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-   -   Enquiry about Crumple Zones (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/9236-enquiry-about-crumple-zones.html)

Having crumple zones is probably the LEAST bit of safety addon one can have in a car. However, i am a little confused regarding the presence of crumple zones in some small cars:
Maruti 800
Maruti Zen
Maruti WagonR
Hyundai Santro
Tata Indica

Can anyone please confirm which of the above have the crumple zones and which have not please:

I have read somewhere that zen does not have one. If zen does not have one, then I really doubt if the 800 has one. I am sure Indica and Santro have one. Not sure about WagonR.

Hey dceite... First of all Crumple Zones are not addons. As in you can not separately install them. They are built into the car at the manufacturing stage. In Europe it is mandatory to take NCAP star ratings for crash worthiness. So crumple zones are there in all cars (and more). In india a Maruti 800 can still do without one bcoz we do not have such strict rulings on these fronts (I believe).

Tata Indica definitely has crumple zones on the front and sides (and possibly at the back). I believe even Santro has crumple zones. These are typically areas which absorb the energy and crumple under the impact in case of a crash and thus saves the passenger cage to some extent.

Thanks Zappo for correction.

Actually i am asking this questions because the first 4 cars are in my family, and the last one is the one i am planning to buy(turbo).
I checked out the site for Indica V2, but it does not mention Crumple zones in the safety feature list.
The only safety feature in Indica is Side impact beams and usual stuff (collapsible steering, child locks, stop lamp etc.)

Which means, that out of the above list, Indica, 800 and Zen dont have crumple zones !?. :confused:

WagonR and Santro have crumple zones i confirmed from websites.

No. I believe if it is not mentioned on the site separately it is probably bcoz it looked so obvious to them (Tata). In fact in the small car category Indica was one of the first (probably the first) that came out with Crumple Zones. Remember, Santro was launched immediately after Indica (if I am not wrong). Also, Crumple zones are so very basic things to have that europeans won't accept a car without one (they will boo you away). And Indica was sold in the heart of Europe, in UK that is :D

As a matter of fact, amongst the small cars Indica is one of the safest cars to be in, in case of an accident. I have seen really really bad cases where any other cars would have been blown away to bits... like the one a few days back when an Indicab (yes even they have crumple zones) darted out of a gully at a high speed without a care, as is their wont. An Octy was coming at a speed of 100+ kms on the main road (it was very late in the night). It simply crashed into the cab, fishtailed, went round twice on its axis and then hit the divider and overturned.

I saw the vehicles on the next day parked outside the police station. The interesting part was the Indicab. Its engine bay was gone... The front axle broken with the wheels badly twisted... the door was gone... basically beyond salvage. Interesting thing I noticed was that the passenger cage was mostly ok!!! That is where the safety comes in :) If it had been a Maruti or any other small car you know what would have happened.

P.S. : If I am not mistaken the indica in its Rover avatar got an NCAP rating of 3 or so... I think I read that somewhere. If so pretty good for an Indian car.

Zappo.

As i am writing this reply, i have tried to look up in every possible website about Indica's safety feature list. No crumple zones :mad:

Infact, turn to Autocar shootout on PalioD v/s Indica Turbo. For Palio, "frontal structure with controled deformation", which i think is equvalent of a crumple zone, is explicitly given. No such feature in Indica. So your assesment that its obvious to have crumple zones in Indica might not be correct. If they advertise high mount stop lamp as a safety feature, then why not crumple zones????:confused:

Ok lets see... whether I can help you. Obviously if I tell you I have seen them it won't satisfy you. Check out the following two links to start with...

http://www.tatasa.co.za/English/models/indica.aspx (Click on the Safety link)

http://www.cybersteering.com/cbmain/smlcars/indddx.html

http://www.tata.com/tata_motors/arti...sh_testing.htm

Also let me assure you dear ol' buddy, Tatas are the only manufacturer in India to have a full spec'd integrated Crash Testing Facility of their own. So you are in safe hands in that aspect. In fact if you read that last article you will never think of buying another car. :D

P.S. I meant "you won't buy any other Indian car..."

hmmm.. thanks Zappo. The last article is from officiale TATA website, and at laaaaaast i see the word "crumple zones". Much relieved now ;) .. So then, all it needs is some airbags, and voila, you have the Safest small car in India!.. Swift beware!...

Now the next big question is Zen. Does it have em?

I don't agree here...they should be quite important. I believe crumple zones can save your life or limbs from breaking during sever collisions, if they work the way they are supposed to (and presuming that you are wearing seat-belts, and even better if you have air bags)

difficult part is to validate how effective they are, since it can only be confirmed after a destructive testing:p So, manufactureres can easily make high claims (at least in india where you don't have go through crash testing, I guess!). recent "fida" story talk about thousands/millions of crash simulations with supercomputers and what not... but it looks more like nice marketing which I won't readily trust. Therefore IMHO, it is quite difficult to compare crash worthyness among different cars

hmm.. so it seems Zen and 800 are the only culprits left without crumple zones. Can anybody conirm about Zen?

Isnt the Zen exported to countries in Europe? Holland for example? Crumple zones are nothing new, it was one of the first step towards reducing injuries in accidents, so they have been here for quite some time. They are designed to absorb most of the crash energy so that least amount of it is transferred to the passenger cell.

You may have noticed most cars become smashed beyond recognition in a frontal collision, dont think its weak....thats the crumple zone working its magic. As long as the passenger cell is in good condition, the crumple zone has done its job. But the crumple zone has to work with other safety devices in the car like airbags, seatbelts etc. to provide complete safety.

By the way crumple zones are only on the front and back of a car, not on the sides as someone mentioned. Not on the sides simply because, there isnt enough space in the doors to accomodate a crumple zone, thats why we have strengthening beams there to avoid intrusion in the passenger cell in case of a side impact.

So back to the actual question...i wouldnt be surprised if a Zen has crumple zones. On the other hand, if you look at accidents involving a maruti 800, the whole car seems to be a crumple zone. Theres quite a lot of intrusion of the passenger cell even at relatively low speed impacts. The 800 definately doesnt have crumple zones.

Drifter

Alto got crumple zones ??? have to go check come ones zen.. Though the corsa i have right now have crumple zones.. Very easy way to check whether the car have crumple zones is check their headlights. Open the hood.and see the crumple zones where head light is attached to.. Those crumple zones breaks up when u have a accident and takes damage onto them..

My friend was telling that he had a accident with a Rickshaw at a speed of 10-20 and his headlight crumple zones broke up. So i think they usually take up the impact and break up at low impacts too..

Please tell me if i am wrong at some point..

:)

I didnt quite understand what you were trying to say...but are you talking about the space behind the headlight, the engine bay perhaps? All cars have that hehe, but in all cases it might not be a crumple zone, take for example the ambassador, its whole body is a rigid structure, quite strong but not the best in case of an accident.

Yup, crumple zones are designed to deform even on low speed impacts so that least amount of energy is transferred to the occupants.

Drifter

Hey drifter,

I am not talking about that space behind. I will take pic and post it tom.

:)

Alto and Zen do have crumple zones. Indica too. 800 dosent.