[ba run]

The title that 2 star NCAR car saved a life is misleading.
Its just that you were lucky.

[R_Gowardhan]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

If your mind is distracted as it often can be the entire road situation can be very different in a mere 2 seconds. Many accidents could be avoided but for those vital two or three seconds.

The very selling point of Autonomous driving tech is increased safety by removing the driver(Human factor) from the equation. The US Department of Transportation had concluded after analysing the road accidents data available from 1970 to 2016 that the fatalities in road accidents could be reduced by a whooping 94% by eleminating driver error.

NCAP Stars have been a buzz word for a while now. Those who have it (manufacturers & car owners) boast about it. Those who don't, they have been defensive about its need.

The more important question to ask is why same car models sold in different geographies have different NCAP ratings?

Also, for most people, cars are the second major financial decision after House. Why should one compromise on the safety in favour of features / fuel economy? If the same purchase price warrants only low/no NCAP rated vehicles, the decision to go for it can be understandable. But for anything else, it's a no brainer.

Agree that in some cases even a 5 Star rated car may not be able to prevent a significant impact to the driver or passengers. On the other hand, people in the past have walked out unhurt in major shunts in cars without even seatbelts. But that does not make the need for safer cars any lesser as these examples cannot be generalized for all cases.

Currently, NCAP is the only tested barometer to measure the crash safety of a Car. Hence the insistence on a higher NCAP rated car.

[matchvan]

Originally Posted by iamgyan

Sorry to say this but your comments here based on this incident seem too generalised and almost like a classic case of survivorship bias.

No offense to anyone but the stars on his side.
Exceptions are always there.
https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities...le18421603.ece
See the above article and the case of BhaskarG,
They both are 2 diverse examples of how fate plays along.
2 vs 5 Ncap? Nope it's sheer fate. Fate is stronger than caution.
No matter the type of car, when on road, it's like we are in a war zone.
Yes, a 5 star rated car will give a added layer of protection, but will not rule out or help in cheating death.
In our country, compared to 80's and 90's the highway roads have become better, but crowded with increasing traffic and novice drivers with no road manners whatsoever and with a high-end car or a motorcycle, they are like landmines waiting for an innocent, rule abiding citizen to step on!

[Rakeshmbalaji]

Really heartening to see Bhaskar walk out of such an incident and live to tell the tale. This is nothing short of a miracle. Re emphasises the need to be an offensive and pre empting driver in our Indian conditions than the look for an adrenaline rush with an extra 30kmph on the odo.

Me thinks, should I really let go of that fun rocket Swift Petrol from 2015 more now and pick something like a safer Tiago, even for the second beater strict city use car purpose.

[saur95]

Originally Posted by matchvan

No offense to anyone but the stars on his side.
Exceptions are always there.
https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities...le18421603.ece
See the above article and the case of BhaskarG,
They both are 2 diverse examples of how fate plays along.
2 vs 5 Ncap? Nope it's sheer fate. Fate is stronger than caution.

I was not able to understand the intent of this example provided, especially when bringing fate into question. I definitely agree that luck plays a part in many cases, perhaps even in the case of the OP. But having a 5 star NCAP car reduces the reliance on your luck.

The particular case that you have mentioned is of somebody speeding and I would not call it fate but just pure recklessness. And regardless of the vehicle you are driving/riding, such behaviour will have its consequences. You can find more details here : https://www.carandbike.com/news/merc...y-cops-1706123. Also, this particular generation of the G Class was not crash tested

[asit.kulkarni93]

Glad that you are safe and sound. Accidents like these teach us a lot. But I have to strongly disagree with the thread title. You were lucky that you were back on wheels after the rollover and no one was around. Come to think of it, If you had ABS it would have prevented most of the aftermath. ABS has saved me a lot of times. You should have moved on and let the car be scrapped. Looking at the first two pics, it was extensive damage. The advisor who said engine is fine was saying it with respect to the insurance approval but if someone were to put a gun to my head and ask me to choose between an accidental with a good engine or a non accidental car with a bad engine, I will gladly choose the latter. You can get a new engine or work on the same or get a second hand engine but with a monocoque, you can never restore the structural rigidity equivalent to the new car. I would say you are still risking your life driving this around. Life is too short to be emotional about cars. Take care!

[matchvan]

Originally Posted by saur95

I was not able to understand the intent of this example provided, especially when bringing fate into question. I definitely agree that luck plays a part in many cases, perhaps even in the case of the OP. But having a 5 star NCAP car reduces the reliance on your luck.

The particular case that you have mentioned is of somebody speeding and I would not call it fate but just pure recklessness. And regardless of the vehicle you are driving/riding, such behaviour will have its consequences. You can find more details here : https://www.carandbike.com/news/merc...y-cops-1706123. Also, this particular generation of the G Class was not crash tested

Dear Sir,
We both are on the same page.
I was simply referring to the fact that no matter how high the safety rating and how cautious we are, fate will have a role to play. That's all.
As you said higher rating lesser the reliance on luck. True that.
But, in our country the common assumption is bigger the car, safer it is. And thus they drive in a reckless manner, risking themselves, fellow drivers and pedestrians.
I agree with you on the fact that, the crash and fatality is purely because of overspeeding and ofcourse that generation G class was not crash tested.
Peace.

[The21st]

Glad everything was fine

It does hurt owners when someone call a 2 star rated or 3 star rated car as death traps or moving coffin. Definitely a 5 star rated car would be much better and ABS and airbags contribute a lot in saving lives[It is even mandatory now]. But I think the thread title may be to give a bit of relief to people who already bought low safety rated cars without knowing it and is not confident now to take it to roads even with low speeds.
I think we already discussed on another thread about whether someone is fine to buy a poor NCAP rated car for city use.

It is always better to buy a car with good safety if there is an option but it may not be always possible in the budget segment. People do consider things like availability of service centers.

[KANNURAN]

Thank God you have come out of the incident unscathed.

But, like a few others have remarked, the TITLE of the thread is grossly misleading, in probably condoning a 2 Star NCAP and implying that it is perfectly alright to buy a low NCAP score vehicle.

You braked from 80-90Kph and then steered aggressively, at what would have probably been 50-60Kph. (without factoring other contributing causes like tire inflation, tarmac condition and concurrent braking+cornering). Would it not be logical to opine that the design and engineering of the car itself is sub-par, in having turned over at such a low speed? Would it have passed the "Elk Test"?
A twin rollover at a higher speed would have resulted in far worse consequences for the car as well as for you. Since the proof is in the pudding, the first point may be largely valid

An insane amount of effort goes into the design, engineering, materials and manufacturing*of a car, for each NCAP point it adds. Conversely, a manufacturer*can save significantly in manufacturing cost, for each NCAP point lowered.*

Your having survived the crash may have little to do with the protection accorded by the 0-2 Star NCAP of the I-10. Consider it providential and shift to a safer car at the soonest. (you are a brave man to continue using the car after patching up such severe A pillar damage)

And as a final note, given the "fidelity" of media-mechanics in this age and time,* do I sniff a remote but distinct note of a PR department at work?

[gk.pavan]

Glad you survived and it was luck.

The NCAP crash test itself is conducted at 50 KMPH. We all easily hit 90-100 KMPH on our highways. I'm sure there are many other sophisticated parameters that goes into rating the car. However a car surviving a crash test at 50 KMPH and getting a 4 or 5 star rating does not extrapolate to same guarantee at 100 KMPH. Still a huge slice of luck is needed even with 4 stars. Extreme luck is needed to survive a crash in an unrated care.

You were extremely lucky, sir!

[k_kumar]

Glad to learn that BHPian BhaskarG came out unhurt and the car held well during the collision and subsequent rollovers. Perhaps this thread is an excellent candidate to be classified under "Seat Belts Saved My Life" forum since under the circumstances of this accident even a 5-star rated car would not have been able to prevent injuries to an unbuckled person. I would expect all cars presently sold in India to offer at least this much protection (definitely more thanks to airbags) to its occupants. The results of recent GNCAP tests are encouraging as the passenger compartment seems to remain intact even in zero-star rated cars. Not all cars are created equal but there should be a reasonably safe car for every budget.

[Bhargav7]

Glad that everything ended well.

I believe that safety and NCAP ratings go beyond the crash worthiness of the car. For instance, if the car was equipped with ABS and ESC (and probably even roll over mitigation) I guess this incident could have been avoided altogether. We can take BhaskarG's incident as one reason to go for cars with proven safety record and better NCAP ratings.

I do not know the complete circumstances of this accident. Probably with a much safer car, we may end up in the exact same rollover scenario. We never know. But I like to believe that our luck generally goes up in a safer car.

[rpm]

Happy to learn that the OP came out unscathed. It would've been quite an ordeal had the OP hit the two wheeler without a dashcam to prove their innocence.

Originally Posted by k_kumar

........ The results of recent GNCAP tests are encouraging as the passenger compartment seems to remain intact even in zero-star rated cars. Not all cars are created equal but there should be a reasonably safe car for every budget.

I'm afraid that the body shell integrity unstable remark implies a compromised passenger compartment. 1 point penalty/deduction is applied to the score of the chest region in such a case.

[eyeman]

Dear BhaskarG, very happy to know that you have survived such a crash without any injuries. You are right, the seatbelt did save you during the roll over. But please note that in case of a collision by another vehicle, it might have been a different story in that car. Luck also played a MAJOR role for you. If you are very attached to that vehicle and are planning to hold on to it, PLEASE make sure that you use it only for city drives. A car that has been repaired such is definitely not going to hold up like that again in the event of a high speed incident. Take care and cheers.

[Emvi]

Pleased to know that you came out unscathed.

Now coming to the discussion, as already mentioned by a few, the title of the thread seems little inappropriate, but may not be entirely wrong per se. Top rated cars are any day better than the cars with poor safety ratings or even the unrated cars. Cars are rated 5 stars (or 0 star) not without reasons which cannot be argued otherwise. Having said this, I also believe that the poorly rated cars are not as bad as they are generally perceived to be. We have seen, heard and read stories of people getting badly hurt or even worse in top rated cars as well. Talking about this very incident, had this been a 5 star rated car, everyone would have credited the car for OP's well-being. Top safety ratings are no doubt important, but there are other factors which are as important if not more. A lot depends on the driving "style", speed at which a car is driven, speed of the other vehicle in case of a collision between two vehicles, point of impact, road condition, wearing seatbelts, number of occupants in a car and of course luck (good or bad). In not so recent past, we have all read about a horrific accident in Delhi involving a BMW 7-series. Since it was an accident involving a 5 star rated car, the entire blame was shifted on the driver and the speed at which it was probably driven. BhaskarG's incident is one such classic example which emphasizes the fact an "unsafe" car is not all that "unsafe" as it is deemed by many.