[markmytravel]

My Brother in Law met with a fatal accident on the Jaipur-Agra highway. Seems like the driver side airbag on his mercedes did not fire. It feels like Mercedes has started taking Indian customers for granted and is just believing their brand name is enough to sell numbers. We know our BIL cannot come back but atleast others can be made aware so that precious life can be saved.

RIP Nirmal ... We will miss you.

Originally Posted by markmytravel

Here is the turn of events as narrated by eye-witnesses. We don't know if airbags may or may not have helped in this case, but hope Merc will not compromise with lifes in future because airbags not working is a serious matter for cases where the accident is not so fierce as in most cases it can make a big difference.

On 12.11.2011, our brother, Nirmal Saraf, was driving a Mercedes S-class (claimed to be one of the most safest cars of the world), from Jaipur to Agra alone during the day. At about 12 o'clock, he met with an accident. A truck moving parallel to his car, took a sudden turn due which he had to apply sudden brakes. Unfortunately he hit the truck from the driver's side. Due to the collision the rod, ...which holds the windscreen of the car broke and hit Nirmal near the shoulder, which caused him to loose control of the car. The car hit a few kiosks on the roadside. People nearby had to cut the seat belt and somehow managed to get him out of the car and an ambulance was called to take him to the hospital. But unfortunately the doctors couldn't save our brother's precious life. Even after such a big collision only one airbag opened of the Mercedes S-class and that too of the passenger's side (left side) where as the car was hit on the driver's side. Mercedes claims that SAFETY is their utmost priority, and that they have provided 8 airbags in their S-class. Then why after such a big collision only one airbag opened and that too of left side where there was no major hit? Is selling the car more important than ensuring the security of it? We do not know what the 'S' in the name S-Class stand for, but its definitely not SAFETY.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prLYTB4eFUc

Originally Posted by markmytravel

When the car hit the truck, it lost control, crossed the divider and ended up hitting some road side shops which resulted in maximum damage. It didn't go under the truck. As you can see from the pic, the maximum damage had been done on the driver side of the car, almost nothing is left on that side. Whereas the passenger side is pretty much intact but the airbag only deployed on the passenger side. Other question is shouldn't it be all airbags or none. Why only one airbag opened that too on the side which is not badly damaged.

I am not trying to put the blame on Merc as there are other factors too that conspired in this event (speed, truck, airbags, shops exactly where car ended... ) but then we are trying to find out if Merc has been delivering what it is promising. Is it compromising on the safety features knowing there are less chances of getting customers complaining. The news has been on many new channels but Merc hasn't come forward with an explaination on why only one Airbag was deployed.

There are many who will believe they are buying a safe car, but if the working conditions of these safety features ir compromised by manufacturer or the service center, it needs to be brought in public for benefits of others.

Court asks police to file case against 11 auto company officials

Jaipur: Nearly a month after a youth from Jaipur driving the high-end Mercedes Benz car was killed on the outskirts of city, a local court ordered to register a criminal case against 11 persons, including top officials of the auto-major.

Hearing a petition filed by Vimal Sarraff (father of the victim, Nirmal Sarraff), the additional chief judicial magistrate (IX) court in city on Friday ordered that criminal case be registered against 11 persons at the Sodala police station.

The court ordered to register a case against 11 persons, including Bharat Balasubramanian (head of Mercedes Benz India), its director Raghunand Balakrishnan, MD of TNT Motors (authorised dealers in Jaipur) Vidhur Talwar, besides company's global top-brass.

Credit to, and full article on Bhaskar.com

[mannubhai]

Originally Posted by markmytravel

My Brother in Law met with a fatal accident on the Jaipur-Agra highway. Seems like the driver side airbag on his mercedes did not fire. It feels like Mercedes has started taking Indian customers for granted and is just believing their brand name is enough to sell numbers. We know our BIL cannot come back but atleast others can be made aware so that precious life can be saved.

RIP Nirmal ... We will miss you.

oh mine :(
thats tragic . My deepest condolences to you and family.

RIP nirmal

[vkochar]

Although I did not know the person ( Nirmal Saraf ) who died in the S Class Accident on the Agra - Jaipur highway, my family however knew his wife's family. His wife was also known to my younger sister and it is only my moral duty to spread this message as Mercedes's so claimed 1 crore rupee safest car in the world held no meaning at all when someone lost his life to such a tragic accident.

I can understand if all airbags had opened then yes the accident may have been so massive BUT the airbags not opening even when car has turtled and done possibly all the aerobics before finally stopping. This is just unacceptable.

Here is a pic I am sharing -



Also users can know more by simply typing Mercedes Exposed on facebook. A page has been created to bring awareness.

RIP Nirmal.

[gurudutt]

Originally Posted by markmytravel

My Brother in Law met with a fatal accident on the Jaipur-Agra highway. Seems like the driver side airbag on his mercedes did not fire. It feels like Mercedes has started taking Indian customers for granted and is just believing their brand name is enough to sell numbers. We know our BIL cannot come back but atleast others can be made aware so that precious life can be saved.

RIP Nirmal ... We will miss you.

Sad to hear this, may his soul rest in peace and may god give courage to the family members. I watched the video and completely understand the frustration of the family members. Even after spending so much, if you end up not being safe, whats the point. These people make cars with crumple zones and hope to save the occupants with airbags. Sometimes i wonder if a car half as worth like a fortuner/captiva or even a scorpio for that matter might have been safer in this situation.

[markmytravel]

Originally Posted by vkochar

Although I did not know the person ( Nirmal Saraf ) who died in the S Class Accident on the Agra - Jaipur highway, my family however knew his wife's family. His wife was also known to my younger sister and it is only my moral duty to spread this message as Mercedes's so claimed 1 crore rupee safest car in the world held no meaning at all when someone lost his life to such a tragic accident.

I can understand if all airbags had opened then yes the accident may have been so massive BUT the airbags not opening even when car has turtled and done possibly all the aerobics before finally stopping. This is just unacceptable.

Here is a pic I am sharing -

Attachment 844039

Also users can know more by simply typing Mercedes Exposed on facebook. A page has been created to bring awareness.

RIP Nirmal.

Varun, she is my cousin and really appreciate your support in spreading the message. The fact that only one airbag opened and that too passenger side was simply not acceptable. I know many would think looking at the car that the crash was too strong, but still the faulty safety features in the car cannot be ignored, especially with things like Airbags which cannot be inspected/tested at delivery time. I hope Merc is not taking Indian custumer for granted and the message will spread and caution others too.

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by vkochar

Although I did not know the person ( Nirmal Saraf ) who died in the S Class Accident on the Agra - Jaipur highway, my family however knew his wife's family. His wife was also known to my younger sister and it is only my moral duty to spread this message as Mercedes's so claimed 1 crore rupee safest car in the world held no meaning at all when someone lost his life to such a tragic accident.

I can understand if all airbags had opened then yes the accident may have been so massive BUT the airbags not opening even when car has turtled and done possibly all the aerobics before finally stopping. This is just unacceptable.

Here is a pic I am sharing -



Also users can know more by simply typing Mercedes Exposed on facebook. A page has been created to bring awareness.

RIP Nirmal.

What is the geometry of this accident.
This looks like it has gone under a truck.
or flipped over onto a divider.
the damage is more apparent on the right side.

Are frontal supposed to deploy in such situations?


PS:no disrespect. Im just trying to understand what has happened.

[markmytravel]

Originally Posted by mayankk

What is the geometry of this accident.
This looks like it has gone under a truck.
or flipped over onto a divider.
the damage is more apparent on the right side.

Are frontal supposed to deploy in such situations?


PS:no disrespect. Im just trying to understand what has happened.

Here is the turn of events as narrated by eye-witnesses. We don't know if airbags may or may not have helped in this case, but hope Merc will not compromise with lifes in future because airbags not working is a serious matter for cases where the accident is not so fierce as in most cases it can make a big difference.

On 12.11.2011, our brother, Nirmal Saraf, was driving a Mercedes S-class (claimed to be one of the most safest cars of the world), from Jaipur to Agra alone during the day. At about 12 o'clock, he met with an accident. A truck moving parallel to his car, took a sudden turn due which he had to apply sudden brakes. Unfortunately he hit the truck from the driver's side. Due to the collision the rod, ...which holds the windscreen of the car broke and hit Nirmal near the shoulder, which caused him to loose control of the car. The car hit a few kiosks on the roadside. People nearby had to cut the seat belt and somehow managed to get him out of the car and an ambulance was called to take him to the hospital. But unfortunately the doctors couldn't save our brother's precious life. Even after such a big collision only one airbag opened of the Mercedes S-class and that too of the passenger's side (left side) where as the car was hit on the driver's side. Mercedes claims that SAFETY is their utmost priority, and that they have provided 8 airbags in their S-class. Then why after such a big collision only one airbag opened and that too of left side where there was no major hit? Is selling the car more important than ensuring the security of it? We do not know what the 'S' in the name S-Class stand for, but its definitely not SAFETY.

[Warwithwheels]

My deepest condolences to the family. With all due respect, nobody here knows what exactly happened at the time of accident. The speed at which the car was travelling was also unknown.

All safety equipments are designed in to work in a particular fashion. They lack intelligence. They only work on the basis of the inputs received from the sensors. More importantly, beyond a particular speed limit, safety features could do very little to save lives.

I perfectly understand your anguish. But then just because somebody has invested 1c on a car it is may not be correct to expect that your lives are safe come what may.

[markmytravel]

Originally Posted by Warwithwheels

My deepest condolences to the family. With all due respect, nobody here knows what exactly happened at the time of accident. The speed at which the car was travelling was also unknown.

All safety equipments are designed in to work in a particular fashion. They lack intelligence. They only work on the basis of the inputs received from the sensors. More importantly, beyond a particular speed limit, safety features could do very little to save lives.

I perfectly understand your anguish. But then just because somebody has invested 1c on a car it is may not be correct to expect that your lives are safe come what may.

That's the reason I mentioned, airbags may or may not have saved his life but again should it happen that only ONE airbag got deployed out of EIGHT. Definetely money cannot guarantee your safety but we want to make sure Merc is not delivering faulty cars especially safety features which cannot be tested at delivery time or later. And moreover if the dealer messed up the systems during servicing, Merc should investigate and culprits should be penalised.

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by markmytravel

Here is the turn of events as narrated by eye-witnesses. We don't know if airbags may or may not have helped in this case, but hope Merc will not compromise with lifes in future because airbags not working is a serious matter for cases where the accident is not so fierce as in most cases it can make a big difference.

On 12.11.2011, our brother, Nirmal Saraf, was driving a Mercedes S-class (claimed to be one of the most safest cars of the world), from Jaipur to Agra alone during the day. At about 12 o'clock, he met with an accident. A truck moving parallel to his car, took a sudden turn due which he had to apply sudden brakes. Unfortunately he hit the truck from the driver's side. Due to the collision the rod, ...which holds the windscreen of the car broke and hit Nirmal near the shoulder, which caused him to loose control of the car. The car hit a few kiosks on the roadside. People nearby had to cut the seat belt and somehow managed to get him out of the car and an ambulance was called to take him to the hospital. But unfortunately the doctors couldn't save our brother's precious life. Even after such a big collision only one airbag opened of the Mercedes S-class and that too of the passenger's side (left side) where as the car was hit on the driver's side. Mercedes claims that SAFETY is their utmost priority, and that they have provided 8 airbags in their S-class. Then why after such a big collision only one airbag opened and that too of left side where there was no major hit? Is selling the car more important than ensuring the security of it? We do not know what the 'S' in the name S-Class stand for, but its definitely not SAFETY.

Hey Mark really sorry for the loss. Deepest condolence to family and friends.
Also If I have understood it correctly, he must have been overtaking the truck from the left and due to sudden left turn by the truck, the right side of the car came under the truck. The car then hit highway kiosks as you said which would have been on the left which is why only the left side air bag opened. The ride of the car was not hit at the front, it was from the A-pillar onwards which means that the car went under the truck. I may be wrong but this is the only explanation why the right hand side air bag did not open. Also from the picture, the right front of the Merc is almost unharmed.

[markmytravel]

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

Hey Mark really sorry for the loss. Deepest condolence to family and friends.
Also If I have understood it correctly, he must have been overtaking the truck from the left and due to sudden left turn by the truck, the right side of the car came under the truck. The car then hit highway kiosks as you said which would have been on the left which is why only the left side air bag opened. The ride of the car was not hit at the front, it was from the A-pillar onwards which means that the car went under the truck. I may be wrong but this is the only explanation why the right hand side air bag did not open. Also from the picture, the right front of the Merc is almost unharmed.

When the car hit the truck, it lost control, crossed the divider and ended up hitting some road side shops which resulted in maximum damage. It didn't go under the truck. As you can see from the pic, the maximum damage had been done on the driver side of the car, almost nothing is left on that side. Whereas the passenger side is pretty much intact but the airbag only deployed on the passenger side. Other question is shouldn't it be all airbags or none. Why only one airbag opened that too on the side which is not badly damaged.

I am not trying to put the blame on Merc as there are other factors too that conspired in this event (speed, truck, airbags, shops exactly where car ended... ) but then we are trying to find out if Merc has been delivering what it is promising. Is it compromising on the safety features knowing there are less chances of getting customers complaining. The news has been on many new channels but Merc hasn't come forward with an explaination on why only one Airbag was deployed.

There are many who will believe they are buying a safe car, but if the working conditions of these safety features ir compromised by manufacturer or the service center, it needs to be brought in public for benefits of others.

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by markmytravel

When the car hit the truck, it lost control, crossed the divider and ended up hitting some road side shops which resulted in maximum damage. It didn't go under the truck. As you can see from the pic, the maximum damage had been done on the driver side of the car, almost nothing is left on that side. Whereas the passenger side is pretty much intact but the airbag only deployed on the passenger side. Other question is shouldn't it be all airbags or none. Why only one airbag opened that too on the side which is not badly damaged.

I am not trying to put the blame on Merc as there are other factors too that conspired in this event (speed, truck, airbags, shops exactly where car ended... ) but then we are trying to find out if Merc has been delivering what it is promising. Is it compromising on the safety features knowing there are less chances of getting customers complaining. The news has been on many new channels but Merc hasn't come forward with an explaination on why only one Airbag was deployed.

There are many who will believe they are buying a safe car, but if the working conditions of these safety features ir compromised by manufacturer or the service center, it needs to be brought in public for benefits of others.

Hey mark, please dont mind. I was only trying to decipher what might have happened and a logical explanation to that. I looked at the picture again and infact the whole front infact is relatively unharmed. The crumple zones have not come into play atleast for the front. By looking at the picture it seems that all the damage is on the drive side where the A-pillar has caved in badly and the it seems a huge weight dropped on the roof of car primarily on the right side.

[noopster]

Mark, I am truly sorry for your loss and amazed at the composure and clearheadedness you are displaying in finding answers to what are most certainly reasonable questions. I trust you will find someone at Mercedes Benz who will be honest and open with you and perhaps an explanation or apology as needed will be provided to you at the earliest.

Please convey my condolences to your cousin- am sure this is unimaginably difficult for her and the rest of the family.

Anoop

[markmytravel]

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

Hey mark, please dont mind. I was only trying to decipher what might have happened and a logical explanation to that. I looked at the picture again and infact the whole front infact is relatively unharmed. The crumple zones have not come into play atleast for the front. By looking at the picture it seems that all the damage is on the drive side where the A-pillar has caved in badly and the it seems a huge weight dropped on the roof of car primarily on the right side.

ET,

Your observations are absolutely spot on. Obviously it's very difficult to know what exactly happened so lets assume the car did not take a beating from the front, why only one airbag got deployed and not others? I am no expert so not sure if that's how they are designed?

[ajmat]

There was no frontal impact so the sensors did not activate for front airbags. The front A pillar was ripped off. Judging by damage, the car was travelling pretty fast and the A pillar got ripped by the truck. I doubt if any airbag would have helped.

I could be wrong.

Whatever it is , condolences to the departed soul