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| Tuesday, May 30, 2006 |
| Two people die in Honda City blaze; Bhupendra Chaubey and Hormazd blunder about |
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A Honda City caught fire on a Delhi flyover, and its two occupants were charred to death. It is now known that one of the deceased was the car's chauffeur and the other, a maid servant.
The media has raised revelant questions on this mishap. Why could the occupants not get out? Did the central locking system jam? Was it a problem with a defective part, or wth the car? Why did the safety mechanism to cut off fuel supply in case of fire not work?
All valid points, and important ones too. In recent years, a few such incidents have come to pubic attention. A Fiat Palio fire that was quite similar in Delhi, and the Mumbai victims who died in cars when their doors jammed.
So Bhupendra Chaubey calls in Hormazd Sorabjee, editor of Autocar India.
Now Bhupendra Chaubey's core competency is not automobiles; its politics. Some would say it's not anchoring either. Here, after pointing out the questions, he went on in a tone that suggested that technology itself is the culprit, and asked several questions on blackmarket accessories, music systems, central locking, tubeless tyres etc. All valid questions, but if the tone of the questioning is that of the all-knowing ignoramus, blaming all technology, what is poor Hormazd to do, other than get all defensive?
And getting defensive is what Hormazd did. Why? There has always been criticism that automobile journalists are apologists for the automobile industry. I have consistently opposed that. However, Hormazd's performance yesterday reallylet me down. I know he was reacting to the accusatory tone of Chaubey, but what stops you from being objective?
Hormazd went on to sing praises of technology. Not needed at all. If a car catches fire, there is no need for an auto mag editor to feel insecure, even though you are facing stupid questions. The fact is, 2 people died inside a car. Unless it is a suicide or murder, it is most likely that the occupants could not get out as the doors jammed in some fashion. Why can't you just say it, Hormazd? You said that the door could have deformed, but don't look so defensive while saying it. There was an automobile fire, and a door and its locking system can jam. The space shuttle explodes while re-entry, damnit, and there is nothing bad about saying that some system could have malfunctioned. The fire could have messed up the manual override, some chip could have fouled up, any number of things could have happened, and why can't you just say it?
Not that Bhupendra Chaubey was helping him along, every line of his made it clear that there was this huge mysterious issue here.
Then he asked Hormazd about the Mumbai floods, and how come some people died as they got locked in their cars. Good question. An already psyched Hormazd almost said that that could not have been because doors caught jammed, maybe the water pressure did it, etc etc. Come on Hormazd. Say that you don't know. People died in cars, for some reason they couldn't get out, they didn't choose to die. What could have happened? It could be that the system fouled up. It could be that they could not open their power windows. It could be that the battery conked off, you don't have a winding lever, and the water pressure anyway wouldn't let the doors open even if the central locking system was working.
The point is that you have to find a way to make sure that people caught in accidents and floods do not die - the doors should open. On way or the other. I have a friend who got stuck in his Maruti 800 which didn't have power windows or central locking. The doors refused to budge, the windows refused to wind down. No technology there - simple jamming. Bystanders saw him panicking inside the car and pulled it open in some way. So it happens. What are the editors and auto manufacturers going to do about it?
(And if anchors do not start talking like they have just uncovered a huge conspiracy by car manufacturers to deliberately lock people inside cars and suffocate them, that could help too.) |
posted by a correspondent @ 11:44 PM  |
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