[wolfsnare24]

Originally Posted by Sarvodaya

Okay Tata Bye Bye

While accidents are supposed to be tragedies rather than comedies, this is almost like a perfectly executed slapstick skit!

It has the same energy as Charlie Chaplin looking at a pretty girl and walking into a rake that hits him in the face

[fhdowntheline]

Originally Posted by RoadMonkey

The comments are depressing for me. It's all about Tata's build quality, not the stupidity of the driver of the Nexon. Can we, for once, stop praising Tata's build quality in every accident and discuss the perils of driving like an absolute bonehead on Indian roads? It almost seems like getting a "safe car" is a license for people to drive recklessly because they won't die if something goes wrong.

Such commentary is only to be expected in a country that is so way behind in terms of maturity and discipline of road users. We are perhaps the only country amongst the "large economy" nations that has so much widespread coverage of the GNCAP star rating. Other countries have been there, done that. In one sense, GNCAP rating is another example of the West looking at India in a patronizing manner, much like they have done about our basic economic indicators of food, electricity, crime. And we in India are only glad to oblige by wearing any coveted badge of honour from them , never mind that these badges will expire and parameters will change.

If only BNVSAP had scaled up much earlier to a rigorous standard like they have done wrt vehicle emission, things would have been much different.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by fhdowntheline

... GNCAP rating is another example of the West looking at India in a patronizing manner....

Why would you think that? Do you think we can't or shouldn't share and meet international standards? The star rating is not some prize or badge, it is a simple statement that the buyer may be at more or less risk of injury or worse. Human bodies are the same, give or take a detail or two. Would you invent your Indian version of the standards? Why? It's called reinventing the wheel.

Let's support anything that leads to safer cars, and, perhaps more important, helps to make people realise what is a safe car and why. Let's try to move safety up the list of buying priorities. And let's not believe that the The whole Globalworld has got it in for India. It hasn't. It is, perhaps, (and this annoys me!) perhaps more guilty of not actually being much interested in us. (yes, there's all sorts of stuff here, but this is not the place to discuss it).

[Rohan265]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Human bodies are the same, give or take a detail or two. Would you invent your Indian version of the standards? Why? It's called reinventing the wheel.

Let's support anything that leads to safer cars, and, perhaps more important, helps to make people realise what is a safe car and why. Let's try to move safety up the list of buying priorities

I concur with your statement that safety should be near the top of the priority list for buying a car. The fact that some Indian manufacturers are using the NCAP safety ratings to stand out from the competition is indeed a positive sign for buyers.

However, I feel that when it comes to crash test standards, India will have to re-invent the wheel at some point in the future. The whole purpose of the NCAP or NHTSA tests is to check how new cars are likely to perform in the most common or severe type of crashes seen on the roads of that particular country country/region. The Offset, Full-front, side-impact, pole impact, etc. tests are designed considering the crash data in the developed countries. For these countries, it makes sense to have such tests because the new cars launched there are more likely to impact another car, or a wall, or a pole.

India is quite literally a world apart from the developed world in terms of the incompatibility between vehicles on the road. Our cars are more likely to impact trucks, buses, and two-wheelers than other cars. Our cars rarely go straight and impact a wall. Thanks to the design of our roads, the cars in our country usually impact the curb first, rollover, and then impact the wall. There are studies like this one based on Indian crash data which indicate that the EURONCAP test protocols will cover less than 20% of the crashes involving cars.

The Latin NCAP has redesigned its tests recently to address the specific type of crashes in their country. However, the BNVSAP crash tests are nothing but a copy-paste of the European Standards. There are no tests planned for collisions with trucks or two-wheelers, the two most-likely collision partners for cars in India.

Right now, the GNCAP is treated like an exam by the manufacturers. Get the passing marks in each section and pass the exam (taking nothing away from the manufacturers, as the exam is still a hard one). They will do the same to pass the BNVSAP tests. But sometime down the line, we will have the Altrozes, Punches, and XUV300s underriding a truck, leading to multiple fatalities*. This may lead to some backlash against the makers as, unlike the users on this forum, most Indian buyers are not aware that NCAP ratings have a limit. I just hope that such instances do not deter buyers from getting cars with a high NCAP rating. The NCAP rating is not full-proof, but it is the best we have till the Indian govt starts using our own crash data to design crash tests (something that may take decades to happen).

*I have made some assumptions while predicting the performance of the Altroz, Punch, and XUV300 in underrides. I will only know for sure once I study a crash involving such vehicles. Also, things might change from 2022 since the GNCAP ratings will include results from more tests.

[fhdowntheline]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Why would you think that? Do you think we can't or shouldn't share and meet international standards? The star rating is not some prize or badge, it is a simple statement that the buyer may be at more or less risk of injury or worse. Human bodies are the same, give or take a detail or two. Would you invent your Indian version of the standards? Why? It's called reinventing the wheel.

1) What I said in the earlier post refers to the comments that people make on the YouTube videos that discuss car crashes in India- "brand X is a tank and brand Y is a tin-can" etc. The coveted badge is in that context.

2) Regarding BNVSAP. I think its not about re-inventing the wheel, but adopting international base standards and further modifying to higher levels. This could have entirely been an Indian initiative, we did not need GNCAP to set the standards for us had we started this lets say over a decade ago. As far as I know, there is no GNCAP standard used in the USA- they review the cars crash safety as per IIHS norms.

[furyrider]

Originally Posted by fhdowntheline

2) Regarding BNVSAP . I think its not about re-inventing the wheel, but adopting international base standards and further modifying to higher levels. This could have entirely been an Indian initiative, we did not need GNCAP to set the standards for us had we started this lets say over a decade ago. As far as I know, there is no GNCAP standard used in the USA- they review the cars crash safety as per IIHS norms.

Whilst I agree that BNVSAP should have been implemented years ago, the unfortunate reality is the Indian government didn’t. We needed to have someone to point out the safety of Indian cars and GNCAP did just that. While GNCAP ratings should never be considered as the absolute gold standard, they did point out the double standards of manufacturers with regard to safety (remember the endless debate we had on Seltos when the ratings came out?). Because of GNCAP ratings, safety became a talking point during new car purchases. Heck, we Indians did not even get airbags until the government mandated it. Unfortunately, as thing stand today, BNVSAP is still several years (decades) behind international standards and manufacturers like Maruti used this as an excuse stating that their cars meet Indian requirements when their cars scored pathetic scores in GNCAP. The only alternative we have is GNCAP for now. Rather than viewing this as a political issue, I would gladly accept GNCAP ratings until a higher standard emerges for India specific cars and I wish to see BNVSAP as that standard.

PS: I understand where your frustration is coming from. I am considering to replace my current vehicle with the Nexon. The comments under every review video for the Nexon are pure cringe. What most of our fellow countrymen do not realise is that a safe car increases chances of getting out alive from an accident. It does not guarantee it. Our car buying population is not mature enough to realise this.

[Strider24]

In my recent goa trip while returning and reaching to Pune I happen to cross an accident site where rescue team was on the job. Accident happened at 9 pm (as per local news) and I crossed the site at 10.50 pm.
Here is the news link and a video from my Dashcam .

https://youtu.be/xwybFZRAfDM

https://www.punekarnews.in/pune-4-de...navale-bridge/

One Tempo traveller was completed crushed, a tanker was turned on its side and another trailer was damaged in the rear. Apparently it was the mistake of tanker driver who was trying to make a quick overtake. Driving on the same road for last five hours I too had witnessed same erratic drivers and was keeping myself away from them.

What amazed me was the response activities of rescue team on the site. This was the first time I saw it happening and I realised that the accidents are horrible, witnessing them is nightmarish but scene of aftermath is chaotic too and kudos to the first response team and the relief team for their coordinated efforts.

[JReacher13]

Duster fell down from a hydraulic lift

During Diwali week, I went to my hometown, Kakinada, a coastal city in Andhra Pradesh. On the following day of Diwali, around 3.00 PM, I went to the car wash center near my home to get my Nexon (D) cleaned. This place has become quite famous, and one can find a minimum of 5-6 cars waiting to be washed. My experience has been good till now. They priced their services reasonably, and the owner actually listens to customers and pays attention to their needs. Coming to the incident, the underbody of my Nexon was cleaned on the lift, foam washed in the next bay, and shifted to another area for wiping the surface water. In between, one other car was cleaned on the lift, and later a Duster was moved to the lift. Five minutes later, the Duster suddenly fell down to the left side almost from 5 to 6 feet height. It's sheer luck that it didn't fall on the right side as people are working on another car there. The left side panels could have been heavily damaged and it didn't flip over as it was lodged between a wall and the lift.

I didn't take any photos as it didn't feel right and my car was ready to be taken. This incident could be due to improper leveling or sudden lowering of the lift. Felt sorry for the owner. He gave his car for washing and went away, as it takes a long time.

While their services are still good, I doubt increased demand may be the reason for poor focus. Earlier, about five people were working but are now increased to 12 people in a very short span, and I doubt they were adequately trained. I am thanking my stars, as I was 30 minutes earlier and just one car before in the line.

[sunikkat]

Originally Posted by JReacher13

Duster fell down from a hydraulic lift

Something I am always scared in these wash centers. Every time when I give it for wash and they ask whether the car to be cleaned after loading to hydraulic lift, I clearly say 'NO'. Honestly I don't trust the maintenance of these equipments in these washing centers and people operating them as many of them join without much training. No offense meant and I totally respect them, but its not a risk I consider worth taking.

In this case lucky no one got hurt

[fordfreak]

Never thought I would be posting my own experience on this thread, but I guess fate had other plans.

Decided to go for an ice cream post-dinner at around 9:30 PM on the 3rd of November. There were four of us in my car (including me), with me driving. I've driven this route more times than I can remember and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Pulled up to the red light and waited for it to change. As the lights turned green, I waited 3-4 seconds before moving (to avoid any red light runners / yellow light stragglers). Looked both ways and started moving. I had accelerated to about 10-15 km/hr and moved about 10 feet, when.....BANG!

For the first 5 seconds I had no idea what had just happened. Gathered my wits and got out of the car, only to find a Honda Unicorn(?), a shattered TV and two people lying behind my car. The pillion rider came out completely unscathed. The rider was dazed and had a minor cut on his cheek, shin and hand. The TV was toast and the bike was also considerably damaged (front fairing, instrument cluster and fork).

Both of them had thankfully been wearing helmets (a rarity), but the rider's helmet was not strapped and had come off after the impact. Being a large crossing with 5-6 cops present 24 x 7, they were on the scene in seconds. I helped a cop pick the bike up while the rest attended to the biker & pillion. The sergeant asked me to clear the road and park on the side so that we could resolve the situation without disrupting traffic.

A few of the cops meanwhile were screaming at the biker (who was still dazed) for running the red light. I checked on their well-being and asked what on earth were they trying to do. Turns out there were a couple of TV service technicians rushing to deliver a TV to a customer / service center. They basically risked their lives to for a (now destroyed) TV and to save about 3 - 4 minutes.

Two constables escorted both of them to the hospital across the road while I waited at the scene with the sergeant to sort out the paperwork. I verified that the entire incident had been caught on CCTV, in the event of this matter heading down the legal route. All in all, the cops were helpful and supportive. All of those present repeatedly told me that it wasn't my fault.

The biker and pillion returned about an hour later, looking much better. They seemed to be reasonable people and said they wanted to settle the matter on the spot without lodging any case or involving the police. Even though it wasn't my fault, I compensated him for the broken TV and his injuries. I felt bad for them as they weren't exactly well-to-do folks and I guessed that their employer would take the costs for the destroyed TV out of their pay. We spoke for a bit (sorting out the matter) and then went our separate ways.

Replaying the sequence of events, I remembered that there was a car on my left which partially restricted my view, but not by much. I concluded that it was a combination of bad luck, bad timing and bad decision making that led to this accident. On my part, I will always wait for my field of vision to be 100% clear before moving, henceforth.

All in all, I thanked my stars that things did not turn out any worse. Had the bikers not been wearing a helmet, the matter may have ended up a lot worse. I was grateful that the biker could go home to his family at the end of the day, hopefully having learnt never to risk running a red / yellow light for any reason.

Coming to my car (Toyota Corolla Altis), the left-rear door, quarter panel, rocker panel, outer tail lamp and front left door - all need to be repaired / replaced. Handed my car over to the authorized service center to begin the insurance claim formalities. Guessing my car will be off the road for at least 15-20 days. The damage looked a lot worse in person, than the pictures show.

P.S. - I have tried to narrate the incident in as much detail as possible without making the post unnecessarily long. Irrelevant details have been left out. The police were very professional and neither party involved faced any harassment. The impact did not feel like much, but judging by the damage to both vehicle, the bike may have doing anything in the region of 35 - 45 km/hr if not more.

P.P.S. - No, we did not end up getting any ice cream.

[Simhi]

Originally Posted by fordfreak

All in all, the cops were helpful and supportive. All of those present repeatedly told me that it wasn't my fault.

The biker and pillion returned about an hour later, looking much better.

Even though it wasn't my fault, I compensated him for the broken TV and his injuries.

Good that all four of you along with the biker and pillion are safe. Happy to know that cops were helpful. I hope your damages are fully covered via insurance. Appreciate you going out of the way to compensate the biker. To be frank, I would have thought twice.

[sparky@home]

This was forwarded to me on whatsapp, another horrific accident, somewhere close to Nilakottai (T.N). A bike with 2 persons had a head on with a SUV, looks like a Xylo. One of the youth was thrown off in the crash on to the overhead Electric line. The bike riders I think died on the spot. Most probably high speed, could be the cause. What a tragedy, RIP.

https://youtu.be/UbTUe1p2mrc

[Rishi Vikram]

Originally Posted by StopUnderrides

Looks like the truck was hogging the right lane and you overtook from the left. Was there any obstacle immediately ahead of you due to which you had to rush to move to the right after overtaking? Assuming this was a multi lane road.

Yes, while it was not me making the overtake per se (imagine that!), there was a truck in the left lane as well. The overtake required us to move immediately to the right to avoid the other truck, which was moving at the same speed.

[StopUnderrides]

Originally Posted by fordfreak

They seemed to be reasonable people and said they wanted to settle the matter on the spot without lodging any case or involving the police. Even though it wasn't my fault, I compensated him for the broken TV and his injuries. I felt bad for them as they weren't exactly well-to-do folks and I guessed that their employer would take the costs for the destroyed TV out of their pay. We spoke for a bit (sorting out the matter) and then went our separate ways.

The bike rider, when he graduates to driving a truck, will behave in the same way and jump signals. This wouldn’t even be the first time he’d have done this. You should not have let him go free.

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by fordfreak

P.P.S. - No, we did not end up getting any ice cream.

PPPS: I hope you've also not shared any contact details with the guys.
If so, my cynical side says, expect a phone call in a few days. Sign o'the times.