Re: Tata Xenon: Bonnet flies open on the highway! Quote:
Originally Posted by schakravarthy [i]"Accident
- noun
an undesirable or unfortunate happening that occurs unintentionally and usually results in harm, injury, damage, or loss; casualty; mishap: automobile accidents...
...I shudder to think about the consequences had this accident occurred on a double lane.
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Good Lord...schakravarthy...you were very lucky ! As apart from that cracked windshield there was no other major mishap that could have otherwise happened very easily. Goes to say much about your presence of mind as well as the blessings of the Almighty.
The moment i read this story, it took me back a decade ago where exactly the same thing had happened to me.
It was in Mumbai & i was driving a Santro Xing & had taken my car for refueling at the pump. Since those were rainy days, Aug 2005 it was, i asked the petrol pump guy to also top up the wiper fluid. All this time i was sitting in the car as it was drizzling & the pump guy opened the bonnet & closed it also.( I could have been a little vigilant here..but this is only on a hindsight)
There was this usual traffic in Mumbai & i was going to my office at Belapur, Navi Mumbai. As soon as i reached the Palm beach Rd, which is a four lane open stretch kind of a road i was able to speed up, fed up completely by the mundane rush hour traffic earlier to around 80/90 kmph.
Thaadd! was the sound, for few seconds i didn't know what happened ! By instinct i applied emergency brakes & brought the vehicle under control to a stop by the side. By the grace of God there wasn't a vehicle immediately ahead or behind me. The bonnet had opened with a gale force, banged against my windshield, cracked it, came off the hinges & fell on the ground nearby. Two, three vehicles stopped from across the road & the drivers came over to my rescue. Surprisingly nothing else happened to my vehicle in terms of mechanicals except for the cracked windshield. It had not cracked open & was holding well & i could reach the office, write a near miss report. It was quite a sight when i was coming back from work with the front wide open having shoved the bonnet in the back seat & my beloved Santro earned the highest visibility points that evening.
schakravarthy's incident brought back memories of the past. I have since cultivated a habit of double checking of the bonnet lock personally. |