[Tejas@perioimpl]

Originally Posted by spiff

Since the car was stationary and got ramed into us. My head ended up hitting the steering with Seatbelts not locking up. What about passengers in the back ? If there was anyone in the back they would have been fatal and even rear airbags didnt deploy.

Airbags do not deploy if there is no one in the seat. So we wouldn't know if they would should someone have been seated. The question is moot.

Seatbelts not locking up is an issue though.

[theragingbull]

Originally Posted by spiff

Since the car was stationary and got ramed into us. My head ended up hitting the steering with Seatbelts not locking up. What about passengers in the back ? If there was anyone in the back they would have been fatal and even rear airbags didnt deploy.

I think the rear airbags would have deployed if there were rear passengers. I guess there are sensors which can detect the presence. About front airbags not deploying, it's alright because the collision was from the rear. Thank God you escaped unhurt. But if the airbags would have deployed in this case, it would have unnecessarily added to the repair costs!

[avishar]

The rear curtain airbag should have been deployed,because thats the only airbag designed for rear end impacts for passenger safety.Did your car come with rear curtain airbags?

The side and side curtain airbags are triggered by side impacts.The front airbags by offset and front impacts.

For rear impacts the passengers are protected by the pre tensioning of the seatbelts.But then again you should keep in mind that crash testing regulations test cars for rear end crashing only till 60kmph and here you have been hit by a truck at 100kmph.Also i dont think Euro NCAP has a rear end test.

Tell you the truth,you should probably thank your audi stars that you walked away with neglible injury!Even though the rear is totalled there is not even a ripple that has been passed on the entire passenger cell.Fantastic engineering!

I would go an buy an audi again after seeing that!.

[speedy]

Originally Posted by spiff

Here are some pictures of our accident on Pune Expressway. We were waiting for our turn at the toll booth and a drunk truck guy rammed into us from the back at atleast 100kmph.

Car is totalled. Sad news was the airbags didnt deploy and i ended up getting hurt ( nothing major tho ). Called up Audi next day and they told me to refer some pg. xxx in manual stating the point of impact wasnt enough.

Luckily no passengers in the back seat else would have definitely been something unspoken about.

Never buying Audi ever again. ordered a f10 525d as a replacement now.

Firstly glad everyone is ok and nothing major was bodily suffered by you or the passenger.The accident looks bad in the pictures and hope you managed to get the truck driver or the truck details.

Yes if the value exceeds a certain amount it would be termed totalled by the company. The car is then sold on to a dealer by the insurance company and he in turn fixes it and will resell it. So some guy would eventually be driving this car. The impact is not enough to deploy the airbags, please remember the airbags are up front and side airbags for the rear.

If i was you i would be thanking the build quality of Audi for being able to walk out with almost nothing thats serious.

Originally Posted by akshaymahajan

Ouch that must have hurt. These germans need to work on their quality and reliability or a day will come when people will consider a Tata more reliable.
But the impact in the front was not that much right? So if you are rear-ended, do the airbags get deployed?
Also would the insurance guys consider this totaled because of structural damage or will the cost of repair be more than 75% of IDV (I hope not :O)?

Bro use the incident to recreate an image with a tata car and i dont think spiff or his friend would be writing this post, they would have been in hospital, with serious injury. Whats wrong with the quality and how in the name of God does reliability come into question. The car did not break down or give trouble, it simply got rear ended by a truck. It is due to the build quality that the two are ok. The airbags are not present in the rear board, but on the sides. A dead center hit will not trigger them and since no one was there all the more they wont.

Originally Posted by spiff

Since the car was stationary and got ramed into us. My head ended up hitting the steering with Seatbelts not locking up. What about passengers in the back ? If there was anyone in the back they would have been fatal and even rear airbags didnt deploy.

The seat belt tensioner would have tigtend but you would not have realised it. The inertia created by the hit was faster than the reaction time of the seat blet. If there was something wrong you would be in the steering wheel and suffering broken ribs and internal bleeding. A friend lost his life due to this in a Lamborghini.
I agree about the rear passenger part, but you have to understand these are not tanks that can withstand an impact with a truck and that too if it is doing a 100kmph on impact, i doubt even a Rolls or a Bentley would be able to hold their ground. The airbags are on the side pillers in the rear and if there is no one they wont deploy. The sensors on the bottom of the seat give them the feedback. If the accident was a side collision, this would trigger the airbags to activate and not a dead center impact. Its like saying i reverse into a pole and expect the airbags to come on.

[Rehaan]

Spiff,

Glad you and other passengers aren't seriously hurt!

Originally Posted by spiff

Sad news was the airbags didnt deploy and i ended up getting hurt ( nothing major tho ). Called up Audi next day and they told me to refer some pg. xxx in manual stating the point of impact wasnt enough.

Certain conditions need to be met in order for the airbags to deploy. (As Tejas said, read some of the airbag threads on the forum - this has been discussed).

Sometimes airbags can do more damage than good, and thats why specific conditions need to be met during the impact in order for them to be deployed. If an airbag deploys at the wrong time, it could hurt your face or even come close to breaking your neck.

cya
R

[akshaymahajan]

Originally Posted by speedy

Bro use the incident to recreate an image with a tata car and i dont think spiff or his friend would be writing this post, they would have been in hospital, with serious injury. Whats wrong with the quality and how in the name of God does reliability come into question. The car did not break down or give trouble, it simply got rear ended by a truck. It is due to the build quality that the two are ok. The airbags are not present in the rear board, but on the sides. A dead center hit will not trigger them and since no one was there all the more they wont.

You are underestimating the Tata's. Not comparing them to the 5x more expensive Germans, but they can take a lot more than what one would think.
And speedy was just talking about reliability in general. There are so many threads on the Germans failing these days. Plus considering now that the seat belts did not prevent the drivers head from hitting the steering. And quality niggles are also pointed out in another thread.
Sorry for not being specific the first time and now going OT.
But still the question is: The cars IDV has to be a minimum of say 35lakhs. So it will be declared a total loss if repair cost is around 26 lakhs. How can the bill run so high or anywhere close?

[Kartik Krishnan]

Hi Spiff,

Disturbing images those. Pained to see your car like that. those idiotic drivers who maim humans and machines on our streets everyday with their ineptitude.

But, what's done is done. I'm thankful that to the almighty that you'll escaped the carnage. Wishing you a speedy recovery from the scarring.

Stay safe :-)

[samyakmodi]

Does this one qualify here??

No idea how it happened and what happened to the occupants. But looks like drunk driving and over speeding case to me.

[shamik.bose]

That seems to be a terribly nasty crash. Lots of airbags deployed all round. Btw what is that thing that seems to have taken shelter under its bonnet? Looks like some sort of divider.

[funkydevil]

Glad to know your safe spiff. Speedy's right. Airbags wouldn't have popped in a 5 series either. Just goes to show how safe these cars actually are.

[samyakmodi]

a point to ponder

if spiff's a6 didnt deploy any airbags because of rear collision, then how come the q5's curtain airbags deployed without any sideways collision??

and it's confirmed. the driver and occupant of the q5 were pissed drunk, were being chased by cops when they met with the accident. their condition is still unknown.

[Tejas@perioimpl]

Originally Posted by samyakmodi

a point to ponder

if spiff's a6 didnt deploy any airbags because of rear collision, then how come the q5's curtain airbags deployed without any sideways collision??

and it's confirmed. the driver and occupant of the q5 were pissed drunk, were being chased by cops when they met with the accident. their condition is still unknown.

SUV curtain airbags are more sensitive due to the fact that SUVs are more prone to roll overs. Judging by the impact, the vehicle must have been airborne for a bit which could have triggered the airbag deployment. I'm no accident forensic expert, nor do i know exactly how this accident happened; I'm just speculating here.

[akshaymahajan]

Plus I somehow feel that the front-left side took a lot of impact. Dont know if i am wrong but looks like the left side roof is misaligned in the picture. So if the left side is hit, then the curtain airbags need to be deployed.

Wow!! People spend 50 lakhs on a car, 10 grand on drinks for a night but cant stop at a police check and cough up a 5 grand fine or more importantly hire a 1000 rupee cab. But you end up with a totaled German.

[Rehaan]

@samyakmodi - another key difference is that spiffs car was at a standstill when it was hit!

cya
R

[suhaas307]

Good to know that you're safe and out of danger Spiff.

Such things happen for no fault of your own. It's not easy to digest such instances, but it's better to let it go in time. And what gets you even more angry is that you would have done something to avoid it, but you just couldn't.

Don't be discouraged by the air-bags not working, as such. There are several nuances related to air-bags and it's not easy to understand all of them. If they don't deploy, it's for a reason. It's a well known fact that air-bags can turn into potential killers.

The air-bags probably didn't work because the seat-belt hadn't locked. If the air-bag had deployed, it would have socked you unconscious, or probably something even more serious. But instead, you escaped with a few scratches.