Minicars fall short for small overlap frontal crash protection (IIHS)

[P-hack]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

The tests in question aren't "government" tests. The one this thread about is performed only by the IIHS.

Yes, and the more people they scare the better their job security (and the more likely the government will respond with "demands" for more safety mods at any cost).

[user removed]

Stupid regulators. Lets see, the manufacturers build cars that pass all safety testing, so lets just create a new test where the impact point is chosen to be right outside the frame rails and directly on the left front suspension.

In high school, senior year, I drove a 59 Austin Healey Sprite, probably one of the most dangerous cars ever sold in the US as far as crash protection. No collapsable steering column, no side guard beams, no front or rear crush zones, etc,etc, with 4000 plus pound behemoths all around me. Don't even mention the 59 Corvette with the exploding gas tank.

regards
Mech

[wdb]

My recollection is that offset impact tests were instituted after pretty much everyone admitted the basic flaw in the previous frontal impact test, where the car was driven straight into a wall, meeting it directly head-on with full frontal contact. That test didn't jive with what really happens in accidents. Offset impact tests do.

This is a tough, tough test no doubt, and it represents an extreme situation as regards the frontal area involved and the location of same (directly in front of the driver). But the impact absorbing structures resulting from engineering to pass this test are more likely to save lives out here in the real world. If I'm going to have to pay for cars that are built to safety standards, I want those standards to be as useful and realistic as possible.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by Old Tele man

Nope, it's a NHTSA test (from Wiki) ...the IIHS is just the first to publish their results.

I don't think so.

The IIHS on its own web site distinguishes between its tests and the federal front crash test requirements: Frontal crash tests .

In the links you provided, there's no direct reference to the 25% offset test as performed by the IIHS. There's no mention of it in the federal NHSTA NCAP Frontal crash test procedures:

http://www.safercar.gov/Vehicle+Shop...est+Procedures

Though it's clear NHTSA is studying additional tests to improve safety, including smaller offset crashes, nothing like the IIHS 25% test is currently required.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by wdb

But the impact absorbing structures resulting from engineering to pass this test are more likely to save lives out here in the real world.

Problem #1 is that it only looks at half the equation, looking at lives saved in crashes, but not lives lost because the the heavier car couldn't avoid the collision. And further up the line, lives lost mining the extra materials, extracting the extra oil needed to run the heavier cars, etc.

[P-hack]

It seems all "problems" are solved by making them someone elses problem.

[Frank Lee]

NHTSA has coerced the States- with boatloads of grant money- into it's draconian vision of Utopia with, among other things, it's patently ridiculous "Towards Zero Deaths" program. While working to improve safety is wonderful, I think that they called it "Towards ZERO Deaths" is revealing in a way they did not intend. We know, they know, everybody knows ZERO deaths is never going to happen, just as zero bathtub and zero stairway and zero sidewalk deaths aren't ever going to happen, but a mission statement like that pretty much guarantees the perpetuation of the organization and program to infinity, and it also gives them carte blanche to dictate pretty much as they see fit.

[gone-ot]

What? No more Automotive Darwin Award Winners?

How is mankind (civilization?) gonna "cull" the herd of low-hanging dingleberries?

[Frank Lee]

With "war" of course! The military-industrial complex needs all the cannon fodder it can get. Ahhhh haaaaa... so that's why the government pays people, especially idiots, to reproduce.

[HydroJim]

Lets see the Edison2 VLC take this test!