back & cracking occur.
Hot Stamping :
Hot stamping is the process to form (shape) steel panels or sheet metal parts at elevated temperatures. It's usually adopted for Very High/ Ultra High Strength grades (980MPa and above).
Capability of Indian suppliers for Hot stamping has developed over past few years and few International players have also jumped in. So, sourcing hot stamped parts or UHSS parts is much easier now compared to 4-5 years back.
Structure Shapes :
Its basic engineering fact that shape of a structure plays important role is its performance. The most common example we see in our lives is I-section beams (which are usually mild steels).
Knowing magnitude and direction of force or torsion is vital while evaluating a structures. e.g. I-section beams are excellent in vertical loading, but very poor in sideway loading on its web. Their capability for torsional loads is limited.
Shape, thickness, material grade, magnitude and direction of force/ torsion, joining process are very important while commenting on capability of any structure.
Internal Reinforcements :
That's the area which I have seen manipulated by OEMs when they launch International models in India. Ford went a step ahead and removed even the visible reinforcement from Endeavour. In most cases, it's the bean counters that prevail over the engineers. However, in some cases, it can be an engineering decision as well.
Platform :
Very loosely used and abused term, not just on Team-BHP but else whereas well. It's a set of parameters defining a design concept/ architecture. This varies from OEM to OEM. Platform terminology has no practical significance outside and is used for aligning internal teams, engineering, production and others. For past few years, marketing has jumped onto this term 'platform' to justify everything. Heartect, Omega the LandRover pedigree, Captur - Kaptur, K1-K2 and many more.
Two vehicles having same platform doesn't always mean that everything in the structure will always be same. There can be subtle and not-so-subtle changes.
Example :- OEM A defines a certain set of parameters as a platform for its internal use.
- OEM B defines a certain set of parameters as a platform for its internal use.
- These two set of parameters may be common, some-what common or entirely different.
- OEM A may vary these set of parameters within a range to develop vehicles for different segments, and yet call platform for these segments by same name.
- OEM B may vary these set of parameters within a range to develop vehicles for different segments, and but call the platform for these segments by different names.
- OEMs may also choose entirely different set of parameters or ranges for same segment or adjacent segment vehicles depending on various factors. In such case they definitely name them as different platforms.
Now coming to the topic at hand :- Based on my own observations, I do agree with RSR as far as how the underbody structures appear for the mentioned Hyundai vehicles.
- Can't comment on the material grades used in various models/ versions as haven't tested those. In my opinion, High Strength Steel, Ultra High Strength Steel or anything else is just a marketing name unless the associated Tensile Strength values are released by OEMs.
- As both of you (and others) have mentioned, underbody structures of Indian versions and International versions of Hyundai vehicles might be same or not. Can't be concluded just by looking at underbodies.
- However, going by past experience, I feel Indian customers usually get raw deal. Reasons for this are many, can be discussed separately. So, I myself feel (no evidence till now), that Indian versions of Hyundai cars (and other OEMs as well) are not at par with International versions.
- In my opinion, for marketing 'global models' in India, same crash testing (EuroNCAP etc.) on Indian market vehicles must be made mandatory.
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Originally Posted by Seenz Now you ask what happened to 3 students. Well they crashed in a parked truck on the Delhi-Rohtak highway. |
I sympathize with your anguish and pray no one loses life in such a way.
However, an accident between a car and a truck is usually going to end bad for occupants of car. It's just physics. Some vehicles may fare better that others, but each accident is different and multitude of factors come into play. I am not even going into the human aspects.
It is practically impossible to design and test for each scenario. The current set of tests, even Euro-NCAP, are very limited. Testing for vehicles for only few sets of conditions. That said, atleast this should be made mandatory, every life is precious.
Current Scenario : NCAPs are not mandatory across even developed markets like EU. Only few countries mandate NCAP. It's the campaigns by certain organizations that has raised awareness amongst customers in these markets and OEMs have been forced to follow the suit.
In India, the
regulatory crash testing is almost as same level as
regulatory crash testing in Europe. But its the lack of awareness that has allowed manufacturers to sell lesser products in India. Recently only, Tata is trying to break this barrier.