i1o, real unsafe car, my first hand experience

I agree to watever others have posted, nice interiors, good design, everything. I would like to draw attention to the biggest and most dangerous flaw in the car. What safety features the hyundai is bragging about. My i10 met with an accident at speed of about not more than 25km/h, hit a tree. Imagine....the engine block is broken. Reason basic manufacturing defect. Now next time u see an i10, open the bonnet and u will be surprised to note that there is not even a single piece of metal till engine block, its all fibre and plastic. So if it meets with an accident, the first thing which is going to face the impact is engine which is barely few inches ahead of dashboard. How are seat belts and air bags going to protect at such close hit. I am looking for a genuine buyer once the car comes out of workshop barely within a month of buying it. Next time if someone suggest u to buy, imagine the consequence of hitting at 50km/hr and accidents do happen.

hmm , well i dont think at 25 kmph the engine will get tht damaged , i am waiting for Banwari , ashish or Pankaj to get thier serious views on this , and according to me the i10 comes at least 3 stars on the NCAP ratings

Cheers,

Sri

Go to any hyundai showroom, ask bout it. if someone happens to be in delhi, can have a look at my shattered car, i was also wondering where the impact beam is and at servive station I was told, there is none.

This is shocking.

One of my freind almosts decided to buy one, although I just asked her to consider other options as well and now she will be going for either Wagor R or Swift petrol (negotiating with her dad to buy her the swift), but if what you have said is true I would have been very worried. You are very right in saying accidents do happen anywhere and even the conservative kind of drivers may meet an accident of aroun 50 kmph. Ad to that the speed of the other vehicle in case of head on collisions.

I have just confirmed what you are saying from the i10 website http://hyundaii10.co.in/safety.asp

Anyone who does not believe it should visit the link above and see the pictures posted there. One of these has the structural design which clearly shows there is no bumper in the front. So if anything hits bang in centre (like in this case the tree, or may be other vehicle at an angle) entire impact will be felt at the drivers cabin. I dont thinkg the bolts fastening the engine and gear box are designed to aborb collision forces.

Still remains a mystery , these features provided in the net are not enough , i would like to see some pics if someone posts it , the pics with the Bonnet Open on the i10

Cheers,

Sri

Himanshu has posted as under in the thread "Hyundai i10 Tested":

After reading another post about how unsafe can i10 be, I went to the i10 website to look for sturctural design. This design gives a very good idea about crumple zones and the portions that will take up the impact. In the picture there was not metal bar in the front, just two metal beams coming fron side that will hold the engine, Radiator etc. the problem with this design is that if you hit something in front like a pole of a tree etc. the impact will directly be on these fittings. these are fastened to the chasis by simple bolts which are not designed to handle sever impacts. As a result if this car hits something a speed (say in region of 70 - 80 kmph or more I think the biolts will give way and the impact will be felt directly in the driver cabin.

I feel the theory behind this desing will be that the side beam will come to picture in case of very severe head on collisions. Even this theory maintains that even in small impacts there will be significant damage to the vehicle. Also in various accidents I have seen, in case of head-ons people tend to swerve a wee bit to create an angle. In this case it might be very dangerous to do so.

Having said this, these are just my observations. If any one had a word with any of the hyundai engineers, it will be interesting to hear their views on this.

The above sounds logical, but hope we have an expert/technical opinion.

Honesty is not a Spare Wheel that you pull out when in trouble. It's a Steering Wheel that keeps you on the right path throughout the life's journey.

Manoj Sharma has posted as under in the thread "Hyundai i10 Tested":

Hi all, m the one who pointed out bout impact beam in this forum, I posted almost the same thing at mouthshut.com. and got some comments, i would like to share one here and my reply to it.

prabodh_kelkar said:
Jan 09, 2008 05:06 PM

I asked this question to Hyundai sales man, he answered, ’’This design is specially meant by considering safety os passengers. So, in case of impact from front side, engine will get hit and will fell down. The engine will not get pushed back towards dashboard. This is how the impact will get absorbed. So, passengers will not get hurt by impact,’’

This is wat i answered

Thanks Prabodh for your concern and asking hyundai pple for the same, my engine did not fall down nor did the passenger got hurt, probably cos the car was at slow speed,so can not comment on if car was moving fast,wat would happen, although m scared. Still the repairing bill is going to cost somewhere between 70-80 thousand Rs and being all plastic it will be paid only half by insurance company as no insurance company pays more than half for plastic, wat if the engine fell? Are you willing to cough that much money that much for a minor accident?? With an impact beam at front it wouldn’t have crossed 20,000.

Like I have said before, hope we have an expert/technical opinion.

Honesty is not a Spare Wheel that you pull out when in trouble. It's a Steering Wheel that keeps you on the right path throughout the life's journey.

yeh , iam really waiting for Banwari or Ashish to get thier views on this

Cheers,

Sri

I just noticed that the picture i had refered to earler has been removed from the hyundai website. have they taken note of the fact the people are concerned about this issue?

Can the two threads be merged together as they both are talking ont he same topic now?