Pics: Accidents in India

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by arunphilip

[*]This type of collision is a sideswipe, as far as the Innova is concerned. Notice how the front fascia as well as the front right fender are undamaged. [*]Sideswipes cause tremendous sheet metal (i.e. skin) damage over a large and visible area

Absolutely and even if this is a repost of an accident posted before, all that happenns after 35 seconds in this video should explain all that you troubled yourself to write Arun, about what can happen to a Crysta when a bus swipes that way; here a bus gets swiped by a stationary truck.

https://youtu.be/xWPcgJxO0Oo

Regarding now well it's built, oh keep that coming. We will never get bored out of such discussions anyway

[klassics45]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Absolutely and even if this is a repost of an accident posted before, all that happens after 35 seconds in this video should explain all that you troubled yourself to write Arun, about what can happen to a Crysta when a bus swipes that way; here a bus gets swiped by a stationary truck.


Regarding now well it's built, oh keep that coming. We will never get bored out of such discussions anyway

The guy in the scooter is extremely lucky!! Can't even think, what would have happened if he had stood there for another few seconds...

[MAS]

Wow.. I feel i just had a been through a sideswipe here.

Guys, I speak from my personal experience.

I had owned three Fords (Fusion, All New Fiesta and Endeavour) before moving on to own the 2017 Toyota Fortuner & 2016 Hyundai Creta. From my personal experience, i now know that the Fords had a better build quality when compared to both the cars i currently own.

Like most Team-Bhpians, i clean the car myself and i can see & feel the difference in the way the Toyota & Hyundai are built from the Ford. Again from my personal experience, i can feel that Toyota's build quality is quite flimsy when compared to the Fords.

Sheet Metal Thickness does play a big part in making the build more stronger, but as rightly said, it does not make the car safer. But, when comparing cars of same era and design, a thicker sheet is going to be more safer than a thinner one.

God forbid, but if such an accident happened to an Endeavour/Punto, the damage would have be much lower.

[VKumar]

Okay gentlemen, the main point is that the side airbags opened up and Innova seems to have held its actual structure quite well even in the mishap. Sheet metal, however strong it may be (until it's a military tank), is not going to help in any significant manner when you are inside a 2 tonne UV and a bus driver decides to enthusiastically side swipe you. What matters in this case is how well the actual crash protection elements work and they seem to have done their job quite well.

Coming to the accident, I live in NCR but recently a friend of mine had his S Cross thrown out of the road by a bus near Thrissur (bus was trying to overtake the car on a turn) and hence I believe that Kerela bus drivers are all trained racers. Here also, the bus has come after negotiating a decent curve, as can be seen in this pic:



Rest, I can see that this is a 'limited stop' bus, and here is a classic example of how these limited stop bus guys drive on Kerela roads (Enthusiasts and review guys on board, we people become happy after we manage to raise the inner rear wheel mid corner, what you have to say about this gentleman?):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWiBpCmMuaM

I must say that even the passengers of these buses are also men of steel. Kerela guys, if possible, please do write a review of super fast travel in such buses.

Overall, it is the fault of Innova guy, why he even bothered to come into the way of the bus when the driver was in a sporty mood? Looking at the road, position of Innova and the position of the bus, I don't think that the bus driver was going slow.

[for_cars1]

One look at the Innova and its easy to say that it has taken the impact very well.
Just imagine the sheer mass of the bus and the force with which it would have side swiped the Innova. The cabin frame has held very well along with the thankful and expected deployment of the curtain airbags in such a scenario.

Toyota has increased the weight of the Crysta by 200 KG over the outgoing/ previous model for the same unchanged wheelbase of 2750mm and the extra weight has gone towards increasing its torsional rigidity. The newer model is definitely built much stronger and safer although it may not be niggle free yet.

[mayankk]

If everyone in that innova survived, I give the sheet metal/build quality/thud sound etc full points. No one in the car cares about how it looks after such a crash, only about how it works in the crash. So what if berries or watermelons dent it otherwise.

[bigben]

This happened this morning. The hyundai rear ended the polo because the polo abruptly slowed down due to an auto in front of him that suddenly stopped.
Not sure how the Innova got beaten up.

[jaaz]

Probably, Innova was demonstrating Side Curtain Airbags, since the Vehicle was a Demo Car.

Jokes apart, I could see the side impact beam has come off. It was supposed to protect the occupants by staying right there. We can expect the condition of the sheet metal, as it looks there was considerable speed.

PS: What happens, when a Demo Car meets with such accident. Will the prospective customer pay the compulsory deductible?

[W.A.G.7]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

here a bus gets swiped by a stationary truck.

That's scary. But, have you ever noticed in all these bus accident videos; the first thing to fall off is the front windscreen, regardless of the impact area. And it falls like a shower of water. I wonder why??

[for_cars1]

Originally Posted by W.A.G.7

the front windscreen...falls like a shower of water. I wonder why??

The windshield glass (non laminated) falling like "a shower of water" is by design in the interest of safety.

These non laminated windshield automotive glass is made in such a way that it crumbles into small blunt pieces of glass on impact (regardless of the point/area of impact) rather than cracking and forming sharp pieces of glass or splinters that could break off on impact and fly and injure the occupants.

[ecenandu]

Since there has been quite a bit of discussion about car safety, I would like to add few points.

Japanese cars uses flimsier sheet metal than European peers, come on there is no debate here. In standardised crash tests the manufacturers has found a way to get the desired results(maximum safety rating) with minimum penalty. What the penalty is depends on the core ideology of the brand.

For example, anyone who has worked with Japanese automobile company can see the way they utilise the space in the assembly line, they give priority for efficiency. Our Indian manufacturer has got the classic 'chaltha hai attitude' and result is that 10% R&D work will be done by the first lot of the buyers. You can see the shift in this attitude lately and it is a good sign. The latest Tata cars is giving a positive vibe, lets see how it pans out to be in reality.

Anyway, here is a simple observation of mine on how small overlap crash test is being tackled by different manufacturers. Volvo's strategy seems to be to deflect the car from the crash structure. Where as Audi and Genesis take the full brunt of the crash, yet achieves similar results.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shydexEjZ4I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8zY9Ui1YlY

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by jaaz

Jokes apart, I could see the side impact beam has come off. It was supposed to protect the occupants by staying right there.

Side impact beam has done its job well and it hasn't come off, it is installed in that angle.

[CDM]

Originally Posted by mayankk

No one in the car cares about how it looks after such a crash, only about how it works in the crash. So what if berries or watermelons dent it otherwise.

+1 to that. I have crash tested, literally, the old generation Innova and though it didn't look pretty after romancing a truck, both of us in the car got off without a scratch.

Strength of a vehicle is not related to its sheet metal covering but the structure underneath. The Crysta has held up very well considering that the other vehicle was a bus.

CDM

[FORTified]

Originally Posted by jaaz

Jokes apart, I could see the side impact beam has come off. It was supposed to protect the occupants by staying right there.

I think the impact beam worked as per expectation.
Its job is to absorb impact so that the cabin is not penetrated. It did that job well. It doesn't matter if it fall down after that or still sticking around. Isn't it?

[balenoed_]

Originally Posted by bigben

This happened this morning. The hyundai rear ended the polo because the polo abruptly slowed down...

I would like to re-phrase it as, The Hyundai rear ended the polo because the Hyundai was driven quite fast without having a braking distance ahead of him for that speed and could not stop in time when a Polo ahead of him abruptly slowed down.