Quote:
Originally Posted by 1.5Ldave
Weight has no bearing on how well a vehicle will do in a crash. Size for the most part doesnt either, granted to dont end up underneath one of the collosus vehicles people drive to "feel" safe. Ill choose quality engineering over some big heavy box for safety any day of the week and twice on sunday.
f150 and mini cooper 40 mph crash comparison
Both of these vehicles hit the exact same off-set barrier at 40mph. Now keep in mind that this is not a test of how the two cars would fare in a head-on collision with each-other. This is simply how the cars did versus an off-set crash test. In fact all you have to do is look at the dummy’s legs and you can get an idea of what would happen if you hit a wall in either car. The MINI had almost no intrusion which “indicates that the driver’s survival space was maintained very well” - the F150 on the other hand had “Major collapse of the occupant compartment that left little survival space for the driver.” |
Quote:
Originally Posted by eRoc
I beg to differ with this argument. Weight and size do have a big part of how vehicles do in a crash.
Take the vehicles in that video. Mini Cooper maybe weighs 2200lbs. F-150 weighs approx 5000 lbs (guessing). You wouldn't think that at 40mph the Ford would carry more momentum into the crash than the mini cooper? What if we took an f150 made out of Nerf and crashed it into a wall at 40mph? Do you think it would have the same effect? I doubt it would crumple further than the front bumper.
Size also matters. Take a number two pencil. Snap it in half. Then take that half and snap it in half. Then take the smaller half and snap that in half. It gets increasingly harder each time.
Finding the balance inbetween all of this is why engineers get paid the big bucks.
Physics....
P.S. First time poster. I'm going to post in the welcome forum but I found this thread through Treehugger.com (actually found Aerocivic and there was a link to this thread). I'm intrigued by all of this so I will be posting more often.
-Eric
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That generation Ford in the 4 door extended cab variety was rated THE WORST. The body deformed horribly. The Current model ford is actually one of the safest fullsize. Ford took a LOT of
deserved beating for that poor crash test and they thankfully did something about it.
Body on frame generally do poor in crash test. Unit body the complete body structure IS the frame so you are sitting in more of a cage. Example. My 86 Previa has a MUCH better crash rating then the full sized 3/4 ton Suburban it replaced.
European vehicles tend to have better safety standards especially over full size Truck based vehicles. When most of the safety standards in the US came into play was LONG after the Germans in particular were building passenger safe cars.
Side impacts is where the main concern is. A large vehicle has the occupants sitting higher. When hit in the side most Truck based vehicles will be hit on or below the door sill then involve the frame approximately where the transmission crossmember is located where the vehicle is stronger. A small vehicle you are involving the B pillar and door where there is a large open span. It takes a LOT of extra material in those location to give strength to withstand the hit and there is NO crush zone to speak of before the occupant comes into contact with the side of the vehicle.
Back to the original Topic
Great read. Thanks for the very detailed post of upgrades and results. You have me fired up to try a few things on my Bean (Previa).