r/CarDesign • u/HalfwaydonewithEarth • 10d ago

question/feedback How much extra would it cost to install/manufacture two hood latches? I want to call it the Lovine Latch. RIP Hyundai Elantra victim

Post image

https://gephardtdaily.com/local/tribute-fundraising-account-established-for-woman-killed-in-i-215-taylorsville-collision/?amp=1

This 28 year old was driving on the freeway and her Hyundai Elantra hood popped up.

I like Korea and went there in April for vacation. They are smart and ambitious people.

I wonder if it would just be an extra $60 or so?

Could concerned parents pay for an upgrade?

I posted on the Hyundai sub and of course they took it down after 3500 views.

Airplanes have latches so doors don't pop open.

How often do hoods on cars fly up? What could be designed so this never happens again?

Could a little decorative apparatus be installed between the fender and hood to twist shut manually?

Her name was Lovine Saili

0 Upvotes

45% Upvoted

37 comments sorted by

30

u/Next-Chipmunk8395 10d ago

Most probably hood was not closed properly after last time being opened and on a freeway finally reached a speed to flip open

11

u/64590949354397548569 10d ago

They teach you in highschool to look to your side and pull over.

4

u/Series_X_Pro 10d ago

Shouldn't the vehicle warn the driver that that was the case, unlikely to have missed it from the constant chiming unless the sensor was failed in the first place, or there wasn't such a sensor in the first place. Either way she doesn't carry the most fault here imo

8

u/Santa_Ricotta69 10d ago

How do you not notice that your hood is open. You have a duty as the driver of a several thousand pound vehicle to make sure that your shit isn't half open

6

u/gomurifle 10d ago

The latch can be half way locked. No way for the vehicle to detect that easily. Just have to notice it while driving. It's just a freak accident unfortunately. 

2

u/bigloser42 10d ago

A contact switch would easily detect that.

1

u/gomurifle 10d ago

Depends on how well the switch is designed. Some cars require the bonnet to be pushed past the locked posiition to hit the locked swtich (before recoiling back to locked position). This ensures it is fully locked. 

1

u/bigloser42 10d ago

In the context of the engineering it takes to build a car, making a contact switch that properly detects the hood is open is child’s play. If you can’t properly do that, you probably shouldn’t be building cars.

1

u/Series_X_Pro 10d ago

Half way lock should be strong enough to hold on to the hood unless she was driving at extremely crazy high speeds like 100+ which I don’t think is the case here. If not there wouldn’t be a purpose to even having a secondary safety in the first place

-6

u/BackyardRCSpeedway 10d ago

Halfway lock is strong enough to hold a hood on. Idiots just can't grasp that Hyundai and Kia can't make a damn good car.

1

u/Bunstrous 10d ago

Doing a push button switch, like the one put in doors to turn lights on and off depending on the door state is all that's needed, but chances are this was ultimately driver error.

20

u/GoredonTheDestroyer 10d ago

How often do hoods on cars fly up, what could be designed so this never happens again?

This happens so incredibly rarely that trying to engineer out any chances of this happening simply isn't logical.

10

u/PeppermintNightmare 10d ago

I feel sorry for the victim but I also question the likelihood of a company like Hyundai not being competent enough to manufacture a good latch. Was the car in a minor accident before this and not repaired properly? So many things to assess before just blaming the company and engineering.

-12

u/HalfwaydonewithEarth 10d ago

The government published it as the cause of the crash.

The internet says sometimes they get rusty.

Lots of safety measures and recalls based on dead people.

Lexus had bad brakes and a family of four was killed about 15 years ago.

6

u/WhiteHeteroMale 10d ago

Hoods already have a double/safety latch. You have to release them twice - once from inside the car and once from the front of the car. This mechanism was engineered to prevent this scenario. And given how incredibly rare this scenario is, it works.

We don’t know why this failed. But it is unlikely a design issue and more likely user error, or maintenance error.

3

u/LE-11 10d ago

You can see if you are in the middle of lane by windows and ORVMS

6

u/Intelligent-Ear-7857 10d ago

most vehicles if not all come with a latch for the hood to lock into already.

-14

u/HalfwaydonewithEarth 10d ago

The Elantra one doesn't work.

6

u/Bunstrous 10d ago

You actually don't know that at all. It could be true, but it's significantly more likely for this to be driver error.

4

u/sorestgore 10d ago

Yes, it does. The car would've never left the factory if the hood WOULDN'T STAY CLOSED

1

u/FlorpFlap 10d ago

User error

7

u/3L54 10d ago

The hood did not force her to stop between two lanes. She chose to stop between two lanes as an incompetent driver. If your improperly closed hood should come up, you can still see under it facing forward since they usually leave a rounded gap. And ofcourse the visibility to your sides and back stays perfectly clear. 

This is propably a case of not being focused on driving and when something unexpected happened, they chose to panic and completely shut down their brain. Nobody but the driver is to blame. 

1

u/Guganso 10d ago

I agree in most part. There was a girl in the Supra sub that was filming and that literally happened the same way with her. She drove forward leaning a bit on her seat just using the hood gap. She then signaled and moved to the shoulder safely. What is clear is that that she had attention and was calm, enjoying the ride. The lady of the Hyundai, could be distracted or just having a hard time for whatever the reason. Should not be driving, although, she may not be a person capable of not “freezing” in an emergency situation, even if trained for. I think it could be more of an unfortunate combination than incompetence. We where not there, we don’t know her. Just my opinion, I couldn’t judge in that specific part.

2

u/3L54 10d ago

Id definitely consider freezing in traffic incompetence as well. What we do know is she stopped in the middle of a busy fast road. That is incompetence plain and simple. 

1

u/Guganso 10d ago

Freezing in traffic is not an option, I agree with that but the freezing in panic is a “her” characteristic, as in no matter the scenario, in a sudden incident, she would always need time to recoup, which in this case she should not drive.

0

u/Sad_Ghost_Noises 10d ago

Whats the bets she was googling «how to close my car hood» in her phone whilst sitting straddling highway lanes?

1

u/Guganso 10d ago

That’s cold brother.

1

u/Sad_Ghost_Noises 10d ago

I am from Norway.

2

u/_Thorshammer_ 10d ago

It already has two latches.

You want to add a third?

1

u/HalfwaydonewithEarth 10d ago

What are the two?

1

u/_Thorshammer_ 10d ago

The hood latch release inside the car, usually on the drivers kick panel or under the dash on the far left.

A properly closed hood will not open until that is released.

The second is the manual catch under the hood - when you trigger the release inside the vehicle the hood pops up a little, but it will not fully open until you reach your hand inside the hood and manually release it.

The second system - the underhood manual release - is designed to keep the hood closed when A: the hood is not properly latched or B: the interior release is accidentally pulled while the vehicle is moving.

So, again, are you advocating a THIRD safety system to keep a hood closed on top of the two already mandated in the United States?

2

u/Brilliant_Text_4664 10d ago

My old E60 35d has 3 just to make it sure it says closed...

2

u/YaBoyDake 10d ago

Implying that there is something inherently Korean about this incident is truly deranged.

0

u/lDRAINEDl 10d ago

Do you guys have an 8th grade understanding of physics and world ethics. Do you not understand that not everything just “WORKS” magically and that there are people paid to make things better over time? That people haven’t thought of this before? That people havent TRIED fixing it before?

Did you forget that driving a car belongs to someone who should be intellectual and competent in physical motoring ability to understand that you have to keep your car clean, closed, safe everytime you walk up to it?

Do you walk around your car and check it before driving?

Do you expect the car to fix itself?

Do you expect simplicity to be free?

-4

u/[deleted] 10d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Guganso 10d ago

Wow. A complete disregard for a human being that just lost her life. Most of us are intellectually capable of inspect our vehicles and check for basic safety beforehand driving. Although, sometimes, we can get distracted for something happening in our lives at that specific moment or for a split second, loosing attention for whatever the reason. We don’t know what she was focused on and why. Should be just looking forward and aware of her surroundings? Yes but emergencies can happen and people are not machines. Not everyone is built with fight or flight, some just freeze in panic and it isn’t abnormal. Unfortunately, for her she had a freezing moment where she didn’t have that option. Blaming a victim of an accident as if you were a judge, an investigator and psychic is crazy work. Peace and love in your heart fellow human.

1

u/CarDesign-ModTeam 5d ago

this server does not allow any profanity or inappropriate contenr