[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

Very likely a case of damaged, misaligned latch.

Spot-on. The member frame on which the latch is can get bent upon minor impacts that one may not realise that until you try to open the bonnet one fine day. It will not really show any resistance while opening but when you try to let the lid close by releasing your hand off the bonnet from a distance(height), it most likely won't close at all and will be hanging there ready to flip open upon slightest disturbance - uneven joints on bridges, speedbreakers and rumblers, sudden gush of winds.

One reason why cars equipped with a central locking system should also have a switch for the bonnet (many have) that it won't lock the car with the remote till you properly close the bonnet.

[locusjag]

Originally Posted by shubhodeepdas@g

That's exactly why the secondary latch is mandatory where another lever has to be pulled under the bonnet to release it completely. Without this, such kind of incidents would be very common. However the smaller lock probably won't handle 3 digit speeds with ease.

Hey you've nailed it! My erstwhile SUV did have that secondary latch under the hood. You would need to pull the release lever below the steering wheel first and then lift the hood slightly and release the secondary latch.

So that explains how I was unaffected by my grave mistake of releasing the primary lever despite driving at freeway-speeds. This explanation never occurred to me all along. Here I was, thinking it was the heavy hood that kept me safe

Man, this is one of the reasons why I love Team-BHP. All kinds of automotive mysteries get resolved here!

[jpcoolguy]

Originally Posted by locusjag

Hey you've nailed it! My erstwhile SUV did have that secondary latch under the hood. You would need to pull the release lever below the steering wheel first and then lift the hood slightly and release the secondary latch.

Isn't that secondary latch is present in all the modern day cars? I see one in my Xcent where I need to insert my hand and pull the secondary latch to open the hood.

[locusjag]

Originally Posted by jpcoolguy

Isn't that secondary hatch is present in all the modern day cars? I see one in my Xcent where I need to insert my hand and pull the secondary latch to open the hood.

All modern cars have that latch, yes. It's just that I never gave due credit to that little latch under the hood It saved me from sure disaster in an alien land.

[honeybee]

Originally Posted by jpcoolguy

Isn't that secondary latch is present in all the modern day cars? I see one in my Xcent where I need to insert my hand and pull the secondary latch to open the hood.

Yes it is, but it may not be fully functional. Also the point raised earlier: holding the bonnet down at triple digit speeds. As the air enters the bonnet from the gap, the bonnet will be pushed up. If the secondary latch is good, it might be able to hold the bonnet in place.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Received these images in whatsapp. The accident happened at Karuvatta, between Trivandrum and Cochin today.

[androdev]

http://www.newindianexpress.com/citi...k-1872215.html

BENGALURU: Two businessmen, including the son of a well-known advocate, were killed on the spot after their speeding Audi car crashed into a parked truck after hitting a bike at Avalahalli on Kolar-Bengaluru Road near Hosakote on Thursday night.

The truck driver is absconding after the incident while the bike rider suffered injuries.The deceased are Amarnath Singh (26), son of advocate Bhavani Singh, who was the Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) in the disproportionate assets case involving former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and others, and Subendar Bej (29). They were residents of Kadugodi. One of their friends Jaswanth Singh (27) and biker Manjunath (32) were severely injured in the mishap.

According to the police, the accident occurred at 9.30 pm when the car was heading towards Kolar. Amarnath was behind the wheel and as he was allegedly overspeeding, he lost control over the vehicle and hit biker Manjunath. Manjunath was tossed up in the air and fell in a vacant plot and the car rammed rammed into a truck. The truck driver had not switched on the parking lights.

[AutoNoob]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Looks to me as if the driver handled that situation well.

Yes, he did. Also, he was lucky that he had just crossed the section where traffic was heavier.

Originally Posted by Ramon

If you freeze the video at around 4 seconds you can see that the bonnet is not properly shut... A properly shut bonnet wouldn't have opened like that.

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

Very likely a case of damaged, misaligned latch.

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Spot-on. The member frame on which the latch is can get bent upon minor impacts

My bad. I should have described the situation in totality.

The cab had damaged front end, most likely had an accident and bonnet was almost open. Few minutes back itself, on seeing this in rear view mirror, I had slowed down; waived and warned him but he gave me cold looks.

I wanted to see his face when he stopped on the side after the bonnet popped open; but he was pre-occupied with the situation.

Originally Posted by shubhodeepdas@g

Most cars in 10L plus price bracket with Door Ajar warning do have Bonnet and Boot warnings as well... That's exactly why the secondary latch is mandatory where another lever has to be pulled under the bonnet to release it completely.

Originally Posted by jpcoolguy

Isn't that secondary latch is present in all the modern day cars? I see one in my Xcent where I need to insert my hand and pull the secondary latch to open the hood.

Originally Posted by honeybee

Yes it is, but it may not be fully functional. Also the point raised earlier: holding the bonnet down at triple digit speeds. As the air enters the bonnet from the gap, the bonnet will be pushed up. If the secondary latch is good, it might be able to hold the bonnet in place.

AFAIK, all cars are required to have secondary locks for hood which can only be opened while standing in front. Also, these secondary locks are designed to handle forces of driving at high speeds. But, I don't have first hand knowledge on this.

[SCORPION]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

One reason why cars equipped with a central locking system should also have a switch for the bonnet (many have) that it won't lock the car with the remote till you properly close the bonnet.

Every time (every time) I hit the road, I see at least one modern car with a door not locked properly. I see people trying stunts, sometimes recklessly, just to inform the moron behind the wheel, or a passenger, that a door is ajar. Most of the time, the driver/passenger takes a while to grasp what all the fuss is about. Sometimes they stop abruptly, or pull over without paying attention to following traffic.

Now, these are modern cars. There are at least a few ways of knowing a door is ajar depending on the make of the car, namely:

1. Cabin lights remain on - unless this feature has been deliberately deactivated.
2. Prominent indication on the dashboard cluster.
3. Other doors don't lock.
4. Some cars give a beep, and so on.

The above are just basic features present in even entry level cars. In spite of all these warnings, people still drive with a door ajar. It is the same set of absent minded/ignorant/careless/reckless people who will probably leave their bonnets open. No amount of warning is going to bother them. Unfortunately, they will only learn the hard way.

[shubhodeepdas@g]

Originally Posted by SCORPION

The above are just basic features present in even entry level cars. In spite of all these warnings, people still drive with a door ajar. It is the same set of absent minded/ignorant/careless/reckless people who will probably leave their bonnets open.

Yes. People do not care. People don't care about their own life by properly wearing seat-belts or helmets. Most don't even care even if the bing-bong sound in the cabin is loud and annoying.

There's another theory to this. The more bing-bong sounds you are used to, the more you learn to ignore them at all times.

Originally Posted by AutoNoob

AFAIK, all cars are required to have secondary locks for hood which can only be opened while standing in front. Also, these secondary locks are designed to handle forces of driving at high speeds. But, I don't have first hand knowledge on this.

2005 till 2015, 3 cars that I currently own, the oldest one definitely has the poorest of the latches, which probably would open if I go over a pothole and the youngest one is the most difficult to open with a spring so strong that you would regret opening it in winters.

[VKumar]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Received these images in whatsapp.

Looks like a small frontal overlap, looking at the small section of Hexa that has actually taken the entire damage and the penetration depth, this is indeed the perfect recipe of killing anyone seated in those positions in a car. Same applies to the truck too any ways, entire impact is again on a small section - high probability of calculations going wrong at final moment.

A SFO is probably the last thing I would want to see even if I am driving a Range Rover, the entire momentum results in the force being concentrated in a very small area resulting in very deep penetrations. I starkly remember talking to a senior R&D official and he simply said "to make sure that people stay safe in such accidents too, we need tanks and not the cars on the roads".


wow, a small google search got me this, the minivans or these MUVs any ways fare bad in small frontal crashes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZC8Ykl1esE

[venkyhere]

Originally Posted by VKumar

wow, a small google search got me this, the minivans or these MUVs any ways fare bad in small frontal crashes:

and I got this :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9N1Q0k6-ebg

the barrier is different b/w EURO NCAP and IIHS - the euro one seems to be more absorbent

[hemanth.anand]

Yesterday on NICE road saw this Swift which had driven into the safety crash barrier of the Exit towards Hosur. Luckily for his it has pierced at a low level. This was a TN registered car.

[shubhodeepdas@g]

Originally Posted by venkyhere

and I got this : the barrier is different b/w EURO NCAP and IIHS - the euro one seems to be more absorbent

The IIHS video is testing a Small Frontal Overlap Crash, this is EURO NCAP 40%, 100% and Side Impact test. Hence the difference. Some of these older cars perform very badly in Small Frontal Overlap Tests including the Punto. Here's the same test for an Fiat 500L 2015. These tests take into account only 20% or less overlap. Even the best in class manufactured 3 years back or more, fail this test.

https://youtu.be/-BTkqwL_3-c

IIHS has a good repository of such tests on YouTube.

[SJM1214]

Car racing down Kharadi road runs over two, injures four.

PUNE: Two cars were racing each other down the road when the driver of one car, a Honda City, lost control and ran over a woman and her 11-year-old grandson, and then ploughed into four parked vehicles at Satav Vasti off Kharadi-Mundhwa Road around 8.30pm on Wednesday.

Eyewitness accounts said the driver of the Honda City veered to the wrong side of the road and ran over the two pedestrians, injured four others and hit four parked vehicles before halting.

News Source : https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/65892855.cms