[na_agrawal]

Hello Everyone,

I never ever thought I'll be a part of a post in this thread wherein an accident involving me and 2 of my dearest friends. Let me take you through a rather detailed "ordeal" which we had to endure and later thank three main components of the car/regulations which made sure that I live to tell the tale. This is not a very recent one, two years ago on 27th May 2018, to be precise.

It was a bright, dry as a bone, sunny day in the middle of Rajasthan at Jaipur on 26th May 2018. We were 22 years young, giving our final year Btech presentations so as to complete the Btech course from Manipal University and to be very shortly on our way to an EPIC road trip to Delhi, Dehradun, Rishikesh & Lansdowne for the next 8 days. Oh, Man! The speed, focus, carelessness for everything less important, the attitude with which we were dealing with the college formalities was already showing our urge to be on the road trip ASAP and the haste to put an end on our engineering and finally free ourselves from the shackles of studies and hostels and not-to-forget the bossing of the mentors and the threat of oh-so-important attendance! It was exhausting and yet overwhelmingly high in good spirits. Our itinerary for the day was to wrap up the college ASAP, head straight to our Airbnb, pack-up, and either book a zoom car right away for Delhi or board a Volvo bus which is fairly easily available at an interval of every hour. But since everything doesn’t go as per your wants, we were able to free ourselves from college a full 4 hours late than what I had planned and also, I had to pay a visit to a friend’s house which further delayed everything. So, we 3 decided to take the midnight Volvo bus to Delhi and reach by 6 am in the morning. Safe and sound, hassle-free bus and since we were absolutely exhausted by then, it was best to drop the idea of a zoom car. It was all discussed and decided and then suddenly came out-of-nowhere advice from our relatives, just 2.5 hrs. prior to leaving. We were asked to book a private taxi which would pick us from our place of stay and drop exactly at the hotel in Delhi. Relatives assured that it’s safe to go to Delhi via Delhi-Jaipur Exp at midnight and he himself has trodden multiple times at odd hours. I was a bit skeptical about this idea, but being an elder and a local, I hesitantly booked a sedan. Within 30 mins, got the details of the cab and the provider over my phone. I called him up, confirmed about the booking, and asked him to be at the starting point at exactly midnight. Now here comes a life savior, he sent me a message stating MS Dzire Vxi. My eyes read petrol; my brain comprehended that as CNG!! I called him up and confirmed about the boot space, he agreed that only 1 bag can be accommodated due to the CNG cylinder. I requested him to cancel the booking, but he asked me if I can wait an hour more and he can get me a Toyota Etios at the same price and it doesn’t have a CNG gas tank in it. I happily agreed.



We, the three on the last day of college. Me in mid.

Finally, the Etios arrived at 1 – 1:10 AM at our location. The driver was polite, well-mannered, and seemed like the owner of the car himself. The car was also well maintained and clean. We threw the bags in the boot, laptop bags in our footrest. My buddies took the back seat and me in the front. We left without any further delay.

I never sleep if I’m riding shotgun, especially, even so, when the other two at the back have already dozed off. Songs were playing in all its glory, it was 2 AM, heavy traffic – mainly buses and trucks, the car was comfortably doing 80kmph LIMITED! I asked the driver if I can catch a shuteye. He nodded in agreement and I reclined as much as I could (thanks to rear legroom of Etios, I could recline up to an almost of that Swimming pool relaxing benches angle while still being comfortably belted.) Seconds later, I was in a realm of comfort and letting go of all my exhaustion. I was fast asleep.

Suddenly, my eyes opened wide apart owning to an immense magnitude of crashing, cracking, and screeching sounds, and just at that moment, time froze! What lay Infront of my eyes could never ever be forgotten for no matter how long I live, its etched in my firing neurons of the gray matter. I could see myself being shoved into a green-colored wall-like structure, windshield cracking, dashboard coming uncomfortably close to me. It was happening too slow, it lasted quite a while, at least that’s how I felt. Next came an endless black screen inside my mind. After this all I remember was that the driver is trying to wake me up, unbuckling me from the seat belt, my friends at the back seat staring at me in awe and in an utterly confused state trying to comprehend what on Earth is going on! I looked around me, I saw glass pieces, a metallic part of some grey color on my shoulder, and a lot of fluids around the car on the road. The first thought – ALIVE! FRIENDS ALIVE! EXIT! FIRE! My door was jammed. Driver and one of my friends were trying to open it but no, it didn’t budge. I jumped out of the driver’s side and gathered my composure. All of us were doing just fine, a couple of cuts, bruises, and small blood droplets, nothing much. As I realized, to my shock, we were on top of a flyover, it was 2:11 AM (all this happened just 11 mins later), the car was leaking all sorts of fluids and the car was now blocking 2/3 lanes. I asked the driver about the reason, he said a slow-moving truck, he sounded confused and in shock. I didn’t bother him much and immediately asked him to place the Red triangle in the middle of the 2 lanes. Both of my friends were also in shock, inspecting each other. They were hurt more than me despite being in the rear seat; reason - they did not wear seat belts. They had bleeding lips, swollen nose, and some sort of pain in their ribs. No life-threatening damage, thankfully!

Let's take a look at the extent of the damage done -



Seems like we were in the innermost lane and the truck in middle.







Strong yet a mangled Toyota!



The front passenger side has reduced to just a foot-length.



We were blocking 2/3rd of the road on top of Behror flyover.





A - pillar!



Cab providers buy the lowest trim level which generally doesn't have airbags.





Thankfully it was a shatter-proof glass.



The police & tow truck arrived in an hour.

Minutes later I realized that my neck is bleeding. From the angle/ pattern of the injury, it was clear that I had cut my neck due to the force exerted by the seat belt. Such was the force! No worries, it saved me from many more major injuries. Now we all 4 started ringing to nearby emergency services along with an ambulance, tow truck and Toyota Emergency services, or whatever they call it in their official terms. I was frustrated and angered when not even a single one of them answered. Heck! Not even 108 Ambulance. I refrained from calling in on my family/parents/Jaipur Friends at this hour when nothing unfortunate had happened and we were all capable of handling the situation sooner or later. Multiple cars stopped, inquired about the incident, and the condition of passengers/driver, but none, NONE of them offered a single piece of as little help as ‘water’. Forget hospital! Talk about INDIA SUPERPOWER 2020! Rants aside, I remembered a toll plaza which we had crossed just minutes earlier. Called them up, asked them for assistance immediately, and a taxi to Delhi. By this time, the driver had pleaded to me innumerous times to not hand him over to the police and save him from getting beaten up. I obliged since it was just an accident which did no major harm to us, instead, his car was the one which took the maximum brunt and also up until now he was very helpful. Though I highly suspect, that he must've dozed off too. Nevertheless, no point in falsely accusing him. Might be a genuine mistake, who knows! The tow truck came, did its job of parking the car aside, and transporting all of us to a nearby safe location. Police and other authorities too arrived in no time and asked me if I want to lodge a complaint against the driver or the driver’s provider. Since, it was 4 AM now, with the traffic now becoming denser, they were in a hurry to wrap things up, he immediately agreed when I said NO. Finally, another Toyota Etios for Delhi arrived along with a flatbed truck to take the crashed car to the nearest Toyota dealer. We all were gone by 4:40 AM from the site.

From what I take, the three most important things which played a major role in saving all of us -

1. The swapping of MS Dzire to Toyota Etios. Whatever be the reason for swapping, but God had some other plans written.
2. The 80kmph limiter in cabs. Had it been a private vehicle, it wouldn’t have been a crash at 2-digit speeds.
3. This goes on without mentioning. SEATBELTS! Please wear them, at all times. I have tested and experienced it; believe me! you don’t want to be on the same page as me.

Now, upon reaching Delhi, we debated whether to continue our road trip for the next 8 days which had to be done via a pre-booked zoom car and the only drivers would be me and one more friend who is supposed to be picked up tonight from Delhi Airport. Since we all were safe physically, it was me who had the veto power to either continuing or canceling it as the accident could have haywire my brain and it was more important to be mentally free from it. But as any other car enthusiast might agree with me, all it takes is a firm grip on the wheel and there we go zooming past our past! So the next day -



A spanking new Ecosport Titanium + variant ready for us. Just 600 km on the odometer! I was surprised at Zoomcar.

This will be an altogether a new travelogue in itself one day!



Cheers,
NA

[chiranjitp]

Originally Posted by na_agrawal

I never ever thought I'll be a part of a post in this thread wherein an accident involving me and 2 of my dearest friends.

That's some scary experience, thank God that you & your friends came out of the accident without any major injuries. Kudos to Toyota for building a safe car, the Etios despite it's low kerb weight scored a solid 4 Star in GNCAP (Body shell was found stable as well).

Cab providers buy the lowest trim level which generally doesn't have airbags.

I checked the photos properly & found something interesting. The Etios in question seems to be equipped with dual airbags. AFAIK Toyota was one of the first car manufactures to make airbags standard.

Closeup of the steering wheel, I am seeing airbag written on it:



Here is a sample photo of the steering wheel from the official review (the steering is a bit different here since it's of the top variant):



Dashboard, the red warning sticker is regarding airbags:

[McLaren Rulez]

Originally Posted by chiranjitp

Closeup of the steering wheel, I am seeing airbag written on it:

Interesting. Could it be yet another Toyota that just has airbags in the spec sheet but never actually deploys them?

[vvivek85]

Originally Posted by na_agrawal

Hello Everyone,

I never ever thought I'll be a part of a post in this thread wherein an accident involving me and 2 of my dearest friends.
NA

Happy to know that you and your friends are sound and safe. As you rightly coined, seat belt is a life saver and I wish people in our country understand the importance

On the related note regarding Airbags not deployed, was the driver belted? If yes, then it’s even more shocking from a reputed car manufacturer.

[RavSam]

Originally Posted by chiranjitp

T

Closeup of the steering wheel, I am seeing airbag written on it:

First of all, glad that him and his friends were safe in THAT big of a crash.

Secondly, the Etios did not have Airbags as standard previously, with the facelift with that silver toothy grille, they made it standard.

If the crash was like the car going under the truck (which sort looks like it) then the chances of only front airbags deploying are slim.

OT: Honda was the first to provide Dual Airbags and ABS standard until 2013 when they launched Brio without it.

[tazmaan]

Originally Posted by vvivek85

Happy to know that you and your friends are sound and safe. As you rightly coined, seat belt is a life saver and I wish people in our country understand the importance



On the related note regarding Airbags not deployed, was the driver belted? If yes, then it’s even more shocking from a reputed car manufacturer.

I am not sure about the airbag discussion. The said car was a cab, there is a high probability that the car would have had a shunt before and airbags were not reinstalled. Also there is a chance of airbag being disabled by the cab operator to prevent them from deploying due to several accidents a cab suffers during its lifetime.

I have seen several Innova taxis where there are clear signs of deployed airbag on the dashboard (patched up dash). The airbags were never reinstalled.

[Vid6639]

The Etios definitely had dual airbags not even single. The left side of the dash just above the glove box will have a storage cavity if no airbag. If airbag you will not get a storage cavity. This Etios did not.

From the front grill design and the shape of the AC blower knob, this car is a 2014 -2015 model car. From 2014 all variants of the Etios were equipped with dual airbags as standard.

Most likely as tazmaan mentioned, this car might have been in a previous shunt and owner would have not reinstalled the airbag. Alternately the airbags fuse might be removed to reduce repair cost in case of minor shunts.

[Aditya]

Toyota Etios cab crashed but the airbags didn't deploy - Posts moved to a new thread.

[seedyk]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

The Etios definitely had dual airbags not even single. The left side of the dash just above the glove box will have a storage cavity if no airbag. If airbag you will not get a storage cavity. This Etios did not.

Most likely as tazmaan mentioned, this car might have been in a previous shunt and owner would have not reinstalled the airbag. Alternately the airbags fuse might be removed to reduce repair cost in case of minor shunts.

I've had this same query in all the Ola/ Uber cabs that I have commuted in while in the City, that with such high running, and the airbags probably deploying at the smallest of front bumps, how do they manage the operational costs, and 99% percent of the guys replied saying that they disconnect the circuit driving it.

Scary considering how we select the top most variant while hiring a cab without knowing the tinkering. Sad to say the least.

Glad these guys made out with minor injuries. I had a similar accident in a swift dzire in mumbai city itself in the wee hours and i was belted in the back seat (i always belt up in whichever seat i am). Trust me, if not for the seat belt, my head wouldn't have been in the same shape that it is.

[akash_v12]

Hi na_agarwal,

Glad to hear that you and your friends were okay after that crash! I see just 2 possibilities about why the airbags didn’t deploy.

1. As rightly pointed out by fellow BHPians ChiranjitP & tazmaan there is a sticker which shows the presence of the passenger airbag too. So, The car could’ve been involved in a crash earlier where the airbags had been deployed and have not been re-installed.

2. This car might be a victim of the Takata Airbag issue (I’m not very sure as I don’t know which Toyota’s it affects and if the Etios was included or not).

[GTO]

What is it with Toyotas & the airbags not deploying?

Major crash in Fortuner, no airbags

Innova rolls over, no airbags

Poor quality spiral cables used by Toyota?

Etios crash, no airbags

Innova accident without airbags

Toyota to pay 25 lakhs for airbags not deploying in Fortuner

[McLaren Rulez]

Originally Posted by GTO

What is it with Toyotas & the airbags not deploying?

Here's the Yaris featuring too - https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-...ml#post4605866 (Toyota Innova Crysta ZX rolls over thrice! None of the 7 airbags deploy)

There is a serious serious problem with Toyota vehicles in India. I'm not gonna be touching them with a ten foot pole.

[padmrajravi]

In this case, it is a 2 year old incident and we don't have information on how this car was maintained. So I am afraid this thread will only lead to speculations.

That said, airbags not opening is a common one with Toyota. Not just in teambhp, there are more instances in the web of owners complaining about this.

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by akash_v12

2. This car might be a victim of the Takata Airbag issue (I’m not very sure as I don’t know which Toyota’s it affects and if the Etios was included or not).

http://https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-safety/181296-toyota-internationally-recalls-etios-faulty-airbags-takata-india-next.html (Toyota internationally recalls the Etios for faulty airbags (Takata). India next?)


Internationally the Etios was recalled for the Takata recall, but the Etios in India has the airbags/pretensioners from Tokai Rikai Minda.

[daredemon]

Originally Posted by na_agrawal

Hello Everyone,

I asked the driver about the reason, he said a slow-moving truck, he sounded confused and in shock. I didn’t bother him much and immediately asked him to place the Red triangle in the middle of the 2 lanes. Both of my friends were also in shock, inspecting each other. They were hurt more than me despite being in the rear seat; reason - they did not wear seat belts. They had bleeding lips, swollen nose, and some sort of pain in their ribs. No life-threatening damage, thankfully!

Hi na_agrawal,
Glad to know that you & your friends came out alive that day with such a scary experience. Did you manage to find out with the driver what exactly happened.
Where did he exactly crash the car ? Seeing the state of the car, i am only assuming that he must have been over speeding once you snoozed off & then lost control.

#1. Assuming that driver has not re-installed the airbags (for cost effective reasons), it is a serious concern towards the passengers. Such drivers should be taken to task for putting other peoples life at risk.

#2. Assuming that inspite of having an airbag & not getting deployed in an accident, its a serious lack of quality issue from Toyota.