Car central locking failure kills a family near Delhi

Technology are god. But they may be bad as well. Ever wondered what wil you do, if you are stuck inside the car as the power system has failed throwing your central locking and power window inoperable. Exactly this has happened to the family of Dhanesh Jindal and family last night. The bodies of Mr. Jindal, his wife and two children were found this morning in the car they were travelling at Faridabad, near Delhi. Stuck inside their Santro car with system failure, they all died asphyxicated. To make the matter worse for them it was really raining hard last evening in Delhi and its adjoining areas.

When I was deciding to purchase my car few years back, I really appreciated one piece of advice from some expert on these high tech features. Ask yourself -- if no what. Power window is one such feature. If it is not their, the car will still run and give you a nice ride. But if for some reason, you foregt to wind up glasses before leaving, you need to get in and start the engine to wind up the glases. If it fails for some reason, you cann't even leave your car. And if it fails with you inside the car, ou imagine what can happen. Issues like mileage, suspension, brakes, etc. should be more important than power windows, defogger, rpm meter, etc.

Last night's rain had given me a scare as well. I had to travrse a heavily waterlogged area at the entrance of the EDM mall in East Delhi. Once out on the main road, I was driving slowly, may be around 30-40 kmph. Because of heavy rain, visibility was very poor and also there was a thick flim of rain water on the road. On arriving at a traffic junction, I had applied brake. But to my horror, the barake did not took effect immediately, and the car came to a halt with jerk after 10 feet or so. Fortunately, the car ahead was some distance away.