This Week's Driving - August 12th, 2000 - Log 28

Everybody loves a good accident, we've said that before and we will say it again. Apart from the poor old victim who will, usually, depart to meet the maker, all other entities involved will profit out of the fact that motor accident figures in India are amongst the worst in the world.
Probably the worst, actually.

We've recently received a few complaints and reports about the Toyota Qualis and it?s problems on Indian roads. A short exchange of e-mails and a response from the most respected figure in India on road accidents, Prof. Dinesh Mohan of IIT-Delhi, is enclosed . . .

Dear Dinesh,

Why don't we try to do this independent of the sarkar . . . you know & I know that they wouldn't move . . . everybody loves a good
accident!

regards/Veeresh Malik

----- From: Dinesh Mohan To: Veeresh Malik

Sent: 31 July 2000 16:43

Subject: Re: Fw: Serious Doubts about Toyota Qualis

Veeresh:

The demands which should be made are:

1. Insurance companies publish a scientific analysis of accident claims by model type etc. See
http://WWW.HIGHWAYSAFETY.ORG/ as example

2. Does Qualis follow norms for door lock standards which ensure that doors do not open during a crash?

3. The Ministry of Surface Transport start a complaint login system by model type and year where such incidents
can be logged in . When the number of compaints exceeds a certain number per model year, then the
manufacturer be asked to explain, etc, with the possibility of a recall.

Dinesh Mohan

PS. The victims should see if it is possible to file a case in the consumer court against Toyota.

Veeresh Malik wrote:

----- Original Message -----

From: Veeresh MalikTo: various

Sent: 31 July 2000 14:29

Subject: Re: Serious Doubts about Toyota Qualis

well we booked a ford ikon and if you also book one we can all form our own ford club . .
.

----- Original Message -----

From: kajal To: Veeresh Malik

Sent: 31 July 2000 05:40 Subject: Re: Serious Doubts about Toyota Qualis

This is absolutely shocking. I had plans to book the same vehicle today. I can't thank you
enough!

rgds,Kajal

-----Original Message-----
From: Veeresh Malik <veeresh@vsnl.com>
To: Soundararajan Padmanaban <drppsno1@rediffmail.com>
Cc: I N F O - G A R A G E <info@cybersteering.com>; Hormazd Sorabjee <hormazd@vsnl.com>; Ranojoy Mukerji <ranojoy@vsnl.com>; mabtan@vsnl.com <mabtan@vsnl.com>;
ADIL JAL DARUKHANAWALA <adiljal@vsnl.com>; Bijoy Kumar Y <bijoy@business-standard.com>
AIAM Nandi <aiam.del@gndel.globenet.ems.vsnl.net.in>;

Date: Monday, July 31, 2000 7:45 PM
Subject: Re: Serious Doubts about Toyota Qualis

Dear Dr. Soundarajan, Thank you for reading the Intelligent Investor. I am
grieved to hear of this incident. It is typical of what one can expect from
Toyota who would not dare to introduce a vehicle like the Qualis in their own
country Japan but dump this product on us, with such results. I shall be using
your report and would appreciate any further information that you may have in
this matter. Interim:-

1.Please feel free to place this report on the feedback pages at
http://www.cybersteering.com

1.Yes, even I have heard reports from taxi operators that such a problem
seems to exist with the Toyota Qualis.

1.I am marking your message to other motoring journalists, you may also
take this up with them.

1.There is currently no initiative from insurance companies to use statistics
towards finding out which vehicles are safe or unsafe. The only way of
solving this problem is through publicity. If you could send some
photographs over e-mail, we would like to carry an article on the subject,
regards/Veeresh Malikhttp://www.cybersteering.com

----- Original Message -----

From: Soundararajan Padmanaban To: veeresh@cybersteering.com

Sent: 30 July 2000 23:42

Subject: Serious Doubts about Toyota Qualis

Dear Sir,
I am a regular reader of your column in Intelligent Investor. We just bought a new
Toyota Qualis 15 days ago.Today I had been to Coimbatore in the same vehicle.

My trip had been to see a 4th year Medical Student who met with an accident. He
was driving a 5 month old Qualis WITH 10 MORE MEDICAL STUDENTS.

He overtook a Maruti Zen in the highways.
THE ROAD WAS CLEAR EXCEPT FOR THESE TWO VEHICLES AT THAT
TIME.
THE PEOPLE IN THE ZEN SAY THAT THE REAR LEFT WHEEL OF THE
QUALIS GOT DETACHED AND THE VEHICLE TOPPLED TWICE AFTER
OVERTAKING THEM.ALL THE PASSENGERS WERE THROWN OUT.
THIS PARTICULAR STUDENT IS RECUPERATING AFTER MAJOR
SURGERIES ON HIS TORN LIVER AND CHEST. HE IS PERMANANTLY
CRIPPLED BELOW THE NAVAL DUE TO THE INJURY TO THE SPINAL
CORD.
ANOTHER MEDICAL STUDENT HAS LOST HIS LIFE DUE TO HEAD
INJURIES.
THE PARENTS OF THIS BOY CAME TO KNOW THAT THERE HAS BEEN
ANOTHER SIMILAR ACCIDENT INVOLVING THE AXLE OF THE TOYOTA
QUALIS.

IS THIS OR CAN THIS BE TRUE?

THERE ARE ATLEAST THREE ENGINEERS AND MARKETING PEOPLE
FROM TOYOTA FACTORY CAMPING AT COIMBATORE PROBABLY TO
HUSH UP THE WHOLE MATTER.
PLEASE FIND OUT THE TRUTH SINCE IT INVOLVES MANY LIVES.

Thanking You,
Sincerely Yours,
Dr.Soundararajan P.P.
98-B, Manickam Street,
Shevapet, Salem-636002.
Tamilnadu.

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**************************************************************************
Dinesh Mohan
Henry Ford Professor for Biomechanics and Transportation Safety
Coordinator, Transportation Research & Injury Prevention Programme,
Head, WHO Collaborating Centre, Room 808 Main Building
Indian Institute of Technology, Hauz Khas,
New Delhi 110016, India

Office: (91 11) 659 1147
FAX: (91 11) 685 8703 & 685 1169
E-mail: dmohan@cbme.iitd.ernet.in
Home: (91 11) 649 4910
***************************************************************************

This set of emails generated many responses, with a few talking about similar problems. Here is one more interesting one:-

Veeresh Bhai

Your are a tough nut, That reads like a who's who of auto journalism of India.

I remember when MUL had a similar failure in Yugoslavia in 11983, and when Daewoo had in...... nearly all have some of these
cases.

Issue - tyre fixing is a super critical operation in the plant. The nut is to be tightened, than raised to a torque, then turned
45 to 90 degrees to give it a bit of "over stress".

This value is then recorded by the torque controller - 100% wheels - and retained in the inspection records. This is also a
mandatory requirement of EC community and can be audited.

But if one is loose - this results.

Good for Toyota to learn that inexpensive managers cannot run the shops. (They offered me 50% of my XYZ salary to head
-----ing, and finally settled for a HM guy. He left and was replaced by an Escorts guy. I heard 3 guys were changed in 4
months.) Let Toyota type MNC learn - India is a sophisticated market of 5000 years history and no MNC can win till they
treat it with RESPECT !!!!

and another one . . .

This is of course terrible! And I hope Toyota will do something about it.

BUT, if these students would have been using seat belts, they would not have been thrown out of the car and the injuries would most probably have been minor ones.

This is also something Veeresh could mention in his column.

Of course buying a car with seat belts in the back, is a little bit more expensive...

regards,

And finally, ofcourse, deafening silences from Toyota, who chose not to respond. Would the other print media take this issue up? You decide . . . let us watch . . . and wait . . . and wait . . . and wait.

Went to Ahmednagar from our Pune office to test drive the soon to be launched Honda City with an "improved" VTEC engine, of which you will surely read much more all over the place soon. In very brief, the engine provides better torque, power, saves fuel and ends up making the car cost a lot more. How much more, they weren?t talking, and a full day of rain made the trip a washout in more ways than one.

One interesting thing that emerges is that larger rim sizes, in this case a 14 inch rim just 1 inch short of the Ambassador?s, is going to be standard on the Honda City soon. All the better to swallow your bumps by, though it may cut down on the jump-start acceleration a wee bit. Not to worry, the new VTEC engine will take care of all that.

Honda City have lately been pipped on the acceleration post by Maruti Baleno, it is reliably learnt, not that it matters because most of us don?t drive over 60-80 kmph anyways. But for what it is going to worth, the 1.5 VTEC will be. Faster. Much faster.

Signs that the times may be changing! Ford provided us with a test diesel Ikon for a few days recently, which we put to slight use, again in and around Pune. Makes a great change from the autos one uses. So, what is the diesel Ikon all about?

First of all it is all about the same old dog of a 1.8 litre diesel that was provided with the Escort. Next it makes one hell of an unholy clatter when starting up first thing, but then, once warmed, settles down to a comfortable purr. And lastly, it is able to jump past all the violent 3-wheeler wallahs in Pune with the crisp responses of a petrol engine.

Considering that we, as part of a largish joint family, have bought 3 cars in the past few weeks, a Hyundai Accent, a Ford Ikon 1.3 non-power steering and a Hyundai Santro with power steering, let us put it this way: we would pay the premium for running it on petrol when it came to the Ikon. The Ford Ikon is, simply put, great value for money, and it is also the most fun to bounce around. Why did we buy the 1.3 non power steering? Because that is the only one with high aspect ratio (80) tyres, to which I am partial.

Why am I partial to high aspect ratio tyres? Because they have more air space in them and take the bumps better. Most of all, they give better fuel economy. If yours is the "normal" kind of driving, consider the benefits of using what great motoring experts would otherwise call "thin fuddy duddy high aspect tyres" but what we call common sense.

Drivers Log
Veeresh Malik
The Edit Team
bluepencil@cybersteering.com

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