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Old 9th February 2012, 17:11   #151
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re: Volkswagen Vento catches fire. Owner dies from burn injuries

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Originally Posted by ninjatalli View Post
- Regarding the car being picked up by VW, could someone clarify what is the actual procedure than just speculating about VW and its actions? I would also want to know if the family has been approached by VW, after all the car belongs to them - VW should have asked their permission. If not, then definitely there is an issue and needs to be looked into.
In my humble opinion, access to any scene of an accident should be restricted by the cops regardless of whom the property belongs to. In this case, the cops should have confiscated the car and held it in their jurisdiction. Perhaps the cops were swayed initially by the fact that the driver had survived the fire. However, it is a matter of common sense that someone who has faced more than 60% burns has a risk to life. (the % mark may actually be lower than 60). So the cops should not have handed the burnt car to the family and definitely not to the manufacturers. This can insinuate allegations equivalent to abetting destruction of evidence, though some legal minds can clarify this.

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Originally Posted by poloman View Post
VW has positioned themselves as the pinnacle of affordable German engineering for masses.But If you question them why charge 500Rs for a simple wash or why service bills need to be high, they tell with a smirkness on their face. This is still a German car.. sir, not Hyundai or Maruti..!!
I remember a discussion with some VW folks (fellow passengers) on a Frankfurt - Pune flight who thought no end of their then to be launched Vento/ Polo and actually said that Indians are not willing to pay extra for 'German' quality. Unfortunately it seems that attitude has seeped into their Indian operations and they work with a chip on their shoulder.
I dont see why any of the Japs (or others) cannot provide products that are at least as reliable (if not more) than what VW provides. At same or less pricing.
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Old 9th February 2012, 17:46   #152
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re: Volkswagen Vento catches fire. Owner dies from burn injuries

Its very sad that the owner passed away. My heartfelt condolances to the family and relatives.

Its very discouraging as there is no explanation from VW. We need some strict laws in India.
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Old 9th February 2012, 17:59   #153
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re: Volkswagen Vento catches fire. Owner dies from burn injuries

Its too sad to know that the owner passed away. Just cant digest this fact.

Regarding the seat belt getting stuck/Buckle unable to release: Its very much possible that the plastics around the buckle/inside the buckle got melted and obstructed the functionality.
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Old 9th February 2012, 18:05   #154
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re: Volkswagen Vento catches fire. Owner dies from burn injuries

I read through every post in this thread and was curious to see if anyone had written about VWs reaction, and to my disappointment, there is none. And its already ten days since the incident has happened, i wonder if the so called "German team of experts" form VW are still flying down to India to investigate the issue.

On a side note, i had given my VW Polo for first service recently and after the service, i noticed the AC temperature control knob is not working. I wonder if this for what i had paid 8K for service. After that, when the car had been taken back to the dealership service center to check this, they sent it back telling they don't have time/slot. Asked me to bring the car tomorrow.

My experience with VW is becoming increasingly frustrating. I've already stopped recommending VW to people and i am atleast happy that i managed to convince two of my friend to opt for other brands instead of buying VW.
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Old 9th February 2012, 18:39   #155
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re: Volkswagen Vento catches fire. Owner dies from burn injuries

My condolences to the family. A real sad news.

There have been some isolated incidents in the recent past of similar nature so it would not be wise to point towards any particular brand at this moment.

I really hope VW come out with the actual cause and a fix real quick if required so that we do not see a similar incident.

SD
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Old 9th February 2012, 18:57   #156
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Re: Accidents : Vehicles catching fire in India

It's shocking that the owner succumbed to injuries. May his soul rest in peace.

Quote:
Originally Posted by VeyronSuperSprt View Post
The doors of the Vento, if programmed accordingly in the PDI, lock when speeds exceed 15 kmph. The doors also unlock when speeds fall below 15 kmph. The article says that the vehicle caught fire while in motion (probably before the speed reduced below 15 kmph) and during the fire there probably would have been a short circuit of the ECU as a result of which the doors would have remained locked. It is after the ECU has unlocked the car (when the speeds reduce below 15kmph) that the doors can be opened.
In VW polo and Vento doors do get locked once the speed crosses 15 kmph, however, they do not get unlocked when speed falls below 15 kmph. (In such case in city trafic they will frequently get locked/ unlocked) The unlocking happens only when you turn the ignition off and remove the key.

Reading all reactions, news and talking to someone who was there, I could deduct that the poor fellow was traumatized and in panic so much that he was not able to release the seat belt himself and as the car was already in flames no one tried to reach over him to release the belt. No chance now to get the real story.

It needs to be verified whether the car is in possession of Police or of VW. I will try and find out and post my findings.
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Old 9th February 2012, 19:29   #157
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Re: VENTO catches fire!

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Originally Posted by dot View Post
Indian express says that when the person started the car, it caught fire. And "company" has promised to look into the matter.

Pune, 31 January, 2012 igitalEdition

Hope the person recovers well and it is an one-off case. As I understand, there are no real flame retardant regulations when it comes to combustible materials used in a vehicle.
You are wrong. In this link, you will find regulations for Flame-resistant interior materials.
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Old 9th February 2012, 20:40   #158
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Re: VENTO catches fire!

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Originally Posted by designersf View Post
You are wrong. In this link, you will find regulations for Flame-resistant interior materials.
Thanks for the link. This article is from which body? What does the last column signify?
There is a mention of burning rate of maximum 100mm/min. In my opinion that is not a fire retardant material. In my opinion real fire retardant plastics should have UL94 rating of V0 or V1 for them to be effective. To understand UL94 ratings, please check the net or the link below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UL94

Last edited by dot : 9th February 2012 at 20:55.
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Old 9th February 2012, 21:15   #159
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re: Volkswagen Vento catches fire. Owner dies from burn injuries

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Originally Posted by Mustang.101 View Post
Release button operates fairly normally even if seatbelts are pulled hard in all cars.
Unlatching force will increase when web tension is increased. Question is whether insignificant enough not to be noticed, or significant enough to be called a jam. That's what I was trying to find out.

Quote:
Originally Posted by srishiva View Post
I tried releasing the belt when pulling hard and hardening the seat belt. There is no relation with the latch mechanism. The hardening happens on the B pillar as it should since it unwinds from there. Its a simple mechanical setup at the latch.
Hardening at the B pillar is the inertia lock working. Nothing to do with the latch.
So I take it that in the Vento, the latch continues working normally?
Thanks.

Regards
Sutripta
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Old 9th February 2012, 21:49   #160
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Re: Accidents : Vehicles catching fire in India

It is sad to hear such news. My condolences to the bereaved family.

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Originally Posted by CANPUSH View Post
The unlocking happens only when you turn the ignition off and remove the key.
Yes, you are right. Thanks
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Old 9th February 2012, 21:58   #161
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re: Volkswagen Vento catches fire. Owner dies from burn injuries

There was previous incident too as one of my friends (a TBHPian) has pointed to.

Check this from the vento thread
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Old 9th February 2012, 22:15   #162
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re: Volkswagen Vento catches fire. Owner dies from burn injuries

My heartfelt condolences to the family of the deceased (VW Vento and Wagon R case recently which I also read about in TBHP.

The first thing I will say is that VW definitely need to get involved in the post mortem of the car to figure out what happened. The VW engineers know the car best as they designed and built it and know without looking at any manual which wire goes where and what it is for.

However, it definitely needs to be done impartially by a body (as of yet inexistent in India) like the NTSB in the US.

I hope VW are open enough to come out and actually tell us the whole story. There are a lot of VAG owners who are understandably a little worried and it would not be ethically correct of VW to not reassure them that this will not happen to them and also if there is a fault to sneak in a change at the next service.

I believe the one thing TBHP can do is ensure that if VW do not give us an answer, use our power to ensure that the story does not get buried.
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Old 9th February 2012, 22:47   #163
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re: Volkswagen Vento catches fire. Owner dies from burn injuries

Quote:
Originally Posted by samarjitdhar View Post
...The very fact that they took away the car which is the most important piece of evidence in this incident casts them in a very bad light. Sure other manufacturers tend to do the same but why? This is evidence and it could be well that something is wrong with the car. Surely when an FIR is lodged and there is a case in court, the court will call for evidence in this case it is in possession of one of the affected parties . Dont you think there is something grossly wrong with this? The manner in which VW took possession of the vehicle is enough to cause a lot of doubts in everybody's mind.
Quote:
Originally Posted by samarjitdhar View Post
Well my only point is since the death has taken place and the death is unnatural there should be a legal investigation. Obviously the condition now is such that VW cannot remain in possession of the car for the simple sake of propriety and fairness. VW cannot be party to the investigation now and it can be only done by independent experts. Otherwise should there be a court case later the evidence either way cannot be used in a court of law.
+1, the manufacturer (VW in this case) should not have been allowed to keep possession of the vehicle. In the next few days if there is a court case the evidence is gone by now (if at all it's a fault in the car because we don't know if there was any other reason like after market accessories etc responsible for this sad incident).

Quote:
Originally Posted by samarjitdhar View Post
A responsible car manufacturer should have cooperated with law enforcement to get the bottom of this instead of taking over evidence.
There is none actually, IMO. Please name one I`ll buy my next car from them. Less said about the law enforcement the better.

----------

Bringing up Skoda experience here is not wrong as we form opinion based on previous experiences and Skoda (VW group) is not known for good after sales service, transparency.

After all its our hard earned money and we are free to decide which car to buy and have opinion on manufacturer based on experiences from this forum, friends, relatives etc.

But if I reject German Car because 01 Vento caught fire, then probably I won't be able to buy a car as Maruti, Hyundai, Tata.... all have similar incident and also other faults. VW responded well in some reported serious cases in Team-BHP for Polo (engine head replacement within 10k Kms), really hope (not much confidence though) in this case they should make their findings public.

----------

Quote:
Originally Posted by MadhanBabu View Post
... And its already ten days since the incident has happened, i wonder if the so called "German team of experts" form VW are still flying down to India to investigate the issue.
They may be flying in a Zeppelin

Quote:
Originally Posted by MadhanBabu View Post
On a side note, i had given my VW Polo for first service recently and after the service, i noticed the AC temperature control knob is not working. I wonder if this for what i had paid 8K for service. After that, when the car had been taken back to the dealership service center to check this, they sent it back telling they don't have time/slot. Asked me to bring the car tomorrow.
Not exactly clear from your post about the issue, I had some a.c. related issue in my polo, let me know if you need anything.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ankit_chd View Post
Well,Fire retardant chemicals are available in India, I have done it on my cars seats and carpets.
Am interested to know, can you please share here for everyone's benefit.

Last edited by AvonA7 : 9th February 2012 at 23:07. Reason: edit ...
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Old 9th February 2012, 23:03   #164
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re: Volkswagen Vento catches fire. Owner dies from burn injuries

Well,Fire retardant chemicals are available in India, I have done it on my cars seats and carpets. It should be made compulsory for the car makers to give it as default.

But its very sad to hear about the owner :(

Last edited by ankit_chd : 9th February 2012 at 23:03. Reason: Spelling errors
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Old 10th February 2012, 08:04   #165
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Re: Accidents : Vehicles catching fire in India

It is more serious now. The unfortunate man in the Vento that caught fie in pune is no more. RIP.

Volkswagen car fire in Pune - Vento sedan owner dies of car burn injuries | Rush Lane
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