[Copied here from Facebook]
â KIA SPORTAGE Accident â
A manufacturing defect/ quality issue OR something else.
My personal Opinion <<
No introduction is required for the subject matter because the video of the aftermath of a Sportage accident was viral with someone narrating the situation about what happened. I received dozens of messages asking me make a comment on this incident. I backtracked and followed my own typical protocol.
I have been writing on PKDM automobile issues for very long time. Everyone who follows me knows that how much âLOVEâ I have for local car a$$emblers. In return some people think, I am part of some agenda and propaganda and paid individual. When I write on Honda, I am called Toyota Paid and vice versa. When I wrote on United Bravo, I am paid by Suzuki and vice versa. When I write on KIA, I am paid by BIG-3 and recently Hyundai. When I write on Hyundai, I am called paid by KIA. I mean, I made so much money in last few years that I have no space to store.. LOL.
Anyways, writing about auto sector is my passion and I do it without any personal benefits. Whenever I write, I take utmost care and do all the ground work , research and collection of data. Fortunately , I have long list of friends here in this group as well as many other respectable members, who send me details on any issue and backup information whatsoever. This all is done for a reason and that is to reflect the genuine issues being faced by consumer and for its resolution . I am sure I will see many comments here and as usual , I will again be called as paid by KIA. Well!! that would be your opinion and I agree to disagree and you can disagree with an evidence or any scientific logic. NOW, to the topic.
When I read about this Sportage accident and saw the video clip, I immediately started looking for the actual owner of the vehicle. I was able to locate his contact information and reason was to get the first hand information about what happened. First of all we all should pray for the early recovery of the occupants who were in the vehicle as there are some injuries. Because the owner of the vehicle was injured as well as the front seat passenger, I was able to talk to closest relative only and he shared all the details.
OWNERS ACCOUNT:
The KIA Sportage [AWD] driver was at speeds of between 50 and 60km/h and on a flat single road with two way traffic when suddenly the front seat passenger heard a loud bang and the car immediately at once dropped to the ground on the driver side front. The vehicle was not out of control and it didnât hit anything on the front [ as also can be seen in the video ]. There was no direct frontal impact. The front seat passenger was not restrained and hit his forehead with front screen and had injuries.
The driver was in seat belt , he got some injuries/ fracture to wrist and I was told got stiches to his lip/tongue. In simple words, the vehicle was in motion and abruptly stopped and dropped and then as per video clip and narration â TIE-ROAD FAILURE WAS BLAMEDâ. The nature of the road where accident happened and that too at speeds of 50 to 60km/h would have caused serious injuries or even fatalities if God forbid the vehicle lost control and left the roadway. The narrator on the video seems extremely disappointed about the quality and workmanship of the vehicle.
OWNERS DEMANDS:
The vehicle was transported via flatbed truck to a dealership in Lahore and a claim/ complaint against KIA LUCKY MOTORS was made at the dealership for âPOOR WORKSMANSHIP AND BUILT QUALITYâ. The owner demand recovery of all the damages / expenses related to this accident as well as replacement of his vehicle and that too NOT other than that of another âKIA SPORTAGE AWDâ. The subject vehicle was WITHOUT any insurance coverage. Owner is planning to take legal actions against KLM, IF HIS demands are not met.
My Personal Observation:
After having data from the ownership side and further evaluating the video clips/ the photos as well extensive discussion with many other senior and respectable people in the field, I came to a conclusion and again its my opinion and not a judgement and anyone can disagree. I have all my sympathies with the owner and other occupants of the vehicle , who not only got physical damage to their own bodies but also now hit with a big monetary damage in shape of the damage to the vehicle. BUT I will share certain observations.
1: I think the driver of the vehicle misjudged the roadway and hit a deep or sharp edged pothole /rock or any other external hard object. The wide surface are damaged road surface is clearly visible just few feet behind the vehicle. In the attached video, you will also notice the evidence of the broken road from a closer angle. There is also a piece of rock / broken piece of roadway visible and maybe this rock piece was the point of contact at the broken road area which later got dragged with the vehicle.
Anyone who drove on these particular roads agrees that there are deep pot holes and sometimes cant be noticed and sometimes it's already too late for driver to make a last minute action. Briefly it looks like an undercarriage impact with any object on the road.
2: The vehicle was much faster to tackle damage roadway / pot hole / any other hard object on the road. I think the vehicle was faster than 50 or 60km/h.
3 : The dynamic load of the vehicle and intensity of the impact was much higher for what the alloy wheel could handle at the damaged roadway.
4: The wheel broke under heavy stresses , the vehicle dropped to the road surface and that too at high speed which further caused the damage to the suspension of the vehicle when it got a direct blow.
5: The damaged tire as can be seen under observation slides in the video reflecting that there was a tire damage on the wide wall due to pot hole/ any hard impact and the alloy wheel got a direct blunt force and resulted in breakage.
6: The vertical upward forces even caused the spring seat bracket bent upwards and looks like the tire came in direct contact and pushed it upward that too against the load of the vehicle, which further show the intensity of the impact , as can be seen in the slides.
The vehicle was going at a speed and when the driver notice the broken road area, it was already too late. He hard braked, which resulted in vehicle load transferring on front suspention which is typical when you brake, the vehicle gets lowered on front. Higher the speed, hard braking will result increased drop on front. Dynamic load of the vehicle from the top and impact from the road surface all added up in the final outcome.
7 : The drag marks on the road shows that the under-carriage of the vehicle came in contact with the road after damage to the tire/wheel/suspension components.
8: The frontal airbags would not deploy in this accident because there was NO frontal impact. So, blaming non deployment of airbags doesnât make sense at all.
9: The impact was so hard that , it even opened seams of the central console, as can be seen in the video attached.
10: The driver was fast, and it looks like when he hard braked at the last moment , the passenger launched from his seat onto the windshield top portion. I have examined the picturs of injuries and those are graphic to share BUT tells the situation, the force with which he banged.
11 : When tie road breaks, the driver lose control and steering does not take driver input resulting in vehicle to go in any direction. The tie road definitely got damage BUT after the initial blow out of tire and breakage of the wheel. TIE-ROAD failure was not the primary cause of the accident.
12: Some people were blaming the quality of the alloy wheel. Well , these wheels are imported and exactly same as used on international/ overseas model. So, these are not locally produced. Secondly , depending upon depth, sharpness of pothole ,the intensity and concentration of the impact, an alloy wheel can break once the tire itself can't handle the impact and fail/ blowout resulting the forces transferring to the wheel. I am sharing some video clips from crash tests, just to show you how a certain impact can break the alloy wheel even at 56km/hr. It's not directly relevant to the Sportage crash but its shared to show that an alloy can break and destruct at such speeds.
13: The end result of this accident could have been severe and the owner MUST thank ALLAH that he and other occupants are alive BUT I have hard time understanding that the vehicle which according to them has a bad quality and was almost about to kill them then WHY the ownership demands a replacement vehicle in shape of ANOTHER SPORTAGE ?
14: Maybe owner have his own personal decision about it but personally, I could not digest this demand.
Lastly, I would say that we have issues with QC/ safety features regardless of brand / model/ make in Pakistan and every car company face issues around the globe but it all matters how the company take up a certain issue and problem and how they rectify and fix it. We see problems with our local cars and its not new but this does not mean that we blame them for our own faults/ mistakes .
I respect the ownerâs and anyone else opinion on this matter and what I shared here is just my own personal observation and not any judgment whatsoever. I thought I share with everyone who was/is following this subject.
THX
[f-w @ Pakwheels.com ]
