CCTV of Andhra Minister’s Son’s Crash Shows ‘Safe’ Cars not Immune

In the days since Andhra Cabinet Minister P Narayana’s son Nishith and his friend Raja Ravichandra met a tragic end, when their SUV collided with a Metro rail pillar in Jubilee Hills, CCTV footage of the unbelievable crash has emerged.

What has surprised many is the extent of damage suffered by the car they were travelling in, as the Mercedes G 63 Sports Utility Vehicle is considered one of the best in its class in terms of safety.

According to NDTV's CarAndBike, the numerous safety measures that come in the G 63 include dual front, side and window airbags, as well as pelvis bags (dedicated to protecting the abdomen area of passengers), ABS (anti-lock braking system), brake assist, ESP (electronic stability program), adaptive braking and more.

The wreck that emerged from the fatal accident looked nearly unrecognisable as the powerful SUV.

According to reports, the force of the impact was strong enough to fold the engine and dashboard back onto the two passengers, sandwiching them inside. While the airbags deployed, reports say, they proved completely inadequate to the force of the accident.

However, as the CCTV footage shows, even state-of-the-art safety measures have not managed to keep up with the dangerously high speeds that performance engines can reach today. The Mercedes G 63, for instance, can reportedly go from 0-100 km/h in just 5.4 seconds, and its top speed has been limited at 210 km/h.

On the other hand, most industry standard tests for crash safety simulate crashes at just 40 miles per hour, or just under 65 km/h. Arguably the fastest crash test in the world, conducted by British motoring television show Fifth Gear, subjected a Ford Focus family car to crash speeds of 120 miles per hour (193 km/h), and the results are terrifying. The family car is almost completely pancaked in the process.

According to the police, an accurate assessment of the speed at which the Mercedes was travelling on that fateful night is not available.

However, Jubilee Hills SHO Venkat Reddy said that, judging from the CCTV footage, the car may have been travelling at speeds close to 200 km/h. And while a Mercedes G 63 may be built sturdier than a family car, even it was no match for the high speed crash that occurred.

(This article was originally published in The News Minute)