[PrasannaDhana]

Originally Posted by vigsom

Many learnings from your unfortunate experience Prasanna.

Now, a curious question; try to remember - were there any near misses with this car in the last year or so before this incident occurred?

Hi ji,

I haven't had any near misses in the storme or for that matter any of the cars the entire 2023. Or else I would have posted a few footages in Bad drivers thread. 2023 has been particularly bad with respect to my garage

But I get the reason behind your question. "Thalaiku vandhadhu thalaipaagai oda pochu", which is translated as "Something major that was destined to happen has been replaced by a minor inconvenience"

Had windshield heat crack on the altroz, then coolant line noise issue that took a few visits to ASC. Now the storme incident. Heck the trouble free Maruti celerio had an ac issue which was later found out to be a rat stuck in the blower motor. Lol.

The bus couldnt point out at me, because even legally the rear ender is at fault over the one who got rear ended. Moreover I knew it was futile to scold/blame them for the incident. I should have also been more patient and left a car's gap from omni while moving from the red light. But then you also know erratic trichy traffic and how many dozen horns would be blown if you don't move fast enough from a signal. We do tend to become hurried in city traffic at times and that one car length principle seldom gets followed. I am glad that I saved that omni. Else it would have been damages to omni + to my front as well as to the rear.

Cops were surprisingly cooperative, though it should be noted that they did know me before. Even if they didn't know me, cops in general are helpful if you are empathetic towards them.

Definitely a big dent on my track record. But as they say in tamil "Yaanaikum adi sarukkum" aka "Even good Homer nods", it was a learning experience.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

But as they say in tamil "Yaanaikum adi sarukkum" aka "Even good Homer nods", it was a learning experience.

Anyway Your 'Yanai' still saved you despite being hit by a Bus. Rear ending by bigger vehicles can sometimes result in whiplash injuries.

Whiplash is a type of neck injury that occurs when the head is suddenly jerked backward and then forward, putting the cervical spine (neck) through rapid and forceful movements. This type of injury is common in rear-end collisions, where the occupants of the struck vehicle experience a sudden and unexpected jolt.

It is likely to be less with a bigger SUV than with midgets.

Good to see your Storm back home. Belated Merry Xmas .

[PrasannaDhana]

Originally Posted by Prowler

Rear ending by bigger vehicles can sometimes result in whiplash injuries.

It is likely to be less with a bigger SUV than with midgets.

Good to see your Storm back home. Belated Merry Xmas .

Thank you Prowler!

I felt almost nothing wrt whiplash during the accident. Those big headrests are definitely useful in that regard.

75,000 km Service Update

As I had said in the accident repair post, the 75000 km service was due. I didn't want to do the periodic service along with the accident repair.

I wanted to feel and experience the car for a few hundred kilometers before getting it serviced. I went through the service records (aka this thread ) and found out last periodic service (60k km service) was done at 57xxx km. I have always given my cars to service a few hundred km before schedule, but never after it. This is that rare exception when the car has run a few hundred kilometers beyond the 15000 km interval.

Odo : 73,000 km



Jobs done : Engine oil, brake oil, Differential/crown oil, diesel filter, air filter were replaced. Cabin air filter was cleaned. Wheel alignment, balancing was also done.

Driver side armest kept sagging fully and was useless. It was repaired and done back to brand new shape.



Front disc brake pads were worn out. They were replaced. Wash and interior cleaning as well as other routine checks were done.

The rear windshield alignment was also sorted, though not 100%, but a great job done sorting it from 70% to 90%



Overall, very satisfied with the service. Kudos to Kaveri Tata. In the last 10 days I have done 15k km periodic services of both my diesel workhorses - the altroz diesel and the storme. Great job at both instances.

Total damage to the wallet was 17k INR.



The car is set for another 15k km, or until 88,000km.


Safari Storme is 5.75 years and 73,000 km young! I have had 0 issues with the car mechanically.

Repairs out of Schedule :

1. AC coil replacement at 68,000 km/5 year mark

2. Front RHS bearing replacement at 55,000 km

3. Accident repair at 72,500 km mark








Lovely 2.2L Varicor 400 engine! Absolutely reliable, can do 0-100 kmph in 12.xx seconds hauling 2+ tonnes of metal, while also returning easy 13-15 kmpl!



Always a delight to see new/fresh (transparent) engine oil after service



Interiors have remained new, except for steering wheel and OE fabric seat armrests. I might add seat covers soon



Saw new nexon while picking up my storme today. It looks futuristic.



Both diesel daily runners have coincidentally gotten new set of wheels and service done at the same time this year

Altroz is at 60,000 km in 26 months while the Storme is at 73,000 km in 69 months. My 3rd Tata - smallest and first petrol Tata - Punch MT is arriving at the yard tomorrow. Punch will be my 8th Tata car so far, tallying my Maruti ownership so far. I have always been after VFM while buying cars. Both the brands have been absolutely vfm and reliable in my experience.

Both diesel tatas are good to go for another 15,000 km before the next oil replacement



Two legendary modern classics



After the accident repair, I enjoyed a nice drive with BHPians and good friends VW2010 (Vivek) Swami and Rahulkool (Rahul) in the storme. They were impressed with the high-speed dynamics, ride quality and NVH of the storme.

[PrasannaDhana]

Continued . .

They rode from Chennai to Trichy on their motorcycles - Interceptor 650, KTM ADV 390 & Suzuki Inazuma 250




We drove to a dhaba, 30 km on madurai highway for delicious lunch



Meanwhile, at 70k mark in October, I put the Safari to good use - transporting 200 saplings to be distributed to kids of one of my schools

All these saplings (3 ft tall) had to be accommodated and the storme easily took them in.



IIRC, this is the first time I am folding the middle row completely



Always made sure the interiors never get dirty



Done!







And all of the saplings found their homes










Thank you Rahul for the 360° video



Concluding 2023 with a final stat - this year has been pretty active for storme, specially as a secondary car - 15,000 km usage.



Happy New Year 2024 folks!

Will see you all at the next update!

[Shan_Kmu]

Attachment 2551566

Glad to see your truck back in action after the incident @prasanna. It would be a heartache but with time it should slowly heal. Just curious sir, is your parking space that tight on the sides, or is the picture angle? ingress and egress issues within the parking space a problem?

[VW2010]

Thanks, Prassy for the food and the drive. I have to talk about this safari, which was my original choice(the older one) in 2010. I currently drive an old Endeavor and it's a proper lorry. The egotistic expectation was that the safari would be inferior and would show why Tata could not match what a Ford could deliver with that Endeavor. My ego has been destroyed.

The safari is more stable, has better handling capability, handles even the curves better than most hatchbacks, and is extremely comfortable for passengers. It can do solid speeds while keeping the passengers so comfortable that they will hardly know the speed at which this car is driven.

This car in the hands of Prassy is a marriage made in heaven. He knows how to push that car and it obeys.

Genuinely I believe the endeavor cannot match the dynamics of this safari and will be better only in extra size. Maybe the best judge can be Prassy himself when he gets to ride the Endeavor one day soon.

[jeepster]

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

75,000 km Service Update

Jobs done :Cabin air filter was cleaned.

Can you post pic AC filter!

Never new Storme 400 had this filter.

[PrasannaDhana]

Originally Posted by jeepster

Can you post pic AC filter!

Never new Storme 400 had this filter.

Storme doesn't have one. I did ask the service advisor to get it cleaned and he mustn't be aware of it too, as mine is one of the very few OG Safaris in my city, and responded affirmatively. I was under the impression that it was done. It has been my habit to get cabin filter of altroz during every 15k km service. I got reminded about the fact only after reading your post.

[jeepster]

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

Storme doesn't have one.

Thats why i asked the Q!

After 4L km of usage, I was quite sure that my storme doesn't have one.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

Hi ji,

Jobs done : Engine oil, brake oil, Differential/crown oil, diesel filter, air filter were replaced. Cabin air filter was cleaned. Wheel alignment, balancing was also done.

Your service invoice doesn't show any entry for brake oil. Still for a major service with all liquids replenished, you paid only Rs.10000/- for parts (the labor is Rs.7000/-) - not bad at all.

Who is the mystery man with greying beard - that you have masked (his face) ?

[dmaheshkumar]

Hi,
Very tough to see the damages due to the accident and also very surprised to see the total amount crossing 1 lakh for the damages.
TATA spares and labor also seems costlier.

But how come Government maintained buses don't have insurance. If a private vehicle hit another one and there is no insurance the case scenarios were totally different.

[Raghu M]

Glad that your Storme is back and storming! Just an observation, I think your Safari did manage a big dent on the TN bus. That to me shows the build quality of the Storme. From the pics, it looks like the driver would have been given an earful since there is damage on the bus too. Generally these drivers get away with such accidents as the bus hardly shows any signs of damage.

[PrasannaDhana]

Originally Posted by Prowler

Who is the mystery man with greying beard - that you have masked (his face) ?

That's our BHPian VW2010 - Vivek.

Originally Posted by dmaheshkumar

Hi,
Very tough to see the damages due to the accident and also very surprised to see the total amount crossing 1 lakh for the damages.
TATA spares and labor also seems costlier.

But how come Government maintained buses don't have insurance. If a private vehicle hit another one and there is no insurance the case scenarios were totally different.

Initial estimates are always exaggerated. The total bill was just 55k at the end, of which 38k was reimbursed by insurance.

No government vehicle has valid insurance. Interesting fact, my city RTO's bolero doesn't have a valid insurance.

Originally Posted by Raghu M

Glad that your Storme is back and storming! Just an observation, I think your Safari did manage a big dent on the TN bus. That to me shows the build quality of the Storme. From the pics, it looks like the driver would have been given an earful since there is damage on the bus too. Generally these drivers get away with such accidents as the bus hardly shows any signs of damage.

Yea. The front side of the bus got bent about 3 inches. Storme did manage to return back considerable damage to the bus.

Bus driver did share that they will have to spend for the repair on the bus, as well as the trips that were canceled due to the downtime of Accident on that day. That was a reason I didn't get angry with them.



Update

Just posting the 75,000 km milestone. The 75k service was done at 73,000 km. Storme has run 2000 km since service.



I have been using the chauffer for sometime now. Storme is driven by 2 of my drivers, both involuntarily lug the engine at times. I have to remind them to downshift

It does feel relaxed to enjoy the comfort of the rear seat while being driven, specially on rural roads like these



Storme was driven by me for 15000 km last year, despite the downtime of 2 months for AC repair & Accident repair. This year, storme is being used more. In Feb, storme has been used for 1500 km. I have firmly told my drivers to not exceed 90 kmph on highways. The result is seen in increased FE



Storme is put to use 4 days a week, while I drive the Punch & Altroz the remaining 3 days. Surprisingly, Punch is as costly as Storme to run per km. I haven't used the Punch extensively on highways yet though.





I haven't gotten the sunfilm pasted on rear windshield yet. I need to do it when I find time.

[PrasannaDhana]

Originally Posted by Shan_Kmu

Just curious sir, is your parking space that tight on the sides, or is the picture angle? ingress and egress issues within the parking space a problem?

It is tight, but not that tight to have ingress/egress issues. The stairs at the middle of the garage does make the parking a bit tight at that spot. But other than that it's adequate.





If I park the storme at the front, I will have to park it very close to the compound so as to leave space for us to walk by. Naturally, I don't allow drivers to park inside this garage.

This is how close it has to be parked to the left side






When I had the ciaz, the space was tight even longitudinally

[PrasannaDhana]

The storme did throw a nasty surprise last week. I was getting down from the storme and noticed a metallic noise from the engine while the driver stopped the car.

Asked him to start it again, and heard the metallic rattle -

https://youtu.be/ral-doJry1o?si=sIEI5L-tTlBfaFjC

Looked down below and found a broken bracket. It was the intercooler bracket.





Called up Mr. Rajesh, the CRM at Kaveri garage and he confirmed its the intercooler bracket. I anyways took the car to the service center, to see any temporary fix can be done. Nothing could be done.

I was told the part had to be ordered. I didn't have any hope really, as I experienced the parts unavailability for storme during the accident repair. To my surprise, the part reached on the promised ETA, and I sent my storme to get it fixed today. Total downtime was 4 days including the weekend.

The part number



The new part (left) and the broken part (right)




The replaced part



Total damage to wallet was just INR 1824



Great job by Kaveri Garage and Mr. Rajesh

The car is back in duty. I was told the engine guard had signs of underbody damage, as in - scratches. I don't know which of my drivers did it. This somehow is pushing me again to stop making drivers use the storme. I am also not sure if the impact broke the part or the part quality in itself was bad that 6 years and 75k km of usage has worn it out.

The car turns 6 years old on 10th of this month. And all I can hope is to not have any nasty surprises in the future.