[svsantosh]

Originally Posted by ph03n!x

About the airbag logic - I'm baffled even more with what you've said. Maybe someone from the industry can help understand why airbags are fired even when there are no one in those seats - seems to be adding repair costs unnecessarily.

Few Hyundai cars have a physical on/off switch in the dash for the passenger airbag. I would assume more brands/car makers would offer this feature too. Benefit being reduced repair costs for the owner in case of accident. Down side is if you forget to turn on the airbag when a passenger is seated it can be fatal.

Hope this helps.

[Secretariat]

Just reading your post has made me shiver and shake and it took me a while just to write this post. A huge shout out to you for writing this, despite the trauma of reliving the incident. We all owe you a great big thank you ; this post must be made required reading for all BHPians and every sensible driver MUST get a dashcam installed, if he or she has not already done so. Can we also send you a big dose of encouragement and good wishes.

I have both a front and rear dash cam installed , fearing precisely this sort of danger, but hadn't thought about speed and GPS recording. My Dashcam doesn't have this functionality and maybe I should upgrade.

[ALTIMAed]

After going through this thread, I immediately went for a Qubo Smart Dashcam PRO GPS, which I installed yesterday. The unruly traffic conditions in the route I drive, anything, just anything can happen for no fault of me. Dashcam footage shall be helpful to prove my innocence. Thank you for getting the fear of God in me to get a dashcam asap.

[ph03n!x]

Wholehearted thanks to everyone for your support! If you're getting a dashcam or getting a family or friend to install one, the the pain in writing this was worth it.

Originally Posted by true_sedan

....

The biggest enemy of dashcam:
The auto start stop system. Deactivate this useless feature as soon as you get into a car. In some instances the last video will not be saved to memory card if the car is shutdown abruptly. This happened in my XUV700.

Originally Posted by amavin

On the other end of the spectrum, its the VAG group's hare-brained design of their primary cigarette lighters being powered on all the time (even without ignition, even when the car is parked).
...

I have recommended hardwired dashcams, and have installed them personally in a bunch of my friends' cars - they are simple to install, and do not affect warranty as they do not touch any factory wiring - the dashcams/ hardwire kits I chose piggyback on couple of fuses, and are completely reversible of required.

Originally Posted by Guna

...
Did you try switching off the headlights when you realised that the vehicle was heading right at you? Sometimes the glare of the headlights blinds and putting them off helps the other driver.

I didn't. But my headlights are definitely not blinding - I was in low beam for almost all but the last couple of seconds, and my low beam is adjusted to focus completely on the road and set to the 2nd level on the dipper adjustment. I'm also running 55W halogens - so I doubt there were any glare from my headlights until I panicked and started flashing/ switch to high beams about 3 seconds before the impact.

Originally Posted by yashg

...
I have in the past used a VIOFO dashcam with a separate GPS attachment. It required a special video viewer to view the video with GPS information. Do present day dashcams with GPS record it on the screen itself? The speed and location info?

Most new dashcams with GPS record the speed and the GPS coordinates in the video, but will need a separate app if you want to see the route of travel in a map.

Originally Posted by svsantosh

Few Hyundai cars have a physical on/off switch in the dash for the passenger airbag. I would assume more brands/car makers would offer this feature too. Benefit being reduced repair costs for the owner in case of accident. Down side is if you forget to turn on the airbag when a passenger is seated it can be fatal.

Hope this helps.

Yeah, the Thar too has this as a setting in the MID - but I do not turn it off precisely for the reason you mention. The cost of the repair is not worth the risk of having the airbag off when someone sitting there needs it.

And I feel it's hare-brained for airbags to be triggered where there is no one sitting in a seat that has liad/ weight sensors and the seat belt in unbuckled.

Unrelated - airbags firing when someone is not buckled into the seat could potentially cause grevious injuries or even kill the occupant. That itself should be reason enough to not trigger the airbag!

[yashg]

After reading this thread, I upgraded my dashcam. Got Viofo A119 Mini 2 because of Starvis 2 sensor and GPS. Moved my existing DDPai Mini to the rear. And also built a free dashcam viewer app to view the video with GPS info. Thanks once again for sharing your experience. I have forwarded this thread to all car owners in my circle and asked them to get a dashcam pronto.