A Fiat Punto saves a family

rameshnanda · 20th August 2012, 13:09

Recently (on 7th Aug 2012), one of my friend met with a major accident and fortunately he and his wife are safe. Since he is not a member in Team-BHP, I am sharing the incident with his permission.

He narrates the incident himself.

"This is what happened to my beloved exotic red 90 hp punto at a traffic signal on NH 45 in front of DB Hospital, Chrompet, Chennai. My car got sandwich-ed between 2 lorries.

I was waiting at a traffic signal behind a lorry at a safe distance. I engaged the hand break and I was talking to my wife. After few seconds I saw through the rear view mirror that a tipper lorry was approaching fast. I also saw it coming and hitting my rear right side with a great force. Everything happened in few seconds. The force of the impact was such that my car went to lower part of the lorry which was in front of me. The impact was such that the rear part of the lorry was resting on the bonnet of my car. Its rear four wheels was not touching the ground. Both the air bags got deployed. I believe that my wife got survived just because of the airbag in my car.

Due to this impact the whole engine got damaged. And the car body shell got shrinked on the right hand side.

After few minutes of this accident I called our reliable Ramesh and teky (a BHP'ian). Ramesh asked another friend pdranjith (another BHP'ian) to rush to the spot and teky asked his dad, who was at a near by place to help me out. They helped me to finish the formalities at the police station to get the FIR. Ranjith was with me all the day even though he was having a very busy schedule. Though teky was busy preparing for his foreign trip he found time to call me every hour to know the situation. Ramesh came to the RTO office to help us. I am not having enough words to thank my friends who helped me on that day.

We towed my car to RTO in a tow van, finished the formalities there and then took it back to my home. In the mean time teky called Mr. Tensigh from Tafe reach and asked him to come and evaluate the damage. Very next day he came with another person from body shop to my home.

I should say that this is one of the strongest vehicle that anyone can get. The cabin was intact . Passengers were safe with some muscle sprain for few days. If there was no air bags and if it was some other car my family would have reached some where else.

The sad part was that my car was not even 10 months old. It has hardly covered 11000 kms. And now for no mistake of mine I have to shed few lakhs from my pocket to buy another car, which will again be most probably a Fiat."

Some pictures of the car after the accident.

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thumpingheart · 20th August 2012, 13:18

My god. This is one of the most sad incidents I've ever seen in my life. Thank god your friend and his wife are safe. Why did the lorry not stop?? Brake failure or simple negligence? If the later he should be severely penalized for this. Poor guy has to part with his love for the mistake of some idiot! He should be made by law to buy man a new car.

And great job helping your friend Ramesh and Teky.

God bless. Hope he's copes fine with his loss - both emotionally and financially.

funkykar · 20th August 2012, 13:40

Was the engine running while the accident occurred? I guess so! If not may be the air-bags wouldn't have deployed?

Air bags work only when ignition On or would it work otherwise also? An interesting question hovering in my mind ever since I read about the accident

bruiser · 20th August 2012, 13:45

Thank God, your friends are safe. And thank FIAT for making such safe cars.
These lorry drivers are a piece of work, they cease to amaze me with their negligence.
Anyways, all's well that ends well.
Sad to see the car in such a shape, but I guess its a small price to pay for one's life.

rameshnanda · 20th August 2012, 13:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by thumpingheart

My god. This is one of the most sad incidents I've ever seen in my life. Thank god your friend and his wife are safe. Why did the lorry not stop?? Brake failure or simple negligence? If the later he should be severely penalized for this. Poor guy has to part with his love for the mistake of some idiot! He should be made by law to buy man a new car.

There is no problem with the brakes of the lorry. It is sheer negligence. Sad part is that after our legal consultation, we got to know that at most the lorry driver will be penalized Rs. 500 in the court since there is no injury.

Quote:

Originally Posted by funkykar

Was the engine running while the accident occurred? I guess so! If not may be the air-bags wouldn't have deployed?

The engine was running when this incident occured.

sanstorm · 20th August 2012, 13:51

Thats gruecome, but glad that the occupant survived their most important asset i.e. life. This reminded a post on team-bhp few years ago, when a tipper carrying tons of stones gave a stone bath to a new Linea. To everyones amazement and thankfully the owner of vehicle survived.

funkykar · 20th August 2012, 13:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by sanstorm

Thats gruecome, but glad that the occupant survived their most important asset i.e. life. This reminded a post on team-bhp few years ago, when a tipper carrying tons of stones gave a stone bath to a new Linea. To everyones amazement and thankfully the owner of vehicle survived.

Is there a thread for this accident or can you point me to the post if possible

phamilyman · 20th August 2012, 13:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by rameshnanda

And now for no mistake of mine I have to shed few lakhs from my pocket to buy another car, which will again be most probably a Fiat."

Terrible instance. But all i say is be happy that you're shelling lakhs to Fiat and not to some hospital.

Your car REALLY served you well.

download2live · 20th August 2012, 13:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by rameshnanda

Sad part is that after our legal consultation, we got to know that at most the lorry driver will be penalized Rs. 500 in the court since there is no injury.

Seriously? Someone pays lakhs to get a new car and this is what the lorry driver has to pay?

Gut wrenching to see the car in such a shape. Cannot think of what your friend is going through now. I guess he should get another Punto and get on with life.

rameshnanda · 20th August 2012, 14:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by download2live

Seriously? Someone pays lakhs to get a new car and this is what the lorry driver has to pay?

Gut wrenching to see the car in such a shape. Cannot think of what your friend is going through now. I guess he should get another Punto and get on with life.

Terrible. But, true.

If you have a lorry and a 500 rs, you can crush even a car which costs more than a crore Rupees. Make sure that no one gets injured.

To tow his car back to home, he spent Rs. 3500 and another Rs. 400 at the RTO. And, total loss of car, muscle pain for 3 days, 3 days leave from office, running behind insurance and service people for few more months, Spend another 2-3 lakh for a new car and for all this, the truck driver will only be penalized with Rs. 500.

sanstorm · 20th August 2012, 14:14

Quote:

Is there a thread for this accident or can you point me to the post if possible

Karthik - I managed to dig out the thread. For your eyes.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street...ml#post1422879

ramzsys · 20th August 2012, 14:17

This sort of accidents time and again proves that for Indian road conditions, ''heavier, the better(safer)''.

Rahulkool · 20th August 2012, 15:07

The lorry in front of the car has lower bumper installed otherwise it would been a nasty accident. Many trucks and lorries i have seen are not having these bumpers. car is a total loss right ?

i think airbags will work even if ignition is not on.

funkykar · 20th August 2012, 15:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rahulkool

The lorry in front of the car has lower bumper installed otherwise it would been a nasty accident. Many trucks and lorries i have seen are not having these bumpers. car is a total loss right ?

i think airbags will work even if ignition is not on.

I always have thought that these solid metal bumpers were not legal and cause more damage to the vehicle hitting from behind. The vehicle hitting from behind would need to absorb full impact. I could be wrong, its just a hunch!

Airbags work without ignition, thanks, looks like lot of common sense has prevailed with manufacturer's!!!

aaggoswami · 20th August 2012, 15:37

Extremely lucky. And thankfully, the CV in front had the under run protection bar installed. If it had not been there, story could have been different.

In this incidence, we can again see :

1) How useless are the set of laws and even poor execution of whatever little law is present.

2) Why CV's always have to so high off the ground ? Are they driving on the road or off it ? There might be many arguments, but at the end of the day, IMO they must be a bit lower than their current high mounting.

3) Multiple under run protection bars would be very helpful.

20th August 2012, 13:09	#1
rameshnanda Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Chennai Posts: 1,267 Thanked: 1,240 Times	A Fiat Punto saves a family Recently (on 7th Aug 2012), one of my friend met with a major accident and fortunately he and his wife are safe. Since he is not a member in Team-BHP, I am sharing the incident with his permission. He narrates the incident himself. "This is what happened to my beloved exotic red 90 hp punto at a traffic signal on NH 45 in front of DB Hospital, Chrompet, Chennai. My car got sandwich-ed between 2 lorries. I was waiting at a traffic signal behind a lorry at a safe distance. I engaged the hand break and I was talking to my wife. After few seconds I saw through the rear view mirror that a tipper lorry was approaching fast. I also saw it coming and hitting my rear right side with a great force. Everything happened in few seconds. The force of the impact was such that my car went to lower part of the lorry which was in front of me. The impact was such that the rear part of the lorry was resting on the bonnet of my car. Its rear four wheels was not touching the ground. Both the air bags got deployed. I believe that my wife got survived just because of the airbag in my car. Due to this impact the whole engine got damaged. And the car body shell got shrinked on the right hand side. After few minutes of this accident I called our reliable Ramesh and teky (a BHP'ian). Ramesh asked another friend pdranjith (another BHP'ian) to rush to the spot and teky asked his dad, who was at a near by place to help me out. They helped me to finish the formalities at the police station to get the FIR. Ranjith was with me all the day even though he was having a very busy schedule. Though teky was busy preparing for his foreign trip he found time to call me every hour to know the situation. Ramesh came to the RTO office to help us. I am not having enough words to thank my friends who helped me on that day. We towed my car to RTO in a tow van, finished the formalities there and then took it back to my home. In the mean time teky called Mr. Tensigh from Tafe reach and asked him to come and evaluate the damage. Very next day he came with another person from body shop to my home. I should say that this is one of the strongest vehicle that anyone can get. The cabin was intact . Passengers were safe with some muscle sprain for few days. If there was no air bags and if it was some other car my family would have reached some where else. The sad part was that my car was not even 10 months old. It has hardly covered 11000 kms. And now for no mistake of mine I have to shed few lakhs from my pocket to buy another car, which will again be most probably a Fiat." Some pictures of the car after the accident.
	(27) Thanks

20th August 2012, 13:18	#2
thumpingheart BHPian Join Date: May 2012 Location: Pune Posts: 329 Thanked: 190 Times	re: A Fiat Punto saves a family My god. This is one of the most sad incidents I've ever seen in my life. Thank god your friend and his wife are safe. Why did the lorry not stop?? Brake failure or simple negligence? If the later he should be severely penalized for this. Poor guy has to part with his love for the mistake of some idiot! He should be made by law to buy man a new car. And great job helping your friend Ramesh and Teky. God bless. Hope he's copes fine with his loss - both emotionally and financially. Last edited by thumpingheart : 20th August 2012 at 13:19.
	(1) Thanks

20th August 2012, 13:40	#3
funkykar Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Bengaluru Posts: 2,686 Thanked: 6,888 Times View My Garage	re: A Fiat Punto saves a family Was the engine running while the accident occurred? I guess so! If not may be the air-bags wouldn't have deployed? Air bags work only when ignition On or would it work otherwise also? An interesting question hovering in my mind ever since I read about the accident
	() Thanks

20th August 2012, 13:45	#4
bruiser BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Gurgaon Posts: 83 Thanked: 48 Times	re: A Fiat Punto saves a family Thank God, your friends are safe. And thank FIAT for making such safe cars. These lorry drivers are a piece of work, they cease to amaze me with their negligence. Anyways, all's well that ends well. Sad to see the car in such a shape, but I guess its a small price to pay for one's life.
	() Thanks

20th August 2012, 13:51	#6
sanstorm BHPian Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Pune Posts: 180 Thanked: 125 Times View My Garage	re: A Fiat Punto saves a family Thats gruecome, but glad that the occupant survived their most important asset i.e. life. This reminded a post on team-bhp few years ago, when a tipper carrying tons of stones gave a stone bath to a new Linea. To everyones amazement and thankfully the owner of vehicle survived.
	() Thanks

20th August 2012, 14:17	#12
ramzsys Senior - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: NH209 Posts: 1,785 Thanked: 1,467 Times	re: A Fiat Punto saves a family This sort of accidents time and again proves that for Indian road conditions, ''heavier, the better(safer)''.
	(3) Thanks

20th August 2012, 15:07	#13
Rahulkool Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Chennai Posts: 1,470 Thanked: 2,132 Times View My Garage	re: A Fiat Punto saves a family The lorry in front of the car has lower bumper installed otherwise it would been a nasty accident. Many trucks and lorries i have seen are not having these bumpers. car is a total loss right ? i think airbags will work even if ignition is not on.
	(1) Thanks

20th August 2012, 15:37	#15
aaggoswami Senior - BHPian Join Date: May 2007 Location: Vadodara Posts: 4,997 Thanked: 3,012 Times	re: A Fiat Punto saves a family Extremely lucky. And thankfully, the CV in front had the under run protection bar installed. If it had not been there, story could have been different. In this incidence, we can again see : 1) How useless are the set of laws and even poor execution of whatever little law is present. 2) Why CV's always have to so high off the ground ? Are they driving on the road or off it ? There might be many arguments, but at the end of the day, IMO they must be a bit lower than their current high mounting. 3) Multiple under run protection bars would be very helpful.
	() Thanks