Ratbag
Administrator
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2012
- Messages
- 7,470
- Location
- Bayside, Melbourne, Vic
- Car Year
- MY06, MY10
- Car Model
- Forester SG & SH
- Transmission
- 5MT/DR & 4EAT Sports
Gidday Bennie
Yes. Very interesting and informative.
In my youth, a young woman in a Mini hit an old single spinner Ford square on in the front. IF she had been wearing a seatbelt, she would have walked away from it. As it was, she was thrown through the windscreen into the middle of it all, and died instantly.
The couple in the Ford were not seriously injured.
What was really interesting was that the Mini penetrated to within a foot or so of the bottom of the windscreen of the Ford (about 4 feet ... ), while it was only crushed back a foot or so, with the engine rolling under the firewall protection bar and forcing the body of the Mini up and away from the impact; while absorbing much of the impact. The passenger compartment of the Mini was not distorted at all. The Mini was the very first car to have pre-determined crumple rates designed into it, AFAIK.
You could have changed gears with a screwdriver while sitting in the back seat of the Ford.
Relative masses?
Ford approx. 2 tons (4,480 lbs / 2,000 kgs)
Mini approx. 1/2 ton (1,120 lbs / 500 kgs)
A friend who used to run a wrecking/repair business told me that he had never seen any Mini come in with any sort of major distortion of the passenger compartment in some 25~30 years.
When you watch the driving behaviour of some drivers, it is quite amazing that the gutters are not running with blood ...
I have only had to help drag a few people out of smashes. Fortunately none so serious as these. Still a very sobering experience.
A "normal" sized car weighing about 1,000 kgs has about the same hitting power at 60 kms/h as a .600 Nitro Express rifle (Elephant gun ... ) at point-blank range. Think about it
.
American cars have different airbag deployment rates and amounts and actuation speeds (deceleration rates) from those fitted to Australian vehicles. As I understand it, this is because airbags in Oz assume that one is wearing a properly fitted seatbelt as is required by law. The wearing of a seatbelt is not a legal requirement in the USA, AFAIK.
It is interesting that in my Fox (MY06) the vehicle weighs the front seat passenger and deploys the airbag according to its calculations. I assume that this is the norm for modern vehicles here. Does anyone know?
Yes. Very interesting and informative.
In my youth, a young woman in a Mini hit an old single spinner Ford square on in the front. IF she had been wearing a seatbelt, she would have walked away from it. As it was, she was thrown through the windscreen into the middle of it all, and died instantly.
The couple in the Ford were not seriously injured.
What was really interesting was that the Mini penetrated to within a foot or so of the bottom of the windscreen of the Ford (about 4 feet ... ), while it was only crushed back a foot or so, with the engine rolling under the firewall protection bar and forcing the body of the Mini up and away from the impact; while absorbing much of the impact. The passenger compartment of the Mini was not distorted at all. The Mini was the very first car to have pre-determined crumple rates designed into it, AFAIK.
You could have changed gears with a screwdriver while sitting in the back seat of the Ford.
Relative masses?
Ford approx. 2 tons (4,480 lbs / 2,000 kgs)
Mini approx. 1/2 ton (1,120 lbs / 500 kgs)
A friend who used to run a wrecking/repair business told me that he had never seen any Mini come in with any sort of major distortion of the passenger compartment in some 25~30 years.
When you watch the driving behaviour of some drivers, it is quite amazing that the gutters are not running with blood ...
I have only had to help drag a few people out of smashes. Fortunately none so serious as these. Still a very sobering experience.
A "normal" sized car weighing about 1,000 kgs has about the same hitting power at 60 kms/h as a .600 Nitro Express rifle (Elephant gun ... ) at point-blank range. Think about it
.American cars have different airbag deployment rates and amounts and actuation speeds (deceleration rates) from those fitted to Australian vehicles. As I understand it, this is because airbags in Oz assume that one is wearing a properly fitted seatbelt as is required by law. The wearing of a seatbelt is not a legal requirement in the USA, AFAIK.
It is interesting that in my Fox (MY06) the vehicle weighs the front seat passenger and deploys the airbag according to its calculations. I assume that this is the norm for modern vehicles here. Does anyone know?
