Getz Accident

[ntomer]

Hi Guys,

Looks like my rotten luck with my Getz contunues. I came back on 15th night from Chail (a 790 KM and very enjoyable drive); and was planning to write a travelogue on that, but instead having to write this.
Yesterday morning while coming to office I met with an accident. I was driving on a 6-lane road. There was a gap in the divider, a cycle-rickshaw took a right turn without seeing the on-coming traffic. He was hit very hard by a truck and the impact through the riskshaw back, and he landed just in front of my car. I braked hard but couldn't manage to stop and hit him. As soon as I hit the rickshaw there was a loud thud from the backside. The truck due to brakig hard took a 180 degree turn and toppled on my side of road, only 2-3 meters away from my car. The rickshaw valla wasn't very serious, only a few broken bones, but a guy in truck was hurt pretty badly, his chances of survival looked very low.

My cars front bumper was broken, bonat and right fender were bent. But I was able to drive my car to my office (abt 15 KMs). In the evening when driving back to my home, after abt 10 KMs there was a major traffic jam (on Kalindi Kunj bridge, Noidaites must know abt it). I was stuck there for almost half an hour, driving mostly in first gear. Suddenly my car started knocking pretty badly, and after abt 10 mins, when I smelt something burning, I saw the temperature gauge and it was very high. I immediately stopped the car and opened the bonat, then I came to know that radiator was leaking and was completely empty. I somehow managed to fill it and drive for 4-5 KMs to a friend's place, parked my car over there and asked him to drop me at my place.

I haven't yet given my car to the service centre. I need some help from you guys. What can be that burning smell, was it clutch? And what other harms can be done while driving without water in radiator, can there be any permanent damage to the engine? What all should I get checked.

thanx

nitin

[Jaggu]

get it accident repaired and thoroughly serviced, you should get away with minor damage to the engine coz there would have been some residual water in the radiator and water jacket and you were not really driving hard when this happened.. burning smell can be anything including the coolant smell

[ntomer]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

get it accident repaired and thoroughly serviced, you should get away with minor damage to the engine coz there would have been some residual water in the radiator and water jacket and you were not really driving hard when this happened.. burning smell can be anything including the coolant smell

Hmmm... should I ask the service centre people to chnage coolant etc. and is there any way to gauge how much damage has occured? or would I have to take the service centre's word for it?

\N

[sandeepmdas]

Man you are pushing your luck too much....
You escaped narrowly from that accident (I mean YOU, not you car) and then you made a cardinal mistake by driving the car without checking for a radiator leak.

Follow what Jaggu has said (get it accident repaired and thoroughly serviced...burning smell can be anything including the coolant smell) ASAP.

IMHO, one should not attempt to drive his car or any car immediately after meeting with an accident however small the incident may be. It is a foolish and potentially dangerous action. Let some one to take over the steering and that too only after having good visual inspection of the vehicle, so that you can relax and cool your nerves.

[tsk1979]

Bad luck dude! Was it the Greater Noida Expressway or the road parallel to yamuna? I have seen fullish ricks crossing that road many time without looking out for oncoming traffic. I have smoked the getz tyres in a 50feet skid while trying to avoid hitting a rick. Luckily there was nobody coming from behind.

[ajmat]

If only you had ABS......

Thank god you survived - you might have just got away with an overheated engine, worst case, a new head gasket might be needed. However, engine may not be 100% after that - more 80% unless you do a full rebuild.

My guess is that the fan is damaged which caused the car to overheat in a traffic jam

never drive your car after a major frontal - get it checked up first

[ntomer]

sandeepmdas:
yeah i guess i was foolish, i shud have checked for damages before driving on. but seeing the truck guy condition i was pretty shaken up, the rick guy too was broken badly. i didn't want to stay there for long, as junta's mentality is that "guy in bigger behicles are always bad", there were many rick-wallas assembling there and there were murmurs of how a poor rick-walla will afford the hospitalization etc. i thot they were planning to extort some money from me so i drove off. and when the car drove ok, i thot mebbe there's no internal damage.

tsk1979:
it was on the road which goes from sec 37 towards Amity. just after 37 crossing there's a gap in divider.

ajmat:
pardon me for my ignorance. but i thot that ABS only helps in better handling of car while braking, not in effective braking. am i missing something here :-?
and hitting the rick was rather fortunate, if i wud have managed to stop the car in time, the truck wud have toppled over my car (give me shivers)...
Ajmat, how can I gauge whether head gasket or fan is damaged. Actually I will be getting my car repaired at Nimbus, Noida. And they have told me that any consequential damage after an accident is not covered under insurance, so I wud have to pay for that out of my pocket. Therefore I want to know, how much damage is there so that they won't be able to take me for a ride.

thanx to u all

\N

[cream]

notmer,

Really sad about the accident - at times like these, you have to harden your heart against the damage to the car, and count your blessings that you're safe - unlike the other two guys.

Looks like you're decision to drive the car away was natural, given the atmosphere of the people building up after this accident.

Of course, driving the car for too long was not a good idea - but then, we only learn these things the hard way - there is really no one to tell us what to do. In some countries - any accident, major or minor - and the vehicles are left on the exact spot - even in the middle of the road - till the authorities come to to inspect and tow away.

I don't think you should tell your garage guys what happened - as per how it happened. The best way to get your insurance to these things without hassle is to tell them this -

your car was parked safely and you were hit from the back/side by this vehicle whom you didn't see. after looking at the damage, you decided to call your friend who lived nearby and you pushed the vehicle to his building, from where you must get it towed to the workshop.

this works if there is no fir etc lodged with the police - and you don't lodge any...

that way - the insurers won't find any excuse not to pay all damages to the car -

and IMO, abs only helps when you are braking and steering at the same time - to keep car in control. in a straight line, as in your case, abs wouldn't have done much good...

all the best -

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by ntomer

ajmat:
pardon me for my ignorance. but i thot that ABS only helps in better handling of car while braking, not in effective braking. am i missing something here :-?



Ajmat, how can I gauge whether head gasket or fan is damaged. Actually I will be getting my car repaired at Nimbus, Noida
thanx to u all

\N

1: You could have steered around the rick shaw while braking hard - difficult to fathom but you can do it with ABS. Experienced it in a demo explained else where in the forum where I simulate avoiding a truck pulling out and stopping 3 mts forward.


2: Head gasket failure - check for water in your oil + compression test. Fan - being a electirc should come on via thermostat - check connections + thermostat

[GTO]

Burning smell after overheating = Burnt oil = Damaged engine.

GTO

[ntomer]

Originally Posted by GTO

Burning smell after overheating = Burnt oil = Damaged engine.

GTO

nahiiiiiiiiiinn

what kinda damage this can be. any way to check. i refilled the radiator after the over heating and drove for another 5-6 KMs. The car was running fine.

hey experts, please help me. I don't think the service centre guys will be competent enough to gauge the damage.

\N

[z klasse]

do not drive ur car with the radiator leaking.. if you do then it could damage ur internals. water needs to cool the engine and if it isnt there then your rings, pistons, cylinder walls etc are at risk and may require a total engine strip down to make it running again..
get ur car towed to the service station and get work done from there on. claim insurance. the burning smell is not of the clutch but could be because of overheating and some oil getting burnt...

[ntomer]

i am even more scared after reading this link http://hostingprod.com/@aa1car.com/library/overheat.htm

my stupidity have resulted in something very serious. guys any idea how may i claim the engine damage from the insurance company. i was reading their boolet last night and it states clearly that they won't pay for consequential damages. any thoughts on how can i ake them believe that this damage occured due to the accident only.

and if there's damage in engine, and the service centre repair it, will the car run as earlier or will there be some degrade in performance, FE, reliability etc.

\N

[ajmat]

end of the day, the pistons, rings, head, valves -all get distorted. A full engine rebuild will get 90% of things working

Opportunity - find an damaged Accent Tornado with a good engine - sounds like fun

[ntomer]

Originally Posted by ajmat

end of the day, the pistons, rings, head, valves -all get distorted. A full engine rebuild will get 90% of things working

Opportunity - find an damaged Accent Tornado with a good engine - sounds like fun

ajmat, do you mean to say that if i get the engine re-built i'll get only 90% of what there was earlier???