[Lobogris]

Originally Posted by Akshay6988

This incident does make me question if any Maruti Suzuki car is even "safe" on the city roads. People citing "oh I am buying a Maruti just for city use, I will never take it out on a highway, so I don't care about it's safety" argument should also rethink their decision to buy a Maruti for city use.

Even though we can't generalise based on one single incident, I recently saw a video shared on a forum where several Maruti vehicles were involved in a multiple car crash. Incredibly all vehicles involved were from Maruti Suzuki. The collision seemed minor but all had suffered considerable damage. Please see it below as it is really unique :

https://youtu.be/8IrqcqpUfOQ

[metalheadnomad]

Never imagined that I would be posting an incident involving my own car.

The accident/incident occurred on Friday Dec 10 around 4:10 PM on NH65 near Rangraj Nagar, Solapur. I was on my way back to Mumbai from Hyderabad.

I was in the right lane and behind me was a bulker truck. I had slowed down to cross a speed breaker at an intersection and was sure that the truck driver behind me was also slowing down, he must have seen the speed breaker earlier given his high seating position. I had just crossed the speed breaker that's when I heard a loud thud and felt a violent jerk. A red Vitara Brezza crashed into my car from behind. I'm sure the Brezza guy cut into the right lane behind me and right in front of the truck. The truck driver hit the Brezza from behind and the Brezza then hit my car. It was a low speed impact, nobody in my car suffered any injuries since they were all belted up, but I have neck muscle stiffness and soreness due to the sudden violent jerk.



My Honda Amaze's bootlid got severly deformed and damaged, both the tail-light plastics (lens) got shattered (the lamps and turn indicator bulbs were working), bumper got deformed and torn in some places, reversing sensors got dislodged and the reversing camera does not work. The biggest problem was that the bootlid would not close, the rear crossmember was deformed and the boot latch was not working. Luckily the incident happened right in front of a garage. I was able to get the rear crossmember pulled out a bit and with some hammering here and there was able to get the bootlid close.

Called ICICI Lombard and they helped open a claim. A surveyor was assigned immediately, he called and sent me a video call link to make an initial assessment of the damage to the vehicle. ICICI Lombard also offered to send road side assistance and to take the car to the nearest authorized workshop for repairs. I didn't want to leave the car in Solapur and the car was in a drive-able condition, so I asked them if I could drive the car to Mumbai and then take it to a workshop, they agreed to it since I was comfortable doing so. Also, we were staying the night at a hotel in Solapur so there was no risk of driving the car with broken tail-lights in daylight the next day. The whole experience with the insurance was reassuring and helpful, at least so far.

There was a big ruckus at the accident spot for quite some time. The Brezza guys snatched the truck keys and called the police to frame the truck driver. The truck stood on the spot for two hours blocking half the highway!! I decided to wait for the cops and see what they wanted (me) to do.

I did not want to lodge a complaint with the police, I was not sure if it made any difference, even the insurance guys said they do not need FIR/Complaint copy etc. I just wanted to reach my hotel as soon as possible given the tail-light situation. It still took me about 2.5 hours for the cops to tell me that I could leave!

The Brezza was actually being driven by a workshop/service center people after repairs. The car was involved in an incident already it seems and the claim was about to be settled with the insurance, and then this happens with it. Feel sorry for the owner of the car.

Attaching a couple pics of the Brezza and the truck.

[electro-monk]

Originally Posted by stallmaster

If I'm not wrong, ABS light?

It was some warning light that I couldn't place, certainly not the ABS light. Definitely should have taken a pic.

Originally Posted by Durango Dude

Not likely looks like a scam with those folks in cahoots with the biker and sharing the moolah after you left the scene, reminds me of Vadivelu comedy in one of the tamil movies. Where they stage an accident and the group shares the spoils after a "successful" stage!

I see its possible - but here its unlikely to be a staged one because they had no coordination. After we were let go from the scene, the biker that we knocked actually followed us with another person on his bike. They overtook us and waved us to stop-clearly he wanted more trouble but our driver was sensible enough to speed up, overtake and lose them.
It reinforced my thought process that says if it comes to that, try not to engage with the rowdies at a place where there are multiple of them. Even just half km further ahead will do in cities as most people are busy with timebound activities, but on highways these people have enough time to pursue for tens of kms. Its more about mob mentality than money.

[adisan]

Originally Posted by electro-monk

...some sensible folks from surrounding villages appeared at the scene and hearing the story, deduced that biker was to be blamed for negligent crossing of the highway. They took some money from us and assured us that they will handle him...

What was the reason you gave some money when the biker was to be blamed, and a majority of the gathered crowd agrees on this?

[electro-monk]

Originally Posted by adisan

What was the reason you gave some money when the biker was to be blamed, and a majority of the gathered crowd agrees on this?

Many factors
1. The money was for his medical expenses and hence justified - fellow human after all. Moreover inside of me, I felt our driver should've known better than going at sixty on undivided highways infested with settlements on both sides.
So some guilt there.
2. Being with family, I wanted to escape before the mood of the crowd turns. There are too many variables when a mob has gathered.
3. Since we were going to catch a flight (we had ample time margin though), I was just glad that injury wasn't serious and the car was driveable.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by metalheadnomad

Never imagined that I would be posting an incident involving my own car.

This accident seems to have been completely unforeseeable. You are aware of the truck, and then, suddenly, there is another car and an accident involving three vehicles, 2.5 hours of delay and hassle, and you are left to deal with insurance and repair to your beautiful car.

[Pulse500]

Saw the CCTV footage clip on TV last evening and this article. Certainly the SUV was at much higher speed than the permitted 60Kmph on this road, just before the accident.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/88255612.cms

Wondering if the vehicles like Fortuner are really safe. In fact, if any other vehicles can still protect the occupants in case of such somersaults.

Some clips related to the accident

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lxiOeLYpWM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26dBvNIo_ro

[poised2drive]

So, last saturday on my drive to Visakhapatnam, I was rear-ended by a Swift.

We were returning to Vijayawada and were slowly approaching a intersection near the airport. There was moderate traffic.

To my fault, I sped up a bit since the biker in front of me was hurrying to cross the junction as the Police was about to stop our side and the biker suddenly applied brakes at the last moment . I also applied the brakes and stopped without hitting the biker, but the car behind me, instead of braking , swerved to his right and hit the right side of my Snowolf's rear-bumper as I could feel the impact of the Car and stopped right beside me.

His co-passenger, an elderly man (the driver's a young guy) started to apologize while simultaneously I was cursing myself for being so stupidly hasty.

I pulled over after crossing the junction as did the car that hit me. I checked the car and the rear bumper took a decent hitting while the front fender of Swift was totally gone.

The elderly gentleman again apologized to me and they left after a couple of minutes as the elderly man took over the wheel.

Though both of us passengers were safe, I was a bit disturbed throughout the drive.

[Aditya]

Originally Posted by Pulse500

Wondering if the vehicles like Fortuner are really safe. In fact, if any other vehicles can still protect the occupants in case of such somersaults.

Saw both the vehicles yesterday evening at Palm Beach Road. The sight was really bad.

I happen to use this road frequently. Don't know whether the autorickshaw jumped the signal or not, but it is quite clear that the Fortuner was way over the speed limit. Hence it went out of control and rolled over so many times. Had the car been driven even at 80 km/h, it would have been easy to control.

[metalheadnomad]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

This accident seems to have been completely unforeseeable. You are aware of the truck, and then, suddenly, there is another car and an accident involving three vehicles, 2.5 hours of delay and hassle, and you are left to deal with insurance and repair to your beautiful car.

Those 2.5 hours were really the most painful ones. Every passerby would stop, inquire and offer expert advise on what I should and shouldn't do.

[PrasannaDhana]

Originally Posted by Pulse500

Wondering if the vehicles like Fortuner are really safe. In fact, if any other vehicles can still protect the occupants in case of such somersaults.

Momentum is the greatest friend and the worst enemy of SUVs. Ladder on frame ones, specially, fare much better in case of a frontal collision with a lighter car. But when it's the time to roll, they suffer the most.

[HsekarK]

Sir,

Why is no one commenting on the presence of speed breakers on the 4 lane highway yet.

The blame surely lies with the age old saying that these speed breakers are the cause of a multitude of accidents.

They have no business being on a major highway( Nh-65 in this case?)

Regards

[metalheadnomad]

Originally Posted by HsekarK

They have no business being on a major highway( Nh-65 in this case?)

I asked the highway police why there is a speed breaker on a national highway like NH65, that too on a four lane divided stretch. The cops said, the T intersection where the incident took place was seeing a lot of (locals) vehicles getting T-Boned, so to address it they installed the speed breaker. To their credit I did see a couple cars that looked T-Boned that were abandoned on the sides!

[Arvind_555]

Originally Posted by Pulse500

Wondering if the vehicles like Fortuner are really safe. In fact, if any other vehicles can still protect the occupants in case of such somersaults.

Did anyone see the front airbags deployed? For some reason I believe only the side ones opened up and the front airbags are stubbornly "OFF". In a massive roll over like this, even if the front sensors have not been triggered, I would have assumed that the front airbags should also go off. If the airbags did not trigger, its really bad IMHO.

[McLaren Rulez]

Originally Posted by Pulse500

Some clips related to the accident
https://www.Youtube.com/watch?v=4lxiOeLYpWM

I don't know what's worse, the accident or the journalism. Some "epic music" for the background, full readouts of the number plates of the auto and the Fortuner, I could go on - what happened to professional reporting?