Modern cars are amazing

I spend a vast amount of my working life crashing cars in the Safety Test Department of Millbrook Proving Ground so have a bit of knowledge on this subject.

That was no way crashed at 50mph. As has already been said looking at that picture that was no more that 20-25 mph absolute maximum. I know what cars look like at crashes at various speeds, and without seeing more views, what we can see there would match a 20-25 mph impact.

Which would tie in to why the airbags did not go off, again as has been said the airbag ecu looks at varous sensors aropund the vehicle but the main one is vehicle speed. Very roughly (this is not exact it varies from manufacturer to manufacturer), a crash at up 10-15 mph will not fire any airbags or pre tensioners. A crash between 15-25 will fire pre tensioners but no airbags, a crash of 25-30 and above will fire everything.
 
As fox rightly pointed out - if he wasnt injured the airbags werent required - there's a lot more intelligence in newer cars than just an acellerometer.

Did the seatbelt pretensioners go off?
 
Impact speed was 30-40 for this one:

DSC01264.jpg


DSC01265.jpg


DSC01266.jpg


DSC01267.jpg


Neither of the two guys had belts on, no airbags, passenger was thrown out and drivers face was pretty smashed up from what I remember. Note the smashed alloy.

Back on topic, yes, moderns are pretty amazing at head-on impacts. My dad was hit head on by a drug driver which totalled the front of his new Merc. Broke his thumb when the airbag went off but his door still opened, he got out and it was repairable. The whole lot just unbolts apparently and they just replace it around your bulletproof little driving cell.
 
205's were actually pretty bad in accidents. It was one of the reasons they were discontinued if I recall.
 
I love my classics, but I hate to think how my 35yr old Manta would fare.
I suspect it would be like sitting in a cream egg wrapper :p
 
there was a big story in german press about awful chinese cars a few years ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9RbZyrJQ4g (crash is 40s in)

ADAC tested a Brilliance and it failed spectacularly.
what's shocking is that people will buy these POS cars beacuse they're cheap, not knowing they're death traps :/

the fact that a lot of new chinese cars, especially Geely, are just complete knock-offs of german manufacturers. if they ever sell cars in europe, stupid people might get confused and buy the Geely instead :o
 
Combined impact speed was 60mph head on with a Corsa . . . My car was a 15 year old Fiesta . . . Rescue took the roof off but nothing else. . .

Carwreck001.jpg


The bulkhead was distorted when the engine pushed back causing this. . . .

carwreck002.jpg


Scary how unsafe a car that old is ! All my future buys will be influenced by the N-Cap rating.

Mate had a head on in his ST with a 5Series at a much greater speed and the damage went all around him but didn't enter the passenger compartment & he was able to walk away from it.
 
It's hit a narrow hard thing and done less damage then hitting a wide deformable thing at 40, that wasn't a 50mph crash, which is why the airbags didn't go off.

Have the seatbelt pre-tensioners fired? The car may have logged the deceleration.
 
Sanchez said:
I suspected as much. That's a thought that will give me great comfort as I cruise down the M1 at 70 mph each workday.
Click to expand...
But that's why you keep your distance, know your limits and probably have pretty good control of your car. The stupid twit tailgating you without a clue what his car can do is like that because his car has made him like that. I'd rather you were behind me thanks :)
 
Not only is that orange van not Chinese (as already stated it's a VW T3) but that video is pretty dubious too. Here's someone else's take on it, with other crash test footage to support their argument. [Youtube]
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom