Crash test dummies

[Vladimir]

Anyone are the program on TV last night? Found it rather fascinating and found myself looking up a few cars on NCAP.

Our van is quite good, our BMis very good but the 1 series we hope to get soon is the same as a new Range Rover! Pretty outstanding really.

Anyone know what the safest car is? XC90 scores well as does the Golf.

[kiethton]

Safest in what sense?

For occupants it would be the biggest/heaviest car/4x4 that isn't likely to roll over although it would mean that anybody that you hit is going to end up a lot worse if you compare one of those beasts to the damage caused by a Smart car.

[Vladimir]

kiethton said:

Safest in what sense?

For occupants it would be the biggest/heaviest car/4x4 that isn't likely to roll over although it would mean that anybody that you hit is going to end up a lot worse if you compare one of those beasts to the damage caused by a Smart car.

But it's not though; Golf scores higher than a RR and a Merc M class for example. And the pedestrian protection for most SUVs is terrible; it's good on a 1 series. Worth a look as some results are surprising.

[Pickled Piper]

Excellent programme. I used to work in that field so it is was of Professional interest.

Started of as being a bit light weight but progressed into a well researched piece.

[kiethton]

Vladimir said:

kiethton said:

Safest in what sense?

For occupants it would be the biggest/heaviest car/4x4 that isn't likely to roll over although it would mean that anybody that you hit is going to end up a lot worse if you compare one of those beasts to the damage caused by a Smart car.

But it's not though; Golf scores higher than a RR and a Merc M class for example. And the pedestrian protection for most SUVs is terrible; it's good on a 1 series. Worth a look as some results are surprising.

Surely it's not, physics states that if there is more weight there is more kinetic energy that must be disapated in the event of a crash - typically into something that is smaller (not a tree).

Larger crumple zones associated with a larger car will also absorb a lot more energy to reduce any injury to occupants.

The AA said:

Test results and safety ratings are published in groups, based on size/weight categories

[kambites]

Two things.

Firstly the test is done against a static, unmovable object. A head-on with another car is very different because conservation of momentum dictates that the lighter car will undergo a vastly greater rate of acceleration than the heavy one.

Secondly the criteria for a given size of car to achieve a particular number of stars is different from that of another size anyway.



Heavy cars are safer for the occupants (and more dangerous for everyone else). My money for the overall "safest" car would be on something like the new S-class Merc. Big and heavy enough to make sure that it's the other person that suffers in a head-on; huge amounts of safety focussed techonology to both decrease the likelihood of an accident in the first place and protect the driver in its event; and a low CoG so less likely to flip than an SUV.

Edited by kambites on Thursday 29th August 09:46

[s p a c e m a n]

kambites is right, the ncap scores don't mean what you seem to think they do.

[Matt UK]

s p a c e m a n said:

kambites is right, the ncap scores don't mean what you seem to think they do.

Agreed. Although many have tried, you just can't argue with the laws of physics.

[y2blade]

Vladimir said:

Anyone are the program on TV last night? Found it rather fascinating and found myself looking up a few cars on NCAP.

Our van is quite good, our BMis very good but the 1 series we hope to get soon is the same as a new Range Rover! Pretty outstanding really.

Anyone know what the safest car is? XC90 scores well as does the Golf.

What was the program called? and what channel was it on please?

[Krikkit]

Matt UK said:

s p a c e m a n said:

kambites is right, the ncap scores don't mean what you seem to think they do.

Agreed. Although many have tried, you just can't argue with the laws of physics.

NCAP is for stationary objects, and a good indicator within categories about how different cars will fair in identical accidents. Out in the real world you want something huge or a Volvo (they do hundreds of tests on each car).

[boobles]

[itz_baseline]

Matt UK said:

Agreed. Although many have tried, you just can't argue with the laws of physics.

Yeah Mythbusters did an interesting piece a while ago. Many people think if 2 cars exactly the same crash head on into each other each doing 60mph it's like hitting a wall at 120mph. But laws of physics showed its no different to hitting an immovable object at 60mph.

This obviously means if a 2 ton car hit a 1 ton car head on, each doing 60mph, the 2 ton car would come off remarkably better.

[kambites]

itz_baseline said:

This obviously means if a 2 ton car hit a 1 ton car head on, each doing 60mph, the 2 ton car would come off remarkably better.

Well you get a result roughly as if the 1 tonne car had hit an immovable object at 80 or the two tonne one at 40.

[y2blade]

boobles said:

Give him time.

[Vladimir]

With a physics A level and an Engineering degree (by the skin of my teeth...!), I'm aware of impulse forces but I still found it interesting.

That Blundell crash was horrific; astonishing that he was okay(ish).