chinese car crash test

[FredK]

I don't understand why or when they crash tested this E30. It's pictured next to a Mini Cooper, and I'm pretty sure the nhsta and iihs only do crash tests on new cars...

[bimmer8604]

I don't understand why or when they crash tested this E30. It's pictured next to a Mini Cooper, and I'm pretty sure the nhsta and iihs only do crash tests on new cars...

the car was at the Port, nobody knows why its still there. it was a full euro model, too...not even supposed to be in the US... there were a lot of other cars at the port that werent supposed to be there too.............................:-)

That bmw held up exactly as it should have in that test. that Chinese car is horrid

[TwoJ's]

The misleading thing about such tests is that the driver is coming to a stop in a longer period of time resulting in a slower rate of deceleration. Then the driver has a crash with the inside of his car. If the car collapsing does not result in crushing the driver, he's better off. The BMW comes to a stop in a very short distance. The damage to the car is not the best measure of safety in a barrier impact. I'm not denying that this doesn't always correspond to increased safety in real life situations where an pickup bumper comes over the frame rails or into the side of the car. Without seat belts or an air bag, the driver continues at the car's speed until he is stopped by the interior of the car. Seat belts slow that down and air bags even more so. A car that collapses 12" comes to a much faster stop than one that collapses 24".

The rate at which a car would stop when collapsing 12" vs. 24" is miniscule. The better designed cars crumple less because they are designed to crumple in the engine compartment, but not the cabin. The fact that the chinese piece of shit crumpled more and had more time to stop just means that the cabin crushed the driver and passengers. The impact difference was probably unmeasurable (relative to mass). And I'm sure the seatbelts don't lock in impact on that tin can either. These tests are not misleading at all. They are designed by extremely intelligent people to be as realistic as possible.

[1991 318is]

Granted, it's "miniscule." Fact is the brain hemorrhages on itself at about 55 mph. In plain English, it turns to mush. All of the safety measures are designed to decrease the speed of the human body before it goes splat. Seat belts lock on impact and then stretch. They slow the body down a "miniscule" amount. Air bags slow the body a "miniscule" amount. A collapsing unibody slows the body down a "miniscule" amount. I'm not saying that that Chinese car is safer. That was not the point of my post. The tests are designed by intelligent people and intelligent people also design cars. They put all of those elements into a modern car. A lot of thought goes into how a well designed car absorbs impact.
Read the third sentence of my post again where I addressed the specific case of a collapsing car crushing the driver. Let's get rid of those ugly air bags and put a cool looking steering wheel on there, huh?

[Jscotty]

That car is a piece of shit.

Jscotty, care to explain the physics behind that one?

If the car is running into the obsticle under its own power, that means that the electrical, cooling, and fuel systems are operating also. The way that this car crumpled up like a piece of tin foil, I would be interested to see if this would also cause a fire and subsequently an explosion.

Lets say that such an impact shifted the engine far enough to rupture the fuel line thus spraying fuel all over the inside of the engine compartment because there was a delay in the activation of the the fuel pump relay circuit breaker. And then add to that the positve post the battery making contact with a piece of metal causing a shower of sparks. And then all of the steam from the radiator masks the smoke and flames so the driver isn't even aware that the car is on fire and then he suddenly discovers that his impact injuries are the least of his problems.

I dunno.. maybe this scenario is overimaginative and far fetched but somehow I still believe that they miss a lot of important data by dragging the car in lieu of it hitting the obsticle under its own power.

[AlarmedBread]

bet ya dont wanna be in a side impact in an e30 now do ya?

kyle

It's obvious why they crashed that car

WTB, bumpers, valances. :D

It is scary to think of how much force is involved in a crash at highway speeds.