The Proton X70’s 5-star ASEAN NCAP safety rating probably didn’t account for cement mixer collisions.
Some photos have recently surfaced regarding a Proton X70 that has been absolutely annihilated by a cement truck. There has been no other information available regarding this rather horrifying incident, but what can be seen from the pictures is that the SUV was no match for the heavy commercial vehicle.
Barely recognisable as the X70 it once was, this front half of the Proton SUV has completely crumpled and has since disappeared underneath the cement truck. The rear half of its mangled remains meanwhile was found to be against a tree, which was what also most likely brought the cement truck’s progress to a halt.
Speaking of the cement truck, despite the fact that Nissan truck has comfortably flattened the front half of the X70, the damage inflicted to this heavy goods vehicle looks to be amazingly minor. All that looks to have been damaged from this impact on the cement truck is the front lower grille panel and the front bumper, with even the front left door appearing to have escaped unscathed as a result of this accident.
Upon closer examination however, the front axle of the cement truck may have been bent out of place due to its coming together with the X70. The exhaust too on the truck looks to have been knocked off kilter, though this is hardly an issue compared to completely crumpled remains of the Proton.
In fact, judging from the fact that there is not a straight panel of the original car to be found on the X70 in the aftermath of this accident, it is perhaps unfortunate (but not entirely unsurprising) to come to the conclusion that the occupants within the Proton X70 at the time would have a slim chance of survival in this accident. As mentioned prior though, there has been no reports thus far regarding the aftermath of this collision, as well as the cause of this unfortunate incident.
Now just to end on this rather harrowing story on a less sombre tone, if I were to hypothesise regarding the cause of this incident, I would say that it would appear for this presumably parked X70 happened to just have acted as a rather expensive chock against the runaway cement truck with a faulty parking brake. This is especially considering that this accident occurred on a slight gradient near what looks to be an entrance to an open air parking lot
So while it may perhaps be a costly insurance payout for the cement truck driver/company, at least no one would have been injured (or killed) if this particular hypothesis turned out to be true. Nevertheless, the takeaway here is perhaps to ensure that the handbrake’s on our cars are in working order, and maybe to just give the large commercial vehicles a wide berth, both out on the road and when parked.
