[grevvity]

Good to see there were no injuries and both parties got away with damaged cars only.

Originally Posted by aparth

When i got out of the car I was expecting much more damage but my car did take the hit pretty well. Kudos to Hyundai for stepping up the quality of their cars. Im also getting an approximate bill for 35k for the rear bumper plus new boot, paint, sensors, camera, etc.

I am afraid the lesser damage is not entirely because of the build quality offered by Hyundai but is more because of the area of impact. The Ritz had more damage because of the front impact which is designed to absorb the impact in case of a front collision. The damage to your Creta is because of the rear impact which can take a bigger hit. This is the case with all cars be it Alto or BMW.

[sanstorm]

A horrific accident resulted in death of MPCC general secretary, the Fortuner bites the dust. RIP the deceased members

Fortuner has easily been the most popular ride symbolizing the arrival of politicians and the new power breed. However each needs to understand that is not the tank and needs to be driven humbly on the public road, but for the attitude!!

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/60048401.cms

[n_naik]

Originally Posted by sriram.raghavan

Saw this in the Indian Express newspaper today, without the mention of the vehicle make and model. TOI has a picture at least that shows the make.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/60042729.cms

The scary part of the whole story is that the driver of the car was charred to death because while his wife and kids could run, he couldnt unlock the seatbelts and got stuck in his seat and got charred !!!

In 2011, my colleague was driving to his house-construction site at 5am in Bangalore and there was a lorry with long trailer taking U turn. He noticed it at the last moment and stopped suddenly to allow it to take the U turn. At the last moment, he realized that he had stopped the car too close to the turning path. He couldnt reverse the car since there were few vehicles already behind his car. He opened the car door to escape but the seatbelts got locked and he got stuck !!!

Any idea why do the seatbelts get stuck ? This is really scary.

[Dry Ice]

Originally Posted by balenoed_

Got as a whatsapp forward. Courtesy to whoever shot it:-
Can this happen?

Specific to this video, brake seems to be free - pressing the brake would have stopped the car or at least slowed it down, no? Or moving the gear to N with the brake pressed would have left it revving, what went wrong here?

Generally speaking, it's a good idea to keep the driver footwell free of moving objects.

[balenoed_]

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

Specific to this video, brake seems to be free - pressing the brake would have stopped the car or at least slowed it down, no? Or moving the gear to N with the brake pressed would have left it revving

Theoretically, yes. But practically when you have no clue why the engine is revving when you have taken the foot of the pedal, will make one panic and would not have got the time to think about what is going wrong.

I am only wondering whether someone would have to press the accerelator pedal all the way down unless he is looking for some insane speeds in top gear.

[grevvity]

Originally Posted by n_naik

Any idea why do the seatbelts get stuck ? This is really scary.

The only possible explanation is 'Panic'. Once you start to panic, doing simple things like unbuckling your seat belt can be a task.

[Soumyajit9]

Originally Posted by n_naik

Any idea why do the seatbelts get stuck ? This is really scary.

The same reason why it holds one back. To avoid sudden movement of the body.
The key to removing seatbelts is to do it normally. Pulling the belts and trying to pull out the buckles, will only make it more stuck.
I understand these are all paper gyaan and logic, which is difficult to think of during a panic situation.

[BenjiRoss]

Unless the impact actually hits the buckle and damages it, I can't see why seat belts can't unlock. In crushing crashes the buckle can get bent, warped or crushed.

[sridhu]

Originally Posted by BenjiRoss

Unless the impact actually hits the buckle and damages it, I can't see why seat belts can't unlock. In crushing crashes the buckle can get bent, warped or crushed.

Seat belts have an inertial lock. This helps lock the seat belt under acceleration. (that is why it is sometimes difficult to pull out the seat belt when the car is parked on an incline)

So, in a crash, it is possible this system gets jammed due to excessive forces. I guess this is what Thad... Means. May not be any physical deformation.

I always have a Swiss knife on my key ring. Pretty useful generally and very important in the specific instances under discussion.

As Thad said, remembering to use it under stress is a another matter altogether.

[Arjun Reddy]

Guys, my car will always have a glass breaker and a seatbelt cutter. It's normally available as a 2 in 1. As low as a couple of hundred. Would make sense to keep one in the car.

[supremeBaleno]

Happened an hour ago near my home at Kerala. The lady driver swerved left to avoid an oncoming vehicle & rammed into the mound of earth. It's an Alto800 AMT.


Driver Airbag deployed.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Arjun Reddy

Guys, my car will always have a glass breaker and a seatbelt cutter. It's normally available as a 2 in 1. As low as a couple of hundred. Would make sense to keep one in the car.

Mine does too. It is in the door pocket at my right hand.

What a horrible accident. The guy got his family out of the car but could not get out himself. It reminds me of the airline thing with oxygen: attach your own mask before helping others. But who can say what actually happened in the vital seconds. Can we even be rational in a fireball?

Come to think of it, I read an article yesterday. If I remember rightly, he continued to try to start the car. With smoke already happening? That's just so wrong :(

[nutmello]

@ mods, request you to remove the post if its inappropriate.
This is the image from a recent box office flick " toilet"
I feel whatever could be the context for this particular scene in the movie, portraying, three adults on a motorcycle, that too with a female actor, is sending wrong message to the public. Today it has become very common to see three people riding a motorcycle. It looks like " cool and its ok " . Are we erring some where? during the unfortunate accident, all of them get hurt. This is not only dangerous to ride but also we are putting other road users at risk.

[reignofchaos]

Originally Posted by sanstorm

Fortuner has easily been the most popular ride symbolizing the arrival of politicians and the new power breed. However each needs to understand that is not the tank and needs to be driven humbly on the public road, but for the attitude!!

OT but this crash image shows exactly why body on frame vehicles will never have good crashworthiness compared to monocoques. Once can see the body has completely sheared off the frame below and as a result, the fragile body shell has completely collapsed.

If it were a monocoque, the force of the accident would have been dissipated by the entire chassis and the intrusion seem would not have been half as bad.

Fortuner/Innova type vehicles only look tough. In reality, they have very poor crash safety.

[Yieldway17]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Mine does too. It is in the door pocket at my right hand.

Wouldn't that mean that in case of the car flipping to the side or turning over, the tool rolls around and falls out of reach or even worse turn into a projectile and hit you?

I have kept mine in glovebox but I know that it's next to useless keeping it there but I wonder where is the best place to store it.

Edit: Thinking about it, mine has a velcro strip in the back, may be it's meant to be mounted/sticked somewhere so that it doesn't move around and is reachable?