[psankar]

I do not know the people involved. Just got it from Facebook feed:

https://www.facebook.com/Ajit.Menon2...04710521175351

From the page:

When my boss, Mr. Anil Nair bashed his Toyota Ethios car head-on at the Ernakulam-Alleppey highway, he suffered injuries and his co-passenger was hospitalized for 2 weeks.
When he informed hisToyota dealer that Airbags did not deploy, their reply was, “It’s because you did not collide properly”. !!!!
Mr.Anil Nair then asked them, ‘Then how must I collide for the airbags to function propertly? How can I trust this vehicle again?’
Hope they will also give training to bang cars right so that air bags get deployed.

Accident Image:

[svsantosh]

I Was honestly expecting a rollover or the jaipur type (E CLass) clean shave above bonnet line - BUT IF THIS CANNOT DEPLOY airbags, God knows what will...

Very clearly this is a proper front on collision and looks like a bad one, can I ask what other vehicle/tree/truck caused this much damage?

[Edwardanto]

This incident was discussed in the thread 'Toyota to pay 25 lakhs for Fortuner Accident (airbags didn't deploy)'. Some of the bhpians noted that the passenger was not wearing seat belt and crashed his head against the windshield. This could be the reason why the airbags failed to inflate. I agree that the wordings used by the service person was totally stupid and offensive.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by svsantosh

I Was honestly expecting a rollover or the jaipur type (E CLass) clean shave above bonnet line - BUT IF THIS CANNOT DEPLOY airbags, God knows what will...

+1.

But even then i think we cannot judge based on just one pic. Hope someone is able to chip in with more information on the matter soon.

Safety is becoming a really sensitive issue in the Indian market, specially in the price sensitive entry level segments.

[romeomidhun]

Going through this news as well as the similar case of Fortuner accident, I was wondering whether Toyota forgot to add airbags in these cars!

[ILTDrive]

Shocking response from Toyota, If at all that was the what they quoted. People spend more money to buy the versions with Airbags and ABS for the sole purpose of their safety and if a collision like this does not deploy the airbags, then I shudder to think what will. Should the whole bonnet and the engine bay cave in for the airbags to deploy.
However, the information available is very less to make any assumptions at this stage. Hope someone is able to provide more information on the same.

As others have quoted, were the occupants wearing the seat belts?

[chncar]

Could be related to the Japanese vendor whose airbags were faulty, necessitating a recall by most Japanese brands. However, if that was the case, Toyota still bears responsibility for recalling and replacing the airbags.

[satyamkaushik]

In my opinion your boss needs to take this issue up with Toyota. They just can't get away with saying that there was not enough impact on the sensors for them to deploy the airbags.
If the biggies at Toyota don't seem to admit their fault, then take the issue up to the Consumer Court for Toyota selling faulty cars & endangering lives of the Consumers.
They need to compensate not just for the loss caused but even for the trauma your boss has been through.

--
Satyam Kaushik

[shady_lawyer]

A Toyota Again! First the Fortuner now this. I have no idea what toyota is upto. Less said the better about the dealer. We pay extra for safety and all we get is this.
Also if the airbag had failed prior to the incident, the error code would have showed up. Its not linked to the recent recall, because its restricted to the inflator, the recall was that during the deployment, it might spray debris, and not, not deploy at all.


Is anyone at Toyota listening, or I guess they just have way too much money and will arrive at yet another settlement of double digit lakhs.

[roy_libran]

I have seen this post circulating abut on Facebook. However, the one thing, I haven't seen answered yet, anywhere, is whether the occupants were wearing seat-belts or not.

[SchumiFan]

The article doesn't give any info about whether the occupants wore seatbelts or not. It is my understanding that the airbags deploy only when the seatbelts are secured.

While the response from the Service Center was stupid to say the least, more information regarding the crash itself will tell the whole story.

One other point is that despite the crash, it looks like the occupants were shielded and the car withstood the impact.

Etios is mostly accused of being lightweight but it seems that the structure is sound.

[wilful]

I went through that FB page and it seems they were indeed belted up!

"Ajit Menon That's right Hari Menon, many people had raised the issue of seat belt. I am informed that both the passengers did indeed wear the seat belt because - 1. they were travelling on a highway which is one of the relatively good ones in Kerala, 2. the police in Kochi area is very strict about it"

If this is true (and I have no reason to doubt it at this point), it is terribly disturbing and the company cannot just wash their hand off as lightly as this!

[sinharishi]

Had already posted this on the "Toyota to pay 25 lakhs for Fortuner Accident (airbags didn't deploy)" thread.

2 more pictures in addition to the one in the opening post can be found here :

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ml#post3583603

[lurker]

Etios is another car in the Swift category.

Does anyone wonder how the 1.3 MJD that performs how it does in the Fiat Punto does behave so differently in the Swift. Many people have credited Maruti's *tuning* the 1.3 MJD better.

I now think that answer is entirely different. Rather than *tuning* the 1.3 MJD differently, the Swift is quite a bit lighter than it's Fiat counterparts which allows the engine to behave differently. The only reason why a car can be significantly lighter than it's counterparts can be because it's structurally much more frugal than the rest.

Etios is another such car, it is very light and compromises on many structural reinforcements that makes a car that much more heavier. It is evident from the way it takes off from stop and drivers usually do not complain until something goes wrong, like in this case.

[Edwardanto]

Originally Posted by lurker

Etios is another such car, it is very light and compromises on many structural reinforcements that makes a car that much more heavier. It is evident from the way it takes off from stop and drivers usually do not complain until something goes wrong, like in this case.

But from the images it looks like the car has absorbed the impact quite well. The entire cabin is not quite visible, but the driver seat is (see the third picture in the facebook page). It didn't seem like moved forward as usually happens in many crashes. The injury to the co-passenger may very well due to the fact that he crashed his head against the windshield due to not buckling up. The windshield crack is visible in the pictures as well. The airbags not being inflated may also be attributed to this reason.