[condor]

ramkya1 : The trailer just drove away, the driver was not aware of what happened, HE JUST DROVE 500 MTRS withouot realizing he is pulling a 2 ton car and "Drove Away!!!!". Was he a Zomby, was the trailer on auto-pilot? How can this happen?

While the gross weight of the car was about 1.6 tons, the actual load on the trailer would be far less because the car was still rolling on it's wheels during those 500 meters. The additonal load on the truck would become a rolling load for the truck. This incremental load on the trailer would be hardly pull down that trailer which would have been carrying anywhere between 8 tons to 40 tons. It is hardly surprising that the truck driver did not notice the car being towed.

It's similar to a 80kg adult getting on to a bus - what ever the load in the bus without this person, the behaviour/performance of the bus will hardly change. And definitely not in a noticeable manner.

Another way to explain is to look at a SUV & a trailer. The SUV may weigh about 2.5 tonnes, and can easily pull another 2 tonnes mounted on a trailer/trolley. Like a boat on a boat trolley.

[Rahulkool]

i am sure trailer must be missing the lower guard, which is made mandatory by govt. but 90% trucks don't have that. its a potential hazard to any car.

[beejay]

Most of the materials that go into the making of most cars are fire resistant to a certain extent. Please note, fire resistant and not fire proof. Yet the severity of the crash coupled with no option to extinguish the same would have led to such a sad incident.
OT.I remember an incident in Coimbatore when a 309 GLD caught fire, what started off as a small short engulfed the whole car. The owner was shocked and also not able to douse the initial small flame as he did not have an extinguisher. Water might not help in these cases. I think it is time now to have a handy extinguisher in the car.

[mobike008]

Oh boy, that is pretty scary. Now this just after a few days after witnessing a Santro Xing catching fire on a busy Hyderabad street.

Agree with your Ramkya1, everyone show refrain from showing of their "superior" driving skills. You are just putting your own life at stake. Besides, nobody cares these days unless your in a racing profession.

May all their souls RIP !!!

[arin_12]

This what I try to say many time that Car is Just a machine, it can go wrong any time what ever safest the company claim...
Apart from that our Indian Road is not meant for these High Speed. Your car may be having capacity to do 200KM. but is our road safety is enough ? Recently Becos of one stupid bike 9 person died. So its not that if you are car is good u can avoid all the accident...

[ramkya1]

Originally Posted by condor

While the gross weight of the car was about 1.6 tons, the actual load on the trailer .......................

, and can easily pull another 2 tonnes mounted on a trailer/trolley. Like a boat on a boat trolley.

Condor, that's a great analysis.

The main points I wanted to highlight are:

• A 1.6 tonn car rams you from behind at high speed (one eyewitness said about 200kmph+) gets entangled & gets dragged, the driver would not notice ANYTHING?

Even on a Wagon R, Scorp, if my tyre goes over a small stone, someone touches my fenders with a two wheeler or even with hand, I can FEEL it immediately. I am surprised the trailer driver drove away and did not hit the brakes (no marks on the road) or swerve to the left side of the road and stop fast, not that it would have affected the events at the BMW end.

• Even BMW and BMW like cars which are stufffed to the gills with safety gizmos are not safe on our roads, we don't have the road discipline for high speeds nor the support systems geared for it.

These are greaat cars, I love them too.
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[rajatsingh78]

Too sad....just saw this on NDTV News, and I was very disheartened by the kind of information such a responsible media house has. The news reader said "brand new" however with the rear-light pictures its NOT a new beemer, as far as my information goes its BMW 7 series from 1999s, also read on some portal that the car was exchanged by a customer for a brand new 1.2 crore 7 series and the mechanics took this old one for a drive,

[ramkya1]

Originally Posted by rajatsingh78

Too sad....just saw this on NDTV News, and I was very disheartened by the kind of information such a responsible media house has. The news reader said "brand new" however with the rear-light pictures its NOT a new beemer, as far as my information goes its BMW 7 series from 1999s, also read on some portal that the car was exchanged by a customer for a brand new 1.2 crore 7 series and the mechanics took this old one for a drive,

Phantom, Uncle Scrooge, Mandrake, Spiderman and Responsible Media Persons are all mythical characters

Every person who has a car here is talking about this toady and has different version to it!!!!! It would be some time before the real facts are out, if at all.

One thing most people agreed on seems to be the speed, the car was doing 200 kmph +

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[Parm]

one mechanic on a test drive invites 3 other friends to a RIDE of THE LIFE in a BMW!

no seat belts used, im sure! forget the rear passengers, the front ones also not wearing the seat belts!

going at maximum speed, cheered by 3 friends and couldnt control the car when they saw this trailer making a U turn!

tragic end of the ride!

if its a pre-bangle bmw 7 series then how can it be called a NEW bmw?

lack of driving awareness by the driver, lack of skill to handle a car at high speed, lack of understanding of the road sense, lack of skill on the part of the truck trailer lead to the accident!

i have seen many newly arrived indians who land up in dubai, get fat salaries, buy big cars which they lack skill to handle and end up in accidents due to high speeds and lack of knowledge about handling the car!

RIP to the four guys!

[h@r$h@l]

Originally Posted by ramkya1

Phantom, Uncle Scrooge, Mandrake, Spiderman and Responsible Media Persons are all mythical characters

Every person who has a car here is talking about this toady and has different version to it!!!!! It would be some time before the real facts are out, if at all.

One thing most people agreed on seems to be the speed, the car was doing 200 kmph +

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I got an update from a very reliable source that the car was their with PARSOLI for service and the employees were out on a test spin and all this mess happened. The car was surely not new. 2nd owner car. late 90's model. Car was in a good condition.

[aaggoswami]

1) I read about the same in newspaper today. Dad was shocked too. I was just looking at the single image provided in the newspaper for around 10 mins. I could not believe what had happened.
The article claimed that the car was doing high speed, hit the HCV and burned down to ashed. The article also mentions that the car had mechanics in it. Dont know exactly who were the occupants.

2) About the car being pulled for so much time and no reaction from driver, its possible. These drivers are almost deaf after driving the trucks. I have travelled for 60 kms in one so I know what is the amount of noise that is present in the cabin. Next, they have good amount of torque, so 1.6 ton on rolling pair of wheels ( the rear wheels were not that badly affected as per the image I can see in newspaper so assuming that the front end got entangled and rear wheels were rotating freely ) will not matter much to it. Aren't the normal truck overloaded by more than 2 tons dead weight ?

3) The main point of my post. I wanted to start a thread on technical section, but sense prevailed. The article also mentions that passengers could not get out of the because of the central locking system that did not allow them to open the doors. Dad today asked me the same, how is this possible, isn't there a single lock lever present on all doors such that a specific door can be opened. My question is the same : How come the central locking did not allow the car to open the door ?.
I was watching a phatetic Hindi movie in which they are using Nissan Tedia, kidnap a girl and when the girl tries to open the door, she fails. Hero says Central locking.

Can somebody clarify on this : We are able to open the door of Baleno without any issue after locking the door from inside with the switch provided on the driver's door.

[notjustshrawan]

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

1) I read about the same in newspaper today. Dad was shocked too. I was just looking at the single image provided in the newspaper for around 10 mins. I could not believe what had happened.
The article claimed that the car was doing high speed, hit the HCV and burned down to ashed. The article also mentions that the car had mechanics in it. Dont know exactly who were the occupants.

2) About the car being pulled for so much time and no reaction from driver, its possible. These drivers are almost deaf after driving the trucks. I have travelled for 60 kms in one so I know what is the amount of noise that is present in the cabin. Next, they have good amount of torque, so 1.6 ton on rolling pair of wheels ( the rear wheels were not that badly affected as per the image I can see in newspaper so assuming that the front end got entangled and rear wheels were rotating freely ) will not matter much to it. Aren't the normal truck overloaded by more than 2 tons dead weight ?

3) The main point of my post. I wanted to start a thread on technical section, but sense prevailed. The article also mentions that passengers could not get out of the because of the central locking system that did not allow them to open the doors. Dad today asked me the same, how is this possible, isn't there a single lock lever present on all doors such that a specific door can be opened. My question is the same : How come the central locking did not allow the car to open the door ?.
I was watching a phatetic Hindi movie in which they are using Nissan Tedia, kidnap a girl and when the girl tries to open the door, she fails. Hero says Central locking.

Can somebody clarify on this : We are able to open the door of Baleno without any issue after locking the door from inside with the switch provided on the driver's door.

I think what he means when he says the "central locking system failed" was the door locks got jammed.

Maybe this model has a mechanism that failed, and in the event of a crash, instead of all the locks releasing, the child locks at the rear were switched on? Due the impact, the electricals malfunctioned? This is an old model, which makes it more prone to failures.

The way I see it, the child locks could have been activated due to the impact, and the rear passengers could have been in a state of shock, and their limited judgment and decision making abilities led to their fate. The heat from the burning fire or the way in which the driver's body was positioned could have prevented the survivors from reaching the driver's door locks, which is the master lock.

My thoughts are with the victim's families. Please do not drive fast, it is common sense to drive sensibly and safely.

[Maverick5490]

Knew 3 of the deceased in that car personally. One of them was the Works Manager, and as people stated, they were not on a joy ride. The car in question is an 8-10 yr old L7 - 750Li, owned previously by one of the biggest name in Ahmedabad. Very Very shaken up by the incident.. may their soul rest in peace..

[9thsphinx]

one thing's for sure...BMW's one year sale stint will surely take a hit after this incident.

[pradipk]

just couple of minutes back I saw NDTV news on this. As per that, it was Central Locking which failed and as a result ppl couldn't open any of the doors. In such case, no other way to open doors? I have manual system so not having much idea about the central locking, but AFAIK, maruti & some other cars can be opened mechnically, though auto lock will make noice.
What ever may be the reason, it was really very sad incident.