[Emvi]

Originally Posted by Kalash_6324

Finally, about the adjectives used, I have a strong reservation against mincing words. If it makes somebody uncomfortable and forces them to stop for a moment and think about their next purchase and in turn saves their life, purpose fulfilled.

So, did you describe your Ciaz using the same adjective to the person who bought your car? I am curious to know the thought process behind your decision to sell the car, when you clearly knew that the car was totally unsafe for you and it would be no different for the buyer as well.

[Kalash_6324]

Originally Posted by Emvi

So, did you describe your Ciaz using the same adjective to the person who bought your car? I am curious to know the thought process behind your decision to sell the car, when you clearly knew that the car was totally unsafe for you and it would be no different for the buyer as well.

Oh definitely, when asked about the reason I'm selling the car, I simply detailed how I'd come accross multiple instances that point toward a lack of safety and how I did not want to risk my family's lives.
An immediate family member was lucky enough to survive a roll over crash in a fashion similar to OP, which was the breaking point for us.
We decided it was time to move on from MS products and all our purchases since then have had better safety track records.

[Emvi]

Originally Posted by Kalash_6324

Oh definitely, when asked about the reason I'm selling the car, I simply detailed how I'd come accross multiple instances that point toward a lack of safety and how I did not want to risk my family's lives.

It's good you told him. The buyer must be a very very brave man, considering he went ahead with the purchase even after listening to your words.

We decided it was time to move on from MS products and all our purchases since then have had better safety track records.

So, you don't own a Maruti product now? One of your initial posts suggested otherwise.

[Shanky_1002]

Glad to know that you made it alright through what seems like a horrendous crash! This brings back to memory a similar experience I had in 2017. I had a '03 Toyota Corolla and was returning from Lucknow towards Kanpur, it's a 4-lane highway with good roads, it had a wide median with bushes in the middle. Traffic was sparse and I was cruising at 80-90 with my Uncle in the passenger seat and younger sister in the back, all buckled up. It was dusk and we were generally chatting, suddenly a 6-7 year old boy emerges from the bushes running across the road stark naked (seemed like a scene from Apocalypto, it seems funny now but it was heart in mouth moment back then). I slammed on the brakes and swerved left and then right, car lost control and went over the median taking few bushes down on the opposite side of the road. I saw a truck coming in my direction, I honked hard and flipped my lights as many times I could, thankfully the truck driver possibly saw my car crossing over and was able to slow in time, while my car slowly crippled towards the road side to safety. Everything happened within a few seconds, all this while the boy was nowhere to be seen like a ghost. We thanked our stars for making us through the ordeal without a scratch to anyone. That's when I realized how sturdy Toyota was, coming to the damage, it had a cracked rim front right side, a broken fog light and missing bumper clip, missing T badge on the grill, missing side mirror cover and the alignment gone kaput making the car not drive worthy. We got a puncher guy right next to where we stopped he changed the spare tire and we drove it to a nearby HP fuel bunk where we parked the car and took a bus back home. Couple of days later we sent the driver who got the alignment fixed at a nearby FNG, couple of spares changed/ repaired and car was as good as new, total damage was 5-6k including the cost of a spare steel wheel.
Lesson learnt: idiots are everywhere, be extremely watchful when the median has bushes or intersections or broken pathways. Bushes can hide anything from stray animals, to bikers, to jay walkers running to cross the highway like it's Total Wipeout game show. Drive more sedately. This self experienced sturdiness and reliability from Toyota made me buy another Corolla Altis in 2019 sadly I had to let it go due to the lockdown.

[Apex1815]

Thanks a lot for sharing this experience. Glad to know that you are safe and back to your normal life.

Indian Roads (especially highways) are more prone to accidents due to careless driving manners of the majority of people. Few things which I sincerely follow while driving :

- Never exceed 80 to 90 Km/hr on Highways no matter how powerful/safe car you have or how much expert you are. There are many factors which are not in driver's control (Eg The Stopping distance of the car).

-Always give indication (1 sec Honk) to the vehicle ahead while overtaking even on the lane systems, just to make the vehicle ahead aware of you.
(You never know when the vehicle ahead in the adjacent lane suddenly come into your way, while you are overtaing).

- Whenever there is sign board of median/school etc, slow down the speed.

- If you observe any body coming in the wrong side slow down until he passes.

[Fordlover88]

Glad that you are safe and escaped unhurt.However i don't quite agree with the heading of this thread. If 2 star NCAP is enough to save people then why should we go for 4 or 5 stars? The nature of the accident plays a huge roll on it's outcome.

I did have an accident quite similar as yours & your thread reminded it to me. I was doing decent speed in prefacelift ford figo in a single lane highway. In one such village crossing i noticed a man with cycle waiting to cross & i was pretty sure he noticed me coming as well. Just when i was about to cross the place that guy for reasons unknown came and stood in the middle of the road. I didn't have much time or distance to react and i slammed the brakes as hard i can and maneuvered the steering away from him. The memories of next few seconds were vague & ultimately i heard a huge crash sound. I removed my seat belt & walked out of the car trying to get a grasp of what just happened.I saw local people running to me offering their help & at the same time saw the cycle guy running away from the spot. The locals said that my car had rotated 360 degrees and left part of the engine compartment hit a tree with huge trunk. My version of figo was not equipped with ABS or Airbags. ABS might have got me out of this situation. I was absolutely alright keeping aside minor first aid cases. Seeing my condition i thought that it might be a minor accident and my figo should have minor damages. But i was shocked seeing it's condition. The engine compartment was almost crippled but the cabin was relatively unhurt. I couldn't believe that i could just literally remove my seat belt and walk from this car. Such was the build quality of figo. The incident happened 6 years back & i am still grateful to figo for saving my life. After this i had to let go of my figo(declared it as a total loss) & bought an Ecosport considering it's build quality above others.

Like i said earlier 2 star NCAP saving a life is nothing to be proud of. It was your day & you managed to come out unhurt. No amount of NCAP will save us if we ourselves are not capable of judging our limitations. But it's true that safe vehicles do limit the damages. I shudder to think about my condition had i been in a maruti(no offence to maruti owners) instead of Ford. Safety should be of utmost priority while buying a vehicle.

[PrideRed]

Since this is turning out to be NCAP discussion, my 2 cents.
1.Barring handful of cars, majority of cars manufactured and sold in India are not crash tested. We cannot simply go by Manufacturer credentials, after all no one is here to make charity.
2. Some of the Maruthi cars have received decent 3 star safety rating(Ignis,Baleno,Ciaz,Ertga etc.) So may be we can call these steel cans(if not iron slabs) instead of tin cans?
3. If I bought a car before crash tests were conducted and after 2 years of ownership, if the car receives 2 star crash ratings, will I sell? Well If I have money, I will buy one, if not will stick to what I have. Sell your car and get a better safety rated car is easy said than done.

[Neversaygbye]

Just by looking at the repair pics, I am amazed that the Hyundai ASS could repair it back to mint condition, albeit externally. However, based on the description of the crash and the pics, I am pretty sure that structurally the car was compromised. While I am glad that the OP came out unscathed from the crash and also eventually changed the car, I am still a bit worried for whoever bought the car thereafter, since they are basically driving a structurally compromised vehicle. However, apart from the emotional bit, I suppose writing off the car and buying a new car to replace it would have cost quite a bit more (even with the insurance payout), so as the repair option was there, the OP took it.

In our country no one follows any rules, including stray animals, and you really don't know what will come and hit you on a highway when you least expect it. I have hit a dog at 100 kmph - it suddenly decided to jump in front. Had to replace the bumper and one fog light but I got off easy - it could have been much worse. Hence I have become a bit circumspect in my driving in the last few years. Nowadays I hardly exceed 100 even on empty roads as multiple close shaves have taught me to stick to more controllable speeds. Ten years back I would happily do 120-140 if I saw an empty stretch but I don't do that any more. A safety rating is given for a car driven at 64 kmph which satisfies certain specific frontal and offset crash criteria - real life doesn't really work like that. Indian roads have become increasingly lawless in the last 10 years and our driving needs to take that into account.

[GTO]

This topic has been extensively discussed. Time to close it. Thank you.