[newtonMeter]

Originally Posted by NevGin

I currently have a Polo TDI (2010) and Vento TDI (2012). To add, I just returned from a personal trip from Durban where my family friend has a Polo. No difference in quality at all in the two Polo's. However in comparison, the Vento build and quality is way below par. Localization may be?

What points did you notice on vento that felt inferior please elaborate.

[reininchaos]

You sure have done some good things in your life to survive this my friend ! The car body has indeed saved you. Good luck and speedy recovery.

[honeybee]

Originally Posted by wartikars

I guess I have not communicated properly... quality of a car is far more better than what we Indians get here when we buy a German car but yes theya re far more better than the Asian cars.

Thanks, I had indeed mis-interpreted your earlier post. This one makes it crystal clear.

Since I don't have any experience of German cars (and based on the overall ownership feedback here I don't think I shall ever want to), I can't comment on the other points, though I would agree with your sentiments.

[jinojohnt]

Originally Posted by newtonMeter

some safety points from official made in india (polo 2011) internal documentation

The attachment does not mention whether the structure of Polo has the ability to withstand the roof-crushing forces of a Roll-Over accident. I can also see a sentence that forbids roof luggage - "No roof load is permissible due to the roof structure of the Polo 2011." Can you please check?

Almost any Indian car (except may be the Maruti 800) has frontal/side crash protection and crumble zones, big deal!

[newtonMeter]

Originally Posted by jinojohnt

The attachment does not mention whether the structure of Polo has the ability to withstand the roof-crushing forces of a Roll-Over accident. I can also see a sentence that forbids roof luggage - "No roof load is permissible due to the roof structure of the Polo 2011." Can you please check?

Almost any Indian car (except may be the Maruti 800) has frontal/side crash protection and crumble zones, big deal!

roll over mitigation is done by B pillar. The same concept is also prevalent in high end convertibles!

its not a big deal but of course good to know the quality of steel used in VW is pretty decent and not as crumpy as Marutis.

[Pal]

You are blessed, Mr. Frontosa! You are blessed! But its all thanks to you yourself. More on this later.

I cant remember how many times in the two weeks I mustve gone through your pictures. In this time I have passed by that spot about 4 times on the Eway and just keep trying to figure out how it happened. I cant help but keep analyzing the accident - vehicle damage points v/s location on eway v/s description given.

It truly saddens me that here in India we have no true Accident Investigators. Where is the ARAI? VRDe? VW India? Yashwantrao Chavan Expressway personnel? Cmon, we have a Survivor here! So many vital clues from him could help all of above. Isnt this so very vital with the amount of lives lost on an hourly basis in India? Its pathetic to read top billed newspapers casually mention lines like X nos. killed as bus falls into a ditch, Ynos die as "tempo" rams into stationary bus of people and so on. Why is there no proper analysis of such accidents?? Dont we value each life? Wont the study provide new inputs for Manufacturers to design more and more safe cars?

Anyways, from what I gather, heres my estimated blow-by-blow account---(Purely amateur)

1) Vehicle hit by truck on Rear LHS. Due to mentioned rains and additonally, suspected tyre wear, vehicle goes into a spin with the centre axis through the roof acting as a pivot. (Here, truck mustve hit the Polo near LH rear door, only then car would spin anti-clockwise and come face to face with the said truck - - as mentioned by Frontosa)

2) Vehicle spins uncontrollably like as if on skies - but quickly loses forward momentum too. Dont forget, this is concrete layered road with higher surface co-efficient of friction as against tar - laid roads or cobblestones, thereby slowing down the vehicle.

3) Minimal damage inflicted on the vehicle at this time. And of course on the passenger.

4) Since, the car is in the 1st lane (as mentioned), it soon hits the grassy/ muddy median. Here the momentum into the muddy bumps may have led to vehicle getting toppled over. But it doesn’t as no scathe marks on any of body panels. It seems the car entered the median through the driver side (RHS) as this is proved by the grass and mud scooped up by the RHS front and rear wheels of the car. Here again, NO FRONTAL IMPACT YET.

5) This is the point where the car’s lower fenders, bottom run channels, bumpers start breaking/ dislodging.

6) By sheer luck, the median has the normally blink-and-you-miss-it concrete blocks walled- drainage with a min 10ft drop!! (Seriously scary) Now, I am a little confused as how the car hit this section. The broken wall shown is actually on the side of the Eway which is coming FROM PUNE and also opposite to direction of traffic! But ill ignore that now.

7) Here too, the car may have hit sideways. I say this as the Front does not look 'T boned'. Frontal Impact Bar still sufficiently unscathed. Left hand side seems very probable as RHS driver side does not bear direct impact marks. Impact breaks the wall and vehicle falls into the ditch. But its not a free fall mind you. The ditch looks too narrow to allow free fall. This hit to the wall is an event where driver could have got injured. But ONCE AGAIN, NO FRONTAL IMPACT. (This honestly could be why the front airbags didnt deploy)

8) Now mid air- no idea what happened or how the RHS Rear end got so badly smashed. But most definitely, the car landed on it LHS. That too specifically LHS A Pillar. Just look at it. Somewhere Frontosa also mentioned that the car landed on a pile/heap of previously lying debris? This seems it. This sudden jolt surely looks the cause of the crumpled roof, LHS Wiper, shattered glass etc. Also, possibly where all the front bumpers/ lights got dislodged from the car.

9) This, yes this final smash seems to be the point where the most damage was caused- to the vehicle as well as to our dear friend Frontosa. Now, when the car mustve hit on LHS, he must be purely toppling inside. AND this is exactly when the hero of the entire past 10-20 secs (yes that’s about it I guess) played the most important role. THE SEATBELT. If there ever was a Holy Being in that car, He weren’t besides on the passenger seat, He was riding across the chest! If it weren’t for this 10mm wide strap secured with the pre-tension across his chest, our friend would have been simply tossed around like a rag doll and we wouldn’t have had this forum to discuss upon. (Pardon my choice of language, Im trying my best to depict the importance of the seatbelt in that scary moment.) Also, guys, the sudden stoppage of the car here caused the ribs damage. His dangling body weight being fastened back by the Seatbelt strap. Hence, Frontosa- you should thank yourself for the decision made of strapping up!

So I guess that’s about it. Once again, you yourself created your luck by wearing that seat belt. Hope this puts some sense into the scores of people who plug in their belt and then sit ON it- just to mute the design-to-irk seat belt warning beep!

I hope I have cleared some of the questions lurking in the minds of my fellow bhpians. Its just my hypothesis.The events estimated may seem wishful thinking to some. I hope people DO debate on above words with their logical inputs. I am in no way a trained guy or an expert. Just have an urge to analyse anything to do with cars.

Take care. And Buckle Up.

[hurricanes]

Yikes !!!

You are one hell of a guy to have gotten alive out of that crash. God bless you and thanks for sharing your experience.

[wartikars]

Originally Posted by honeybee

Thanks, I had indeed mis-interpreted your earlier post. This one makes it crystal clear.

Since I don't have any experience of German cars (and based on the overall ownership feedback here I don't think I shall ever want to), I can't comment on the other points, though I would agree with your sentiments.

Not an issue! But yes after using the Mercedes Benz of W124 series or earlier and that too German imports, your safety expectations arealways increased. But thanks for your inputs. And thats the reason I love Team BHP site. Really a treasture trove of automobile knowledge and the knowledgable people.

[sridhar-v]

When I had mentioned that the 80kmph side impact would have been within the design limits of the structure I had in mind the fact that the car, after spinning, crashed into the concrete barrier. This is more akin to a side pole crash test & only the inertia of the car is in the picture.

If it is a vehicle to vehicle crash what would happen is that the vehicle with the lesser momentum would be pushed in the direction of movement of the vehicle with greater momentum and all impact forces would be related to the rate of acceleraton/decelleration of said vehicle.

Actually in all cases of impact it is the rate of acceleration(or decelleration) and the time frame in which energy is transferred that determines the extent of injury. And the tyres almost always define when your vehicle will loose traction/grip and convert the vehicle into a top.

I remember an incident in the late 80's - I was travelling to Goa in my Maruti800. At a traffic jam the truck(chassis actually) in front of me suddenly went into reverse, & hit the front right fender. My car was thrown back & spun around. The main reason was that the skinny crossply tyres just lost grip.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by NevGin

I currently have a Polo TDI (2010) and Vento TDI (2012). To add, I just returned from a personal trip from Durban where my family friend has a Polo. No difference in quality at all in the two Polo's. However in comparison, the Vento build and quality is way below par. Localization may be?

Interesting. Mostly it's the other way around I always keep hearing, people (including Polo owners) "feel" the build quality is better in the Vento. I found both more or less identical.

Do clarify where and how do they differ?

[aneeshanand]

Oh My God !!
You are really lucky man, and you have a grace with you.
Thank God and the prayers from your family - Be healthy soon.

[vdi]

Would be great if you could post one snap of yours!!!!

[dezrskb]

Hi Frontosa!
Happy to know that you are alive and not severely injured.
I believe that first factor that saved you was your luck because seeing the shape of the car after the accident, I felt even if the front air bags got deployed, they could not have saved you (probably they didn't get deployed in the first place because there was not frontal impact severe enough. I think the impact was from the side and also when your car fell down into the pit, might have fallen on side / on top, but I may be wrong. I felt so seeing the pics showing the passenger side is more severely crushed than the driver side). Of course one can argue that because of VW build quality it didnt get crushed beyond this. But to me it looks like its crushed enough to kill anybody and also somebody sitting in passenger seat might have got severely injured / killed. So I believe you are incredibly lucky. But of course, the build quality and wearing the seat belt might have contributed partially.

[Jignesh]

Hello Frontosa,

Thank God that you were saved & there was no major injury. When my family members saw the picture of your damaged they just could not believe that anyone would have survived.

I too was involved in a accident couple of months back, though the car was not damaged till the extent your Car is damaged, but luckily we all were absolutely safe. I do understand how it feel for few minutes after such accident.

Has the insurance proceedings started? I believe you Car will go as a Total Loss Case & Insurance company will pay you the Total Loss Amount agreed with you. I have detailed my experience with Royal Sundaram in the thread mentioned below: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...loss-case.html
I have also mentioned another T-BHP link in the above thread detailing another Total Loss Case.

Please feel free to contact me anytime for any queries with regards to Insurance Cliams.

Thanks,

[pganapathy]

Originally Posted by Frontosa

3. I have Polo TdI Black Highline model which has ABS & Airbags.
6. Anyway at that crucial turn about 100 meters from Singhad institue, a speeding truck just kissed my Polo's left back side.
7. The car just lost control as I applied breaks in panic, I could hear or feel the ABS.
Now I have few major questions: If anyone can help me put light on those it will be helpful.

1. The VW Polo Airbags DID NOT OPEN. Neither driver nor passenger. WHY? Can I log a complaint against VW -- I bought this car just for airbags and ABS.
3. I thought ABS doesnt let your car slip and skid.. Is my understanding wrong? Do I need a car which has EBD instead? (remember teh car swirled after applying brakes)

I think only GOD saved me and no other car would have. Please share whatever thoughts you have for this incident.

Thank you for reading my post!
Drive safe!

Man, you are lucky. Looking at the photos, just some broken ribs and a broken jaw are actually not much injury in the larger scheme of things. Considering your jaw hit something, or something hit it, it was only a couple of inches to your brain.

Anyway, let us not dwell on that.

I think it is important that people understand what each of the acronyms on their car stand for and have a basic understanding of how they work.

ABS means anti-lock braking system and EBD means electronic brake distribution. What both of these are designed to do is prevent your wheels locking up, when you brake. Nothing more. Yes, you have more control over the vehicle, but you cannot overcome the laws of physics. You skidded because your car was being driven in two different directions at the same time. Your motion was forward while the back of your car was going sideways due to the crash. Therefore unless you had steered opposite to the direction your car was being pushed in there was no way you could prevent it skidding. Anyway, all it would have done was let you drift the car most likely rather than now skidding and going round in circles.