[comfortablynumb]

Originally Posted by mathranik

Can you, and GTO, please advice me upon how to approach with this case, and would it be too much of a headache pursuing it? What are the appropriate damages that I can claim, having gone through this pain first-hand?Thank you, all.

Please PM forum member "drpullockaran". He had filed and pursued a case in a consumer forum against Tata Motors regarding problems in his Indica. I'm sure he would be a good person to advise you about how to proceed with your approach, what to expect etc.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ml#post2415290

Cheers,
Vikram

[moinakg]

WOW what a scary incident! Glad that all the people inside were safe. I shudder to think of the possible consequences having had experienced close to a similar incident about 3 months back.

My brother in law was driving my new Scorpio Vlx on Mysore road enroute to Ooty with family and children inside. In the middle we halted at a Coffee Day joint for breakfast. After we started again the Scorpio's blinkers started flashing non-stop. We checked all doors, electronic systems etc but to no avail. We called up SKS and the guy suggested to check the security system first, go through lock unlock sequence but nothing would stop the flashing. We spent 30 mins before I pored through the manual and found the entry about the bonnet being open.

True enough the bonnet was loose and the flashing stopped once I fixed it. Since the flashing only started after Coffee Day stop, my brother in law must have accidentally hit the area under the steering column (and the bonnet open lever) with his leg since even the OBD port cover was hanging loose which I discovered later after several days of increasing rattling due to it.

I have to thank the Scorpio's safety sensors for having averted a potentially serious incident.

[Honda Monk]

I am sure has it been in an european, american or other developed countryit would have become atleast a column in news paper and a suite worth hundreds of millions would have been charged on the manufacturer....but poor us!!
PITY
So cheap is human life in our country that such accidents are easily shoved off by companies. We are left on apathy of manufacturers of such products.
TATA is selling anything and we are buying that S**T for so long!

[cyberwhizs]

Originally Posted by mathranik

Also, after the lock inspection, it has been found that the lock gave away and resulted in the bonnet flying open.

It is important that you have this fact documented in some form. A lock giving away is bad. Having said that, a flying bonnet is more likely to result from improperly shut bonnet. Happened to an similarly new indigo couple of years back on the mumbai pune expressway. It just happened that some of my co-workers were in that indigo and i was in another vehicle travelling to pune. Everyone was safe, the conclusion drawn then was a improperly shut bonnet. Probably this could happen to any vehicle not just limited to tata.

[YaeJay]

Glad nothing dreadful happened! Ive had the experience of what it would be as a kid when the bonnet of a MM CJ500 rested on the windshield. Very low speeds at state Highways with absolutely no vehicle for a couple of kms at the least. I still remember it, scary moment. !00% driver error. The bonnet of the jeep was pretty flimsy. Absolutely had everything against aerodynamics. So, was pretty easy. ( ofcourse no windscreen damage, the rubber bushes atop the bonnet rested on the frame about the windshield and that driver never panicked, poped his head outside, slowed down as though nothing happened, pulled over, hooked up the bonnet and went about his business as though it happens every day!)

The locking mechanism is pretty flawed on the Indica? Hmmm I think they need better cables. I guess its carried over to other models as well. I have replaced the bonnet release cable twice in 2.5 yrs. 95' M800 still has its cable intact. opens like a charm.

But, considering most cars that are present at these times, Tata does have thicker and heavier steel. I am sure the Indicas hood must be heavier than most of the japs and the sukis. That lifting off, at 80 kms can do that damage. But, I still can't figure out how that lock can release on its own ! Bumps or not, loose that cable, its a little tougher to open with a long screwdriver than in an amby, but I guess it almost has the same mechanics employed there on the good old amby with a heavy hood.

Keep us updated!

[TaurusAl]

Its great nothing major happened, it looks very scary in the pictures.

I think TATA should focus more on build quality rather than putting fancy gadgets in their cars to attract customers. This kind of thing is insane and they should be heavily penalized for it if it is has happened due to faulty mechanism.

They have been selling substandard stuff for a long time now and it high time they start valuing the safety & quality too.

[Mallya_2010]

Was the bonnet locking properly after the event? I had a related experience in my Laura where the engine oil cap disappeared and oil was all over the engine bay, presumably it had come loose and fallen on the highway. However i do not think the fault is with the manufacturer as the car has done 5000 overall and more than 800 km on that trip. The replacement cap is fitting in correctly so far.

My daily commute is a Indica Xeta done 70000kms and so far no bonnet issues. To my mind at least the more likely possibility is that bonnet was loosely closed and not noticed. I am sure many of us have had experienced a improperly closed door , boot or bonnet. In the case of the bonnet the problem perhaps is that when it opens ,it does so with the sudden release of the spring action and the force of the wind (when the car is at good speeds), hence the dramatic and catastrophic results. A boot or door is unlikely to bang into the car with force.

In another thread T-BHPians have commented on similar events in M800 ,Safari and Qualis. I think TATA do a good job on their cars ,though they have a lot of catching up to do. That they agreed to do the repairs at their cost is appreciable and is not a sign of guilt in my opinion. However they do have a bureaucratic approach to customers.

Lets keep an open mind till there is conclusive evidence. Legal action and suing is to be a last option after exhausting all others. Please feel free to demolish my reasoning ! Will love to hear other opinions.

[SLK]

I've seen this happen to a esteem on NH8 in Gurgaon, I just managed to steer clear of the bonnet which was laying in the right lane. 200 meters later the esteem was parked in the left lane and the driver was walking towards the bonnet.

Also, I saw this happen to a Palio, but this time I'm not sure if it happened on its own though nothing else around the car seemed to have been damaged.

Also a family friend narrated a similar incident with his esteem on the DND.

Don't blame TATA!!

[SirAlec]

this is a serious issue. But even if you complain TATA will maintain the stand that you forgot to lock it properly.

Best part is you are safe and so are others on the highway.

[nomadabhi]

Phew!!! Logged in and got my eyes hooked to this. Good to know that no one was injured.

Guess next time onwards, pre-trip check would include checking bonnet as well as I understand this is no particular to the TATA but other's as well.

On a second thought, quite un-impressive to have this on a 2 month old car.

[rajess_in]

A very scary experience indeed!! Glad that nothing untoward happened..

Now from your note on the experience, let me put that the fact is the bonnet latch gave way!

To explain in detail, let me brief more about the bonnet latch. The typical bonnet latch has two locks - the primary and the secondary.

The primary latch is the one operated by the occupants from the inside, through a lever and cable mechanism. The secondary latch is the one operated from the outside through a small lever actuated by hand.

Both the latches are very stiff and cannot fail even at very high wind loads (While driving at speeds, the wind creates a lift force on the bonnet through the grille openings that tend to open it. This force increases with the speed exponentially).

Even if the primary latch fails or is not secured, the secondary latch is provided for the very same fact.

Coming to your case, the primary latch would have been released by means - of mistake while operating vehicle, spring / cable / lever issue, bonnet not latched properly. But it is evident that the primary latch failed even before you would have started your trip. My guess is that your vehicle ran only on the secondary latch for quite some time and eventually sheared off due to the wind loads. Add to that the poor quality control on the small lever that would have not lasted the intended life as required.

Carefully inspect the bonnet latch. The secondary lever is the one operated by your finger to operate it from the front. The latch part is nothing but a thick sheet of metal with a wedge shape to secure with the hook from the bonnet. Now a sheared out / failed steel sheet will have crisp / bright gray colour to it.

[Amazing]

Based on all the responses so far on this topic/incident, its more or less evident that these kind of bonnet flyng open issues are observed also in other cars as well . Infact, one of my friends had this issue in her lexus while driving i a motorway in San jose....lucklily she was able to park in safely on the side.

So, its not right to point finger to TATA in this case ( although they have minor niggles in their cars ...luckily my tata car has zero niggles in last 4 years) , but rather one should be extra careful while securing the bonnet.

People often forget to close side doors properly, or rear hatch door kept loose .....here we accept our fault that we havenot closed properly. Why not in case of bonnet then , mistake might happen, lets accept in gracefully and don't point at others :-) ?

Safe motoring to all !

[kkg]

Why curse only TATA in this case. Same thing happened to my BIL's Dzire two months back. He was on his way to mussorie from Delhi and the bonnet flung open at speed of around 100kmph. The windscreen was all shattered and the cowl above the bonnet was broken. He was with his wife and three yaer old son and thank god every one was safe and sound. He managed to reach Deharadun and gave his car for repairs under insaurance.

The car was returned to him after two days and my BIL took it as one unfortunate incident. The repair process was speedy and the entire bonnet was changed and painted along with change of windscreen and cowl.

Why it happened is still unknown but we assumed that bonnet had remained opened some how and it flung open on single carriageway when a bus passed by.

[subodh]

Jeez that is scary. Glad to know that everyone is safe and sound. I have experience dealing with tata when i owned the palio and its not a very encouraging experience. You will have to fight all the way to get your message to the top across. Send tata high managers an email with this post as link attachment and lets see if that gets them moving.

[mathranik]

Guys, thanks for chipping in with honest opinions.

From the general consensus that I can see building up here, there seems to be no mistake from Tata, and they should not be made a party in the offense! All that I can say at this moment is that, although I do hope and pray that nothing like this ever happens on anyone, when it does happen to our family we like to draw conclusions. We are all an emotional lot, and if we see tragedy from this close, with almost life threatening consequences, we would want to be safe. If an airplane skids off the runway, rains are to be blamed, more than the airplane itself. It makes for breaking news, and we watch it with curiosity. What we don't know is what the 200-odd passengers in the plane (and their relatives waiting at the arrivals) go through, and usually have their heart in their mouth.

Whether Tata's gesture of repairing it at their cost can be taken as guilt is anybody's guess.But I can assure everyone here about their confession of the lock being faulty. They have even looked at the possibility of the lock getting rusty due to monsoons. Awesome, no?

I have, by the grace of heavens, been blessed with a very healthy business and I do not look forward to any monetary consolation for the damages caused. My point here is for everyone to be aware of where Tata might have gone wrong with their product design and quality, and how dangerous it could be.

Thanks, everyone.