[TrackDay]

I am glad that you came out of this incident safely

However what scares me is that cars which have been in such accidents are rebuilt back to showrooms conditions (appearance wise). This can be dangerous especially in the second hand markets for buyers who are not well versed with such cars. Not everyone goes through insurance history or such. Cars which are involved in such crashes should be written off since they are no longer road worthy.

[SoumenD]

Glad to know you came out safe.

Just a small correction: Magna variant isn’t the 2 star one. No airbags and abs == 0 star. I agree with others the title should be changed. It somehow gives an impression of glorifying the 2 star rating which am sure you didn’t mean & shouldn’t be the case on team-bhp at least.

[rageshgr]

Nice title. Glad that nothing happened to you. Even I survived a collision with a lorry in my Santro (no airbags no abs). That is not to say a safer car could have helped me fare much better. Coz I suffered some life changing physical repucursions which I am still living with even after 10 years. So the title of the thread should not be construed as an encouragement to buy cars with low safety. One should always try to buy the safest car possible. Read the detailed reports of the i10 GNCAP bedore assuming. Between a safety equipment and a touchscreen , safety should take precedence.
*Mods* can you please change the almost misleading title

[Carpainter]

First of all I'm glad to know that both you and the scooter rider are safe and sound post the incident.

I have nothing much to add to this thread as everything has been discussed in details. Still as per my opinion, NCAP ratings are applicable for head on collisions. You had a rollover which is more deadly and you're lucky to survive but crash test rating have very little to do with it. In case of a rollover, the impact and results will probably be same for a 0 star and 5 star rated car.

Also, it's good to know that you've moved on to a new car but as some already said, in serious accidents like these, it's better to scrap and claim total loss than to go the distance and repair the entire car only to have a structurally weakened vehicle probably with lots of niggles and rattles here and there.

[Lalvaz]

Bhaskar - Thank you for sharing your experiences. So happy that you made it without any injury to yourself or anyone else. Your experience teaches us many important lessons, namely:
1) Wearing your seatbelt: This more than anything saved the day for you.
2) Good focus on the road when we're driving. Your awareness about the scooterist prior to his sudden maneuver shows you were attentive and aware of your surroundings. This plays a very important part in our reflex actions, and led to him getting away without any injury.
3) Importance of an insurance agent. This trend of buying online to save some money on the policy is all good and dandy, until we really need help, and then its too late. Your agent really came through for you when the odds were stacked against you. I'm one of those who bought my insurance policy online, but after this, will change to a regular agent when its renewal comes up.
4) Slowing down: We all love driving, especially on the highway, and I'm as guilty as anyone to have sped up just for the thrill of doing so, BUT, we lose sight of the fact that there are many morons on our roads, many obstacles on the roads, and hence we should slow down and drive a lil more cautiously. Ultimately, the onus of stopping on time is ours, and hence we (me included) need to be more cautious and drive at safe speeds wherein we can come to a safe halt if we need to.

Won't get into this debate about safe cars and NCAP. I think enough has been said about that. I'm happy that people are more aware of crash worthiness. Just hope that that increased awareness translates to better road discipline, and more courteous motorists on Indian roads. Good luck with your new ride.

[itsbaman]

Thanks for sharing. My vehicle was involved in a similar sort of accident at the beginning of this year where it was on the boundary of total loss as the repair estimate was 72.5% (5 lacs) of the IDV. No harm came to me or the co-passenger but the car was fully damaged from outside. I insisted on repairs, for my love for the car. Fortunately, the decision came in my favor and I got my car fully repaired and currently, the car is doing fine in its second life. I will share that story someday on this forum.

[SN88]

No matter how annoying it is, honking more than actually needed is actually better. I remember after I came back from the middle east where honking is equivalent to abusing I struggled on the roads as I refused to honk unless absolutely necessary. I swear I had a few close shaves assuming people know what they are doing, but in all honesty pedestrians, bikers, cyclists, stray animals and of course other drivers rely on the other person to adjust. Its crazy and you realise it so often if you have lived abroad and have settled back. Phew

[rpm]

Originally Posted by Carpainter

......... Still as per my opinion, NCAP ratings are applicable for head on collisions. You had a rollover which is more deadly and you're lucky to survive but crash test rating have very little to do with it.

GNCAP ratings are applicable for head on collisions, yes, but there is at least one crash test organisation which actually evaluates the roll over scenario— IIHS and its roof strength test.

In case of a rollover, the impact and results will probably be same for a 0 star and 5 star rated car.

I'm not sure of the probability of this conclusion. Better reinforced (UHSS or composite) A and B pillars (especially the junction of B pillar and roof rail) are more likely to provide better roll over protection than the competing 0 star products. To what extent, I do not know; I'm no structural/materials engineer. I would love to hear the views of BHPians well versed in this field though (would love Nanolover's insights, if they're seeing this).

I'm assuming that 5 star GNCAP rated vehicles at least have the A pillar and B pillar sufficiently reinforced to ace the frontal offset and side impact test. Whether the junction of the pillar and roof rails are reinforced sufficiently is something I do not know.

From RSR's thread on Hyundai cars, it would appear that the Verna, Elantra, Tuscon and Kona have the required parts of the structure reinforced with UHSS, which makes them more likely to handle a roll over better than just HSS reinforced cars from the same stable. But then again, this is just speculation on my part, based on my limited understanding of how crash tests work.

[Kalash_6324]

Originally Posted by RMN

A good NCAP rating gives you a better chance to survive.

Precisely, the same way being cautious, concentrated and aware while driving is necessary to minimise risk, a good NCAP rating covers an area which is beyond our control in that particular moment.
Also, not to spark any other argument, but there are a ton of tin cans (read: Maruti Suzuki) rolling around on roads that are best avoided, but hey, ours is a price sensitive economy.

It's good to hear that OP made it out unscathed.
This should serve as a learning experience for the rest of us.

[Emvi]

Originally Posted by Kalash_6324

Also, not to spark any other argument, but there are a ton of tin cans (read: Maruti Suzuki) rolling around on roads that are best avoided, but hey, ours is a price sensitive economy.

Going off-topic for a moment, care to elaborate your views? There are probably thousands of Maruti owners in this very forum(including me) and easily few millions outside.

PS: One of my other cars happens to be a pristinely maintained 1968 Jeep, which is built like a tank.

[Kalash_6324]

Originally Posted by Emvi

Going off-topic for a moment, care to elaborate your views? There are probably thousands of Maruti owners in this very forum(including me) and easily few millions outside.

You're a Maruti owner, just like I am, so I'm sure you understand based on first hand experience that the build quality of MS products since the "Heartect" platform was introduced has been extremely poor.
I've owned multiple products from the MS stable starting with the 1,000 (predecessor to Esteem) all the way to my Ciaz I just sold last year upon realising it's a death bed on wheels, specially if the majority of it's run is on highways.
Lower kerb weights and the resulting higher fuel economies have been prioritised the most, since like I said, ours is a price sensitive economy and people have to stretch every penny they have, which is understandable.
None of my comments shouldn't be taken as an offence, since they're not directed towards owners, rather towards MS.
The company has long exploited the lack of knowledge in consumers and lax government regulations.
On the surface they've made brilliant VFM products, that deliver what the market needs, but behind the scenes, you, MS and I very well know how safe their products are.
What the company is doing is the same as another company selling beauty products with toxic chemical contents that harm users in the long run.

P.s. if they could do it with the Vitara Brezza (the only MS product I currently own, & ENJOY) what was stopping them from doing it with the Ciaz or the Baleno?
Hope this is elaborate enough.

[BhayanaV]

NCAP rating/build quality is just one of the many factors which matters in case of an accident, there are lot more factors which determine the outcome of an accident. However, that doesn't mean safety ratings don't matter, they should be one of the most important factor while buying a car.

[Emvi]

Originally Posted by Kalash_6324

I've owned multiple products from the MS stable starting with the 1,000 (predecessor to Esteem) all the way to my Ciaz I just sold last year upon realising it's a death bed on wheels, specially if the majority of it's run is on highways.

Hope this is elaborate enough.

Appreciated. But at the same time I have strong reservations on the adjectives used (highlighted in bold). Make no mistake, I am not just singling you out in this regard, generally speaking.

Definitely there are cars with far superior build quality in comparison with Maruti cars. The build quality of most cars(not just Maruti) is just about par in the sub 5-lakh rupee segment. I am not denying it whatsoever, infact no one can deny it. But, owning a particular brand of car is a matter of personal choice like many other things in life. No? Even though TEAMBHP is largely a forum related to automobiles, we have plethora of discussions which are not related to automobiles. In such a case, today we are attaching demeaning adjectives to a particular brand(s) of cars, I won't be surprised, tomorrow if we start judging other things in a similar way. We might end up calling a person's tiled roof house "a cattle shed", his/her "unsafe" locality "a ghetto", an industrial estate/workshop in a suburb "a scrapyard", so on and so forth. Let's not be that intolerant towards others. If we don't like a particular brand or car, we can always not buy it or not recommend it anyone. No one is coerced to buy a particular car or for that matter anything. If someone is not comfortable/happy using a particular car, he/she can sell it off just like you did. And those who are buying such cars, definitely are not committing crime as along they are abiding traffic rules, which of course is common to all.

Apologies for the longish off-topic post.
Thank you.

[spannerhyd]

Mod note: Please club your loose individual sentences into tightly composed paragraphs. As an example, this leads to a poor reading experience for other BHPians.


Glad that BhaskarG came out unscathed despite the extensive damage. This post immediately flashed an exact similar one that I waded through few years back (2013-14 I guess). It was on the NAM express way (Hyderbad to Tirupati) and on the way back to Hyderabad with my family with 5 occupants (4 adults and one child) in my Maruti Ritz which I had bought then anew. Somewhere mid way, on the broad 4 laned way, I was banked to the extreme right cruizing at about 90 Kmph. On the extreme left, there was a three wheeler ferrying people and a two wheeler enthusiast trying to overtake that.

All the while I was watching those guys and all of a sudden that three wheeler hit the bike not sure how and the rider after taking a fall rolled the entire width of the road and was in front of my car. Only thoughts in my mind were to not hit him and also about my family. The car had ABS, so I just hold on to the steering tightly and just braked hard. The car stopped in a straight line in few meteres but the motorist was not in sight. I almost concluded that I must have crushed him. When I got down I found him lying on the road, with his head just 3 inches away from my front bumper.
I came back to my-self and after thanking all the gods, found that the motorist was conscious and was communicating and the crowd surrounded my car. After the regular crowd chatter, they concluded that he was hit by the three wheeler, who was already on the run.

Without looking for the three wheeler, I made sure that some help was called out for and called up the guys relatives from his mobile phone and left the spot. Everyone in the car took the braking jolt, but were glad that everything ended well. The rest of the journey was in silence. On that day, I was glad about my decision to buy a car with ABS and Airbags. The Star rating didnt bother that much and I only looked for something that gave the maximum safetly. Now I drive a Swift Dzire Zdi (AMT) (old model).

But lessons learnt -

1. Maximum attention to the road. Irrespective of the width of the road and the number of lanes, projectiles can come in from any direction.
2. Maintain safe speed limits so that we can be realistic with expectations of the braking distances
3. Honk (as advised by many)
4. Drive safely with regular breaks so that distractions due to tiredness are minimal
5. Always safety first when buying a car. All the cars that I bought after that point have a minimum of ABS / Air bags as standard.

[Kalash_6324]

Mod note: Mod note: Please club your loose individual sentences into tightly composed paragraphs. As an example, this leads to a poor reading experience for other BHPians.

Originally Posted by Emvi

No one is coerced to buy a particular car or for that matter anything. If someone is not comfortable/happy using a particular car, he/she can sell it off just like you did. And those who are buying such cars, definitely are not committing crime as along they are abiding traffic rules, which of course is common to all.

I've already clarified it once, but will do it again, the criticism on this forum is being thrown at Maruti Suzuki, not at individuals who own or enjoy their products. As responsible and educated individuals, we need to set our emotions aside to understand that criticism is a part of a free economy. Also, the entire purpose of this forum is to provide a strong platform to it's members in moments of need where an individual would simply be railroaded by organisations that do not respect their own customers. I laud MS for building the most fuel efficient cars in the country, products that are great value for money, but I DEMAND better and safer products. Again, this is not a slight against anybody who has an MS product, not even against the company.

We NEED TO STOP IDENTIFYING OURSELVES WITH THE PRODUCTS WE BUY. You have the right to spend your hard earned money on what you choose just the way I do, but by objecting or taking offence to somebody's opinion about a product, we're losing sight of the bigger goal, which is progress and innovation being pushed by criticism.

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.