[LLL]

Originally Posted by pingping

- there are few crumple zones kept in the car to intake the impact of the crash so that the impact transfers to body of the car and not the occupants... this makes the occupants to face relatively less shock during collision. During collision the car should crumble and break so that the impact is not heavily transferred to the occupants or else it may lead to severe body injuries and sudden heart attacks and spinal breakage too

Can talk from 1st hand experience here. We were travelling in company indicab when we got rear-ended by an optra on DND. The impact must have been at 40+ kph. Nothing happened to optra but it must have recoiled by a good few mts. Luckily there was no car behind the optra else it would have got rear-ended. Our car also got kicked out by 10-20 mts and luckily for us there was no car in front, else we would have bumped in that car.

So its better to have a crumple zone which crumples and disspiates the energy rather than throw the car out and cause more collisions.

[neoonwheels]

I have seen many metal parts like radiator, few other things in front of engine in my car.. Even there is a notice in car which reads : The car is equipped with Collapsible steering column in case of impact and fuel supply would be broken down in that case... Even the doors have beams to spread the impact uniformly.. I will try to post engine bay pics..

[gkrishn]

Originally Posted by for_cars1

Take the case of European cars, opel, fiat, VW, skoda etc the always use thick guage sheet metal, their cars are heavy and well built and

A palio rearended a corsa. The front bumper gone... bonnet crumpled... the driver side front fender collapsed... radiator took hit and all coolant was on road. The accident was at 15kmph... but his wheel was locked up and the momentum was more than 15kmph.

Originally Posted by Gangsta

See, last week a girl hits my Accent with her Skoda at around 40-50 kmph. I was standing on the traffic signal. My rear bumper's paint was just scapped off and very mild impressions of the grill. Her skoda was busted open.

Do remove your rear bumper and check... even check inside of your boot. Do a close check. The bumper normally caves-in during a collision and then comes out to normal position. But it hides the damage done to internals...

Front end of any car will collapse more than the rear end...

[Gangsta]

Originally Posted by gkrishn

Do remove your rear bumper and check... even check inside of your boot. Do a close check. The bumper normally caves-in during a collision and then comes out to normal position. But it hides the damage done to internals...

Front end of any car will collapse more than the rear end...

Will surely check it in the morning. But Skoda being such a heavy car gain a lot of momentum at around 40-50 kmph speed. Directly hitting my car. It should had done more damage. When it hits my car, and i was getting out to see how much damage is been done. I was damn sure about my bumper would had been on the road or would had completely destroyed along some damage to the boot.
But how much it can caves-in after hitting with such a momentum? Dude it was my shear luck don't know how may be He-Man's Sheild by Hyundai or my good luck.

[Lalvaz]

Hmmm, most ppl here seem to believe that the european cars are better built than the Jap/Korean cars. Wonder if someone could post the crash test results of these cars. Would be interesting to know if crumple zones are really better than high impact beams. Just curious as to how many of you'll are automobile engineers/experts or have even seen these said crumple zones, impact beams. Nevertheless, I Love it when all of you use such jargon.

[BlackPearl]

Originally Posted by Gangsta

Will surely check it in the morning. But Skoda being such a heavy car gain a lot of momentum at around 40-50 kmph speed. Directly hitting my car. It should had done more damage. When it hits my car, and i was getting out to see how much damage is been done. I was damn sure about my bumper would had been on the road or would had completely destroyed along some damage to the boot.
But how much it can caves-in after hitting with such a momentum? Dude it was my shear luck don't know how may be He-Man's Sheild by Hyundai or my good luck.

the same thing happened when an esteem rear ended my baleno in Delhi. when I got down I saw that my car had escaped any damage except a scratch on the bumper. But that esteem's bonnet had taken the shape of a triangle. the esteem's driver was not at fault as he had stopped but an indicab behind him could not stop in time and rear ended the esteem.
the rear end of a car always get less damaged compared to the front.

[rapideffect]

Originally Posted by gkrishn

Front end of any car will collapse more than the rear end...

Rightly Said, my colleague had an experience of hitting her NHC with a Zen at lower speeds nearly 20Kph, the damage on the NHC was about 50K worth but the zen was zero, minor scratches on the rear bumper.

[BlackPearl]

Originally Posted by Lalvaz

Hmmm, most ppl here seem to believe that the european cars are better built than the Jap/Korean cars. Wonder if someone could post the crash test results of these cars. Would be interesting to know if crumple zones are really better than high impact beams. Just curious as to how many of you'll are automobile engineers/experts or have even seen these said crumple zones, impact beams. Nevertheless, I Love it when all of you use such jargon.

I for one believe that european cars are better built and have strong reasons to do that. I survived a crash when our Palio skidded off the road while doing 140+ and hit the bottom of tree before rolling 3 times. My friend and I came out of the car without a scratch. I dont think the jap cars could have done that, maybe except the mitsubishi lancer which IMO is quite well built.

[Lalvaz]

Glad you made it safely BlackPearl. But again, some of the crumple zone enthusiasts might say that the crumple zone technology might have caused the car to crumple, but the passengers would be safe. Its a debatable issue, which is why I was wondering if any of the automobile engineers on this forum might care to share some of the crash test results. We hear a lot of marketing spiel, and each company claims to be better than the other, but whats the truth?

Like I thought that more metal and bigger engine bay would help protect the passengers in a frontal collision, but some people say that its not true. Modern car technology and crumple zones, impact beams et all ensure that the car absorbs the impact while protecting the passengers.

So whom do we trust??? But hey, you survived in a Palio at 140kmph, so I could go in for a Palio. Its proven that its a tank ;-)

[gendarmee]

Originally Posted by vinodbijlani

HYUNDAI I10 Review
My i10 met with an accident at speed of about not more than 25km/h, hit a tree. Imagine....the engine block is broken
shouldnt the front bean take care of this? what do you guys think is it geninue review?

thanks

New cars have crumple zones which collapse on impact to save the commuters.
I remember seeing a fiesta run into a tractor on the road (a tractor was powering a hydraulic hammer) in the night coz the tractor had not lights or reflectors. the tractor was perpendicular to the road and the fiesta at 30 kmph.It hit the tractor diagonally. But then, the whole engine broke and rolled 30 feet to the front of the crash, other than that one couldn't make sense of any part lying on the road in bits and pieces.
Had I not been driving behind it i definitely would have thought that the car came and crashed at some 80-90 KMPH.
When i asked the ford guys about this when i gave my ikon for servicing he said that the engine was designed to break away that way to minimize the crash effect.
How ever, the cost of fixing the damage is phenomenal coz there is no real bumper, its just a plastic piece in newer cars.
My 118NE was into a serial head-tail crash a year and a half back.
The bumpers took the brunt, the Radiator devloped a leak at the bottom, but the AC's radiator was fine. but still cost 5K to fix. They attached pulleys and literally pulled the housing back into position and lotsa other things were effected even after the bumpers worked(it has solid iron bumpers)
If the bumpers wernt there or if it were my ikon the damage would have been sad.

So the point is, if you get into such an accident with any new car the damage is gonna be phenomenal, don't let that be a deciding factor just coz you found out that one i10 met with such an accident, all new cars are designed to take the brunt of an accidental crash.
If you'r very worried about it get a tube kinda chrome bumper (that a few innova sport in front and the side) get somthing like that installed in the front and the back will protect the car from the tiny crashes.

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by gendarmee

If you'r very worried about it get a tube kinda chrome bumper (that a few innova sport in front and the side) get somthing like that installed in the front and the back will protect the car from the tiny crashes.

So now you are suggesting he get a bull bar installed?!
Bullbars are non-pedestrian friendly and therefore not recommended.

[Thad E Ginathom]

That's too-nice a way of putting it...

They are lethal and should be banned!

[jaibir]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

That's too-nice a way of putting it...

They are lethal and should be banned!

Could you explain the dangers of bull bars? i've seen them on quite a few trucks. not too many cars though. never realised they were dangerous

[Thad E Ginathom]

Most modern vehicles are designed to do the least possible damage to pedestrians in a collision. Hit them with a bull bar and you may as well be knifing them.

It's never going to be fun, being hit by a car, but having the best chance counts.

It counts for the driver, as well, as the consequences of killing someone in what might have been a minor accident are... well, I needn't go on.

They are less safe for the occupants of the car too, as they change the way the body reacts and deforms in a collision.

There's more on this site, and probably plenty from other sites/countries.

[rr_zen]

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

Maybe they love their cars more than they love themselves. . I guess we could make a few movies with this theme.

I guess we already have a recent tamil movie on these lines(of course its a bike here) where the hero gets into a series of problems just because of his bike.