[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by taj

The Malayalam daily also says that the car lost its control while descending the hill and hit the barricade (concrete poles) and flipped - The "S class" Lost Control. A car with adaptive breaking system, and Attention assist system which continuously monitors driver behaviour lost control. One would need extra ordinary talent to crash one of these.

The driver lost his control.

I can assure you that it takes no talent whatsoever to crash any car.

(I've done it. Granted, in cheaper cars, although one was a Mercedes A Class. I'm sure I could manage an S class if my stupidity levels were high enough that day. Not to mention the 50% chance of the accident being someone else's fault.)

[fre2bpowerless]

Wonder why the Merc was not set to 'Transport mode' which limits the top speed to 60 or 80, especially since it was a dealer car.

Another popular way to flip, getting too close to a tall divider causes your wheel to climb it. I've personally experienced this..

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by taj

: A car with adaptive breaking system, and Attention assist system which continuously monitors driver behaviour lost control . One would need extra ordinary talent to crash one of these.

These need to be switched on. the chances are that the driver might not understand all the controls. Remember being woken up at 5 am to go to my Mum's house to adjust the electric seat for the driver who had come to pick up a Skoda Laura

[rajeshchand]

Originally Posted by smartcat

I've seen way too many SUVs turning turtle. Did not expect a Range Rover to lie on its roof after a crash with a divider - those ESCs and UFOs are supposed to prevent this from happening right?.

Now had this been a Rs. 80 Lac sedan, would it have flipped over under the same conditions?

Centre of Gravity controls everything once the wheels are off the ground, there is nothing much that the electronic controls or anything else in the vehicle can do, there are certain things that the nature controls and those controls are still with nature, technology can only help in assisting the predictions of those behavior and help you in deciding the best course of action, of course a sedan would not have flipped over this quick.

[diffsoft]

Originally Posted by ajmat

These need to be switched on. the chances are that the driver might not understand all the controls. Remember being woken up at 5 am to go to my Mum's house to adjust the electric seat for the driver who had come to pick up a Skoda Laura

(With no offence to the driver). I think there should be a simulation test that one would need to clear before laying hands on a gizmo filled car or the car should reject the driver!

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by rajeshchand

Centre of Gravity controls everything once the wheels are off the ground, there is nothing much that the electronic controls or anything else in the vehicle can do...

Exactly. The cost of the car can't change the laws of physics, although It might make a difference to the fate of the occupants.

Our thin steel boxes give us an illusion of safety. Even at the lower end of the market I "feel" safer in my VW Polo than I did in my Swift. Yes, the build quality is better, but how much does this really justify the feeling, and how much is illusion? The further upmarket one gets, the more the illusion: not only because of the image of the car, but also because of the comfort, the smoothness, the quietness, all insulating us from road reality.

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Exactly. The cost of the car can't change the laws of physics, although It might make a difference to the fate of the occupants.

Our thin steel boxes give us an illusion of safety. Even at the lower end of the market I "feel" safer in my VW Polo than I did in my Swift. Yes, the build quality is better, but how much does this really justify the feeling, and how much is illusion? The further upmarket one gets, the more the illusion: not only because of the image of the car, but also because of the comfort, the smoothness, the quietness, all insulating us from road reality.

IMHO, it’s a mix of reality and illusion. The build quality you mentioned may help in a few scenarios. Last week (near my office) I saw a Golf rear-ended by a Civic. The Golf was there with no visible damage, rear bumper looked intact, whereas the Civic’s frontend was totally trashed. That’s the reality part.

But in high speed accidents, especially with those massive trucks, or in cases where driver decide to take rest while driving, the illusion of being safe in an expensive car is not going to help. We have many examples in this thread itself.

For me, it’s like this – a good/safe driver in a cheap car has more chances to reach his/her destination safely than a bad/rash/inattentive driver in a safe/expensive car.

[Thad E Ginathom]

The Golf was there with no visible damage, rear bumper looked intact, whereas the Civic’s frontend was totally trashed. That’s the reality part.

I don't know, but aren't front ends designed to crumple more than rear ends are?

Anyway,

For me, it’s like this – a good/safe driver in a cheap car has more chances to reach his/her destination safely than a bad/rash/inattentive driver in a safe/expensive car.

That's it, in a nutshell. Nothing more need be said

[ashwin.terminat]

A black Porsche 911/Carrera (Forgive my nomenclature ) crashed on the Richmond Road flyover in Bangalore a few nights ago, apparently, he drove the median too.

[Parthasarathig]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

I don't know, but aren't front ends designed to crumple more than rear ends are?

Anyway,
That's it, in a nutshell. Nothing more need be said

Yes, the rear is built more rigid. Btw safety tests are always designed with frontal collisions in mind atleast all the crash test videos show that only.

And so many times we've heard the NVH of such and such car is so good that 100kmph feels like 60kmph. This also gives a false sense of safety to the occupants,i guess, thereby making them increase their speeds. The occupants fail to realise that just like every car, their car at a higher speed collision will also behave in a similar fashion and they have every chance of risk to life.

More often than not, driving any car seems to overwhelm the chaffeur and not the owner. The chaffeur feels like he is king of the road and end up in accidents. These drivers tend to drive rashly when the owners are absent in the vehicles.

Ive seen a Bmw 5series being driven very sedately when the owner was being dropped in the office and then being driven very rashly on the way back in the absence of the owner. It was the same car and same chaffeur. It can also be seen on Airport road when empty exotics belonging to hotels are being driven to pickup passengers from airport. However with the passengers they are more sedately driven.

Also regarding the driver attention assist and other features, i guess the chaffeurs need to be educated about each system. To him the beeping and coffee cup symbol by attention assist may not mean anything. And many of the drivers on the roads arent even aware how ABS systems work thereby in panic braking situations they end up injuring themselves when they couldve easily avoided the situation with electronic assistance.

Do the dealers when delivering the vehicles explain all the features to the chaffeur? They explain to the owner but the chaffeur?

[DudeWithaFiat]

Originally Posted by darklord

Bit more on the S-Class crash:

1. Car strikes a concrete post by the road.
2. Being ferried to Ernakulam showroom from Calicut showroom.
3. Driven by dealership driver.
4. Drives escapes "without a scratch."

Source, one more picture:
Details

Edit:
Better yet,
The Hindu : NATIONAL / KERALA : Car overturns, catches fire near Edappal

Was discussing about this incident at the office and a question came up. If the car is not owned by an individual yet, hows the insurance handled? Are showroom cars covered by insurance when they are outside the showroom?

[Thad E Ginathom]

In terms of risk, it is either covered by manufacturer/distributor/dealer's insurance, or one of them is risking taking a big hit in financial sense of the word!

In terms of legality, it must be covered, at least for third-party risk, or it would be illegal to take any of those cars in the street.

My guess (which may or may not, to be honest I don't remember, be informed by once having worked in insurance) is that there is a special Motor dealers' policy which covers stock, stock in transit, stock being demonstrated, third-party risks, etc etc. In other words, the dealer will have one policy which includes all the insurable risks of its business.

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by ashwin.terminat

A black Porsche 911/Carrera (Forgive my nomenclature ) crashed on the Richmond Road flyover in Bangalore a few nights ago, apparently, he drove the median too.

Oh really! It came out in the paper as a Force driven by Hemachandra Sagar's son who was drunk. I was wondering why it was reported that his friends came quicky to recover the car!

[Anand123]

Some more pics of the S-class.

[ashwin.terminat]

Originally Posted by ajmat

Oh really! It came out in the paper as a Force driven by Hemachandra Sagar's son who was drunk. I was wondering why it was reported that his friends came quicky to recover the car!

Yes, was a Porsche indeed. The driver was apparently drunk and then crashed into the median. He escaped unscathed and that speaks volumes about the safety of the car. The car is badly damaged reportedly. Suhaas must be mourning somewhere.

Source(s):

• Claims to be a sportcar: The Hindu : Cities / Bangalore : Karnataka MLA
• Confirmed to be Porsche: MLA’s kin booked for drunk driving - Bangalore - DNA
• Google Search Link: Here