[mayankk]

Originally Posted by beast_within

Can experts on this forum throw some insights on the role of Headrests in absorbing the impact of heavy objects landing on the roof Or in case the car turns turtle?

This particular case of the accident re-establishes the importance of driving with the Headrest adjusted to the proper height.

Not an expert, but the headrest has no role in absorbing impact of heavy objects landing on the roof, or if the car flips onto it's roof. Their basic purpose is, I believe, to prevent whiplash injury in case of impact from the front or back.

[beast_within]

Originally Posted by mayankk

Not an expert, but the headrest has no role in absorbing impact of heavy objects landing on the roof, or if the car flips onto it's roof. Their basic purpose is, I believe, to prevent whiplash injury in case of impact from the front or back.

Yes, its core purpose is to prevent whiplash injury, but in this case it might have absorbed some impact of the flying Honda which eventually landed on the roof of Creta.

Had it been removed/absent the "B" pillar might have given-up more easily and the impact transferred directly to the neck of the driver.

[MDED]

Originally Posted by aerohit

I have seen many accidents on that very spot.


People come down fast and cannot turn as high speed. They end up going straight and jumping across.

You have nailed the possible reasons for the City unable to control the gradient at high speed. The F-I-L statement of the City driver confirms that the car must be doing approximately 120-130 kph and this speed is indeed UNSAFE.

Stay Happy and Blessed Amity!

[//HB]

@Amity, glad you're safe and sound after the horrible ordeal.

Originally Posted by honeybee

Why not file a case against him and his insurance company for a hefty amount? It should drill some sense into his thick skull.

Unfortunately the REALITY is very different. I do definitely agree that letting the guy go scot free is just not right. However I would also go so far as to say that filing a complaint and following it through to logical end (with the cops and the courts) will be nothing short of a punishment to the complainant. At the end of the entire case, since the complainant is alive and well, very likely the culprit will be let off the hook with some immaterial fine.

Originally Posted by Sheel

If his statements or his F-I-L's statements are on record, can a FIR be lodged?

I guess FIR has to have been filed, given the nature of accident and the insurance case etc. but as I said above, the legal system just doesn't mete out adequate justice to ensure drilling sanity into the heads of such idiots.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by //HB

At the end of the entire case, since the complainant is alive and well, very likely the culprit will be let off the hook with some immaterial fine.

But there was one death...

Originally Posted by Amity

The Honda City was traveling at such speed that it did not stop after landing on my car and went beyond car while ripping the roof apart (Later on, we came to know from Police that a motorcyclist was traveling just behind our car on the next lane and the Honda City landed on him, killing him on the spot. RIP)

[//HB]

Right, I missed that fact when replying. Nonetheless I doubt very much if the legal system will do adequate justice. Sorry state of affairs, but that's the unfortunate reality.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

I'm waiting for a review on how the vehicle behaves post repairs. We have, on this forum, at least one incident where a totalled Skoda was repaired and put up for sale by the buyer. The vehicle was very different, according to people who TD'd it, and the vehicle became notorious.



My concern here is about the insurance company operations. According to them, a vehicle is NOT totalled if people specialising buying damaged accident vehicles find no value in it. I feel it ought NOT to be that way.

I suspect that if salvage value + repair costs are more than IDV, it is better to declare the vehicle a loss. That is the financial part. But we aren't bean counters. We want good cars which drive well.



Being in govt service, have seen quite a few vehicles which are repaired, rather than totalled. Such vehicles are worse than lemons, and it is a punishment for drivers to drive them. And capital punishment for officers allotted such vehicles.

[R2D2]

I am glad you and your wife survived this hellish ordeal. God bless. As for the car getting repaired, I am not sure how they plan to repair such major damage to a monocoque chassis. But I'd be wary about their plans. Have Hyundai certify it to be safe in writing. Ideally they should replace the entire chassis. You need to push the insurance company for it.

As for driving on highways, I recall a near incident on the NH4 when a pedestrian almost walked into my car. I was doing about 120 kmph, my standard cruising speed, and there no way I could have avoided him. He had suddenly stepped off the median but just as quickly (and luckily) stopped in time less than 6-7 ft from the front right fender. It was a very close call. I stick to the middle lane as far as possible and especially when driving on a long sweeping curve on the road. Hate to think what could have happened if it was a large bovine instead of a human that had stepped off the median! I've seen it happen you know.

[noopster]

Amity, welcome to the forum and my very best wishes to you and your family.

Others better informed than I have advised you correctly on the insurance aspects. All I can say is, I love your attitude. To go through what you have and then come back and post here about it within a month is nothing short of amazing. The fact that you don’t seem to harbour much rancor towards the driver who caused the crash speaks volumes about your own character.

Stay strong and take good care of the missus! The force is with you.

[ferrarirules]

Glad to know that you and your wife survived the horrific crash. This spot has been an accident black spot since this road was four laned. The road is downhill and has a sharp 90. Ideally there should be steel railings on the median similar to ones used on the side of the highways

Earlier there were speed breakers added to slow vehicle down but they were removed. To my surprise, they added rumble strips back a few months back now I understand why. There are two rumble strips (small continuous speed breakers) at spots circled in red to make sure vehicle are slowing down

[honeybee]

Would those rumble strips launch a car in triple speeds up in the air?

We have had cases of cars in high speeds flying off the roads over speed breakers. At least two instances of cars breaking into two after taking off like this and then hitting a pole. One was the notorious sea face accident involving a silver Ford Ikon.

Just wondering of this solution would cause unintended side effects.

[Arjun Reddy]

Thank god for the women in our lives. Thank god you are safe to write this post. This is a really freak accident. I am not going into the details as it has been well elaborated on this thread. God bless and all the very best.

My only bone of contention with the guys at the work shop and the insurance is,

Will this repair job be crash worthy again?

When there is a major structural damage, it is a total loss.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by honeybee

Would those rumble strips launch a car in triple speeds up in the air?

Definitely yes.



This one jumped a speedbreaker soon after a toll and went straight into the bus shelter. Each time I passed this section, the damaged bus shelter reminded me of this accident till they fully demolished it recently due to road widening to 6 lane.

More details of this accident here.

[thirst4torque]

Amity, you are one blessed soul! By looking at the picture of the car no one would think that the driver would have made it. Glad that you have recovered and are here to tell your story.

Now coming to the car. As most have pointed out, this should never be repaired. However, in our country we don't have strict laws that stipulate that a car with such severe accident has to be written off and cannot be on the road again.

So, irrespective of whether Amity could get the insurance company to go in for a total loss settlement, this car will be repaired by someone and will be on the road again. I presume in this case, since it is being done through Hyundai, there will be a body shell replacement and after that most of the stuff is bolt on. Authorized accident repair centers are fully capable of doing such jobs. Almost to factory spec.

It would have been even worse if this would have been sold as salvage. As these salvage buyers do a crude job of repair with tons of welding, lots of frame pulling and cover the body with body filler to hide the accident. Lots of unsuspecting buyers get duped in buying such cars. It simply puts the buyers life at risk and also the risk the life of others on road. But sadly this is how it will happen if it was sold as a salvage vehicle.

Amity, you should ensure that the complete body shell was changed in your car. Nothing else will be safe.

[self_driven]

Originally Posted by Amity

I will be writing about an accident which happened with me at the end of last year.

Amity, that was truly a scary experience man! Glad that you and your wife came out safe. Feel sorry for the biker who had to pay the ultimate price for someone else's stupidity.

I have used the Gurgaon-Faridabad road umpteen number of times and have seen a lot of vehicles (mostly bikes) crashed after losing control/hitting the median at the same spot, but on the same side on the road. The City driver must be doing some crazy speeds to have jumped the median!

Good to know that you have resumed driving now.

Originally Posted by honeybee

Would those rumble strips launch a car in triple speeds up in the air?

No, I don't think so. Unless the car hit some rock while coming down (possible since a lot of truckers use this road), it seems to be the City driver's carelessness that has caused this crash. Rumble strips aren't high enough to launch a car that too on a downward slope.