Jump to content

Do you ever think about how safe your car is?


Heidel_Kakao

Recommended Posts

Mustardmitt, i was pleased when the little 106 my daughter drove when she first passed her test finally died despite it being a good little car, she drove like the devil himself was after her, still does so i'm pleased she liked the Civics we found for her which were much more sturdy cars, she now owns a bloody 300hp Civic typeR which she bought new, no i haven't been in it and have no wish to worry mesen about her any more than i already do.

 

I've been in hundreds of crashes, was a banger racer in me misspent youth and still have the bolloxed knees, those old cars didn't buckle as easily as crash test footage might imply, but then invariably the accidents were between similarly weighted cars not this statutory offset block which we all find carelessly abandoned on the motorway and is the accident we witness every day, hence to me NCAP and the others are good comparisons but not the be all and end all of motoring survival...if you get pole axed by a big bloody lorry at full speed its curtains whatever you are in.

 

I'm happy my loved ones are in safe solid cars, well apart from the Aygo which hopefully they'll upgrade sometime, its probably fine for its size but compared to other vehicles out there?...this thread prompted me to look at the crash footage for SWMBO's second generation Outback, surprisingly sturdy car for its design time...as for meself i've driven hundreds of thousands of miles in fibre glass cabbed bloody old lorries with 20 tons of steel tubes behind and still here to tell the tale, if i'd had a serious bump in one then there was no chance of survival, i've known many decent lads killed in older lorries.

 

As said when its your turn its your turn, i'll take my own risks and hedge my luck by making sure my car's windows are clean, the lights work well, the brakes are shit hot (thats my obsession) and the tyres as decent wet grip as i can reasonably get, and i won't tailgate under any circs, if i get an idiot stuck up me arse i'll let him by soon as possible until that moment i'll increase my braking distance so hopefully it won't be a sandwich if the idiot hits me up the arse.

 

As in much of life you can make your own chances better by a bit of common sense, but if someone loses it on a bend coming towards you at 80mph or a lorry driven by half wit crosses the central reserve and you're in the way then a couple more stars isn't going to make a huge difference to what happens, as above i'd rather be dead than seriously maimed, cos i is not brave like some you see coping admirably, i wouldn't cope.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I feel totally safe:

 

 

Much safer than an XJ40:

 

 

 

You realise the XJ40 is hitting a concrete wall at 110 km/h?  :-D  That is well beyond any current NCAP type test which crashes cars at only 64 km/h -  and most likely beyond the forces the Series III has been subjected to. The XJ40 was also likely to be significantly rusted along the sill to floor pan join - a real problem area on the XJ40 which causes the sill to become unattached to the floor all along the sides of the car, significantly compromising its strength. The Series III was astonishingly safe for a car introduced in 1968, but its structure is much less strong than that of the XJ40. Rigidity was one of the biggest areas of improvement the XJ40 made over the Series cars.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

 

Both the Mazda and the Kia did better than I thought they would, especially the Mazda! Can't find one for the BGD apparently they either do not exist of just VERY hard to find!

 

Edit: it says Kia Optima but it's the same car, they call it a better name over there :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh yes, while finding actual video is hard, I do have personal knowledge of a Silver Spirit crash: a friends parents had a new one every couple of years and in about 1987 their car was involved in a fatal accident. They were driving down a wide road (that leads to a dual carriageway) at about 55mph in the Spirit when a dozy f**ker in a Metro pulled right out in front of them from the right hand side. Needless to say, the occupants of the Metro were extremely dead but the Spirit drove away! It was later written off though as the roof had distorted and so had the 'C' pillars as well as the obvious damage to the front end - which was just the grill (sob! ) lights and in front of the wheels. Both of my mates parents were uninjured though obviously very shaken/upset.  They had another car exactly the same shortly after.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, I always felt the statistics were flawed. The Ford Escort always came out really badly in those crashes, but I did wonder how you account for the fact that if there are more examples of a car, it's surely more likely that some of they will crash. The crash stats always just looked like the list of most popular cars to me. 

 

Mind you, I was always shit at maths...

 

I T-boned an Escort in my GS.

Black ice and he reversed then stopped right in front of me at a T junction.

I thought the GS was done for but when we got out there was only a tiny dent in the bumper.

Escort was written off, bent like a banana.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You realise the XJ40 is hitting a concrete wall at 110 km/h?  :-D  That is well beyond any current NCAP type test which crashes cars at only 64 km/h -  and most likely beyond the forces the Series III has been subjected to. The XJ40 was also likely to be significantly rusted along the sill to floor pan join - a real problem area on the XJ40 which causes the sill to become unattached to the floor all along the sides of the car, significantly compromising its strength. The Series III was astonishingly safe for a car introduced in 1968, but its structure is much less strong than that of the XJ40. Rigidity was one of the biggest areas of improvement the XJ40 made over the Series cars.

 

If memory serves the XJ40 was the safest car on the road in about 1992? according to the crash tests of the time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh yes, while finding actual video is hard, I do have personal knowledge of a Silver Spirit crash: a friends parents had a new one every couple of years and in about 1987 their car was involved in a fatal accident. They were driving down a wide road (that leads to a dual carriageway) at about 55mph in the Spirit when a dozy f**ker in a Metro pulled right out in front of them from the right hand side. Needless to say, the occupants of the Metro were extremely dead but the Spirit drove away! It was later written off though as the roof had distorted and so had the 'C' pillars as well as the obvious damage to the front end - which was just the grill (sob! ) lights and in front of the wheels. Both of my mates parents were uninjured though obviously very shaken/upset.  They had another car exactly the same shortly after.

Shit! Being in the Rolls it must have been like when a big bug hits your windscreen with that Metro!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have 3 theories.

 

1) I am safer in any car, than when I used to own an RD350LC and ride it flat out. (How I didn't crash when I seized it at 90 mph, I have no idea)

2) If car companies wanted to make safer cars, they'd build them like a World Championship rally car, with full roll cage, plumbed in fire extinguisher, 5 point harnesses etc. but nobody would ever buy them - I say this because when offered the free option of either ABS or a Sunroof, back in the early 90's people went for the sunroof every time.

3) It's better to not crash, and you do that partly by believing that if you did crash, you would die. Hence I don't tend to drive like I did when I was 20 and believed I was immortal.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, I always felt the statistics were flawed. The Ford Escort always came out really badly in those crashes, but I did wonder how you account for the fact that if there are more examples of a car, it's surely more likely that some of they will crash. The crash stats always just looked like the list of most popular cars to me. 

 

I'd expect it to be normalised to account for the differences in sample sizes, but it'll be skewed by certain cars (Escort XR3i perhaps?) which attract the sort of demographic which is more likely to crash...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You realise the XJ40 is hitting a concrete wall at 110 km/h?  :-D  That is well beyond any current NCAP type test which crashes cars at only 64 km/h -  and most likely beyond the forces the Series III has been subjected to. The XJ40 was also likely to be significantly rusted along the sill to floor pan join - a real problem area on the XJ40 which causes the sill to become unattached to the floor all along the sides of the car, significantly compromising its strength. The Series III was astonishingly safe for a car introduced in 1968, but its structure is much less strong than that of the XJ40. Rigidity was one of the biggest areas of improvement the XJ40 made over the Series cars.

 

I am aware of the points raised, I just wanted a reason to post that XJ40 video!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You realise the XJ40 is hitting a concrete wall at 110 km/h?  :-D  That is well beyond any current NCAP type test which crashes cars at only 64 km/h -  and most likely beyond the forces the Series III has been subjected to. The XJ40 was also likely to be significantly rusted along the sill to floor pan join - a real problem area on the XJ40 which causes the sill to become unattached to the floor all along the sides of the car, significantly compromising its strength. The Series III was astonishingly safe for a car introduced in 1968, but its structure is much less strong than that of the XJ40. Rigidity was one of the biggest areas of improvement the XJ40 made over the Series cars.

 

 

That 110kph head on was also done with a large weight in the boot (as was that self destructing orange VW T3 pickup that does the rounds on youtube)

 

I am aware of the points raised, I just wanted a reason to post that XJ40 video!

 

The XJ40 is about a safe as cars got in the 80`s 90`s, & would still win in head-ons against many moderns.

 

 

Safety is one of the main reasons I`ve stuck with XJ`s for the last 20 years, although I am wary of making the leap from the X308 to the aluminium X350 for that very reason, even though my kids, both over 6` are struggling to fit in my X308 now (the main reason I`m considering moving `up` to the X350).

 

Its great, the concept of a lightweight XJ, and I`m sure they do well in official crash tests, but how would it do in a high speed crash compared to a steel XJ? Especially a hard rear ender?

 

Theres only 1 way to find out...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I dont carry passengers in the back of my Uno, Panda, Sei`s or any of my small cars (I`ve actually removed the back seats in most of them because of it), because I know very well that if I got rear ended at 30 by a 4x4/van/lorry, the rear seat passengers would have no chance.

I`m fully aware that I wouldnt have much chance if I went into anything above 25 or so in the Uno as well, but I still cant help myself driving like my arse is on fire when I`m on my own, its just one of them cars.

I did rear end a Mk4 Fiesta about a decade ago in my 87 Daimler XJ40 at about 20mph, The Fiesta was demolished, rear wheels locked into the arches, exploded rear screen, both rear doors jammed, rear seat gone forward etc. I counted my blessings there was no one sitting in the back of it. The sum total damage to the Daimler was a twisted front bumper (which I un-twisted) & a crack in the grille above the D badge.. That was literally it.. No cracked lenses, no paint damage.
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I checked on google image a while back and although unsuprised, I was still appalled to see the destruction of Alto Zens in India. The crumple zone seems to be the passenger compartment with the engine compartment oddly intact. This is despite rust presumably not being a huge issue in weakening the shell in such a hot country. Dreadful waste of life.

 

I bought a yellow ZR to replace the Alto. Hardly cutting edge but alot more substantial and Visible.

post-18268-0-37110300-1508963500_thumb.jpg

post-18268-0-06038400-1508963516_thumb.jpg

post-18268-0-04720100-1508963532_thumb.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No, not really.

 

It's a Euro Ncap 4 star if I remember right, but I have no doubt one is for having side impact beams and another for having the passenger airbag warning in multiple languages, seatbelt reminder, etc. The American crash tests are seemingly at odds with the NCAP test.

 

Whatever though, if it's a biggie, I hope I'm a gonner and it's over quickly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On paper my Duster is terrible

 

It scored very well in the crash test for occupants but lost points because it didn’t have ESP (now a legal requirement so it does have) and some other shit which it does have

 

I smacked a 4 star car very hard into a tree side on a couple of years ago. Side air bags didn’t even deploy. As you can see the B pillar has gone and the A pillar was kinked too

 

post-17393-0-37554800-1508973877_thumb.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:shock:

 

That reminds of Kelvin Burt testing the SIPS (and safety cell) in his 850 at Oulton Park...

 

https://youtu.be/VLWWzhMz4co?t=13m10s

 

Obviously a roll cage makes it a slightly different kettle of fish to a road car, but I'd say that held up quite well. Burt was out cold for 15 minutes and had the concussion from hell. I briefly remember him vaulting a fence at Thruxton in a Porsche, too, around ten years later...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I try to avoid it if possible. The Doloshite does have a nice long boot with not much structure to make for a good crumple zone but unfortunately it's full of fuel tank... In the event of being hit side on I die, in a frontal I die or loose a leg or two.

 

The Civic is alright, apparently...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

unfortunately it's full of fuel tank.

 

Might be less of an issue than you think (I'm not an expert, at your own risk etc etc) but my mothers Allegro didn't explode after being rear ended, or miledly catch fire for that matter but she was pretty miffed at every last drop the full tank of petrol she had just put in leaking all over the road. She had filled up, left the petrol station and was immediately rear ended by a BMW.

 

If Flickr stops being a cunt a photo of said smashed Allegro might appear below, but I make no promises right now.

9704040480_fb95a1a934_b.jpg

My Mothers 1980 Austin Allegro - September 1989 by Matt S, on Flickr

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I checked on google image a while back and although unsuprised, I was still appalled to see the destruction of Alto Zens in India. The crumple zone seems to be the passenger compartment with the engine compartment oddly intact. This is despite rust presumably not being a huge issue in weakening the shell in such a hot country. Dreadful waste of life.

If you want to see unsafe cars, check out those "sans permit" microcars from France after a crash, they make those Alto`s look like Volvo`s..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Those cars crashed in India might be a bit deceptive - if you've driven into an oncoming lorry then it's all over, no matter what you're in.  Often because the lorry driver won't hit the brakes (or have working ones) so it just keeps on coming.  Ugh.

 

But I'm making an assumption about what they've hit, those accidents might have been the result of hitting a bicycle where the rider straightened out his handlebars afterwards and rode home.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just wear your seatbelt! You have to admire the confidence these test drivers have in them.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GWy0hHHECdM

 

Sorry, hopefully edited to show the video I intended to post, Germans driving into things with no safety features other than a seatbelt and a grimace.

Christ they are mad/brave! Particularly the last one, although I wouldn’t have swapped places with any of them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...