dodge freak
Well-Known Member
Why am I not surprised, these new crash tests are long overdo. People try to avoid a crash and often times clipping the front of a car. Too bad only 11 models were tested.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/19/automobiles/tougher-crash-test-brings-lower-scores.html?_r=1&hpw
All 11 cars, which fall into the “entry luxury” market class, had received the top rating in previous frontal crash tests, which spread the impact of a 40 mile per hour crash over 40 percent of the car’s front end, on the driver’s side. The institute, which is financed by the insurance industry, will continue to use that 40 percent test, which it is now calling the “moderate overlap” frontal test.
The new “small overlap” frontal test is designed to replicate what happens when a car’s front corner collides with another vehicle or with a stationary object like a tree or utility pole. The new test spreads the 40 m.p.h. impact over a smaller area, about 25 percent of a car’s front end, also on the driver’s side.
That front-corner hit missed the main crush zone structures in most of the cars. These structures help to manage crash energy and reduce the impact on the passenger compartment.
The two sedans that received Good ratings in the new test were the Acura TL and Volvo S60. One model, the Infiniti G, was rated Acceptable.
Four cars received Marginal ratings: the Acura TSX, BMW 3 Series, Lincoln MKZ and Volkswagen CC. And four received the lowest rating of Poor: the Audi A4, Lexus ES 350, Lexus IS 250/
350 and Mercedes-Benz C-Class.
In what the institute called a first, the door of the VW CC was sheared off its hinges, raising the possibility that an occupant could be partly or completely ejected.
The institute’s new small-offset test is unlike any that it, or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, has conducted before, although the federal safety administration has been considering such a test.
“We don’t do this just to make it harder,” said Adrian Lund, president of the insurance institute. “We do it because people are still dying in crashes.”
He said the new test was an effort to answer this question: Why are some 10,000 people still dying each year in frontal crashes, despite the installation of air bags, widespread use of safety belts and high scores for most new cars in previous front-crash tests?
A 2009 institute study of newer vehicles that performed well in front crash tests found that small-overlap-type crashes accounted for 20 to 25 percent of fatalities, with similar findings for serious injuries.
Mr. Lund said that the main crush-zone structures are generally found in the middle 50 percent of the car — an area struck in the previous frontal crash tests. But those structures do not typically extend to the car’s outer edges, which means that in a small-offset crash a wheel can be forced back into the footwell, resulting in serious, debilitating leg and foot injuries.
The Volvo S60 had only a few inches of intrusion, the institute reported, because its reinforced upper rails and a steel cross member below the instrument panel helped to keep the car’s “safety cage” intact. Since the late 1980s, Volvo has been performing its own small-overlap tests while developing new vehicles.
The Lexus IS suffered 10 times more intrusion, trapping the dummy’s left foot and wedging the right foot beneath the brake pedal. In the Mercedes C-Class, the dummy’s right foot was wedged beneath the brake pedal as the left front wheel was forced back.
The small-offset impact also causes the dummy to head toward the front windshield pillar, even as that pillar is pushed toward the dummy. In some cases, the restraint systems might not keep the dummy from hitting the pillar because the steering wheel, which contains the air bag, veers so far to the right that the dummy misses the bag.
Read more http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/19/automobiles/tougher-crash-test-brings-lower-scores.html?_r=1&hpw
Isn't the paint job pretty. who cares if the door falls off in a crash, accidents only happen to other drivers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/19/automobiles/tougher-crash-test-brings-lower-scores.html?_r=1&hpw
All 11 cars, which fall into the “entry luxury” market class, had received the top rating in previous frontal crash tests, which spread the impact of a 40 mile per hour crash over 40 percent of the car’s front end, on the driver’s side. The institute, which is financed by the insurance industry, will continue to use that 40 percent test, which it is now calling the “moderate overlap” frontal test.
The new “small overlap” frontal test is designed to replicate what happens when a car’s front corner collides with another vehicle or with a stationary object like a tree or utility pole. The new test spreads the 40 m.p.h. impact over a smaller area, about 25 percent of a car’s front end, also on the driver’s side.
That front-corner hit missed the main crush zone structures in most of the cars. These structures help to manage crash energy and reduce the impact on the passenger compartment.
The two sedans that received Good ratings in the new test were the Acura TL and Volvo S60. One model, the Infiniti G, was rated Acceptable.
Four cars received Marginal ratings: the Acura TSX, BMW 3 Series, Lincoln MKZ and Volkswagen CC. And four received the lowest rating of Poor: the Audi A4, Lexus ES 350, Lexus IS 250/
350 and Mercedes-Benz C-Class.
In what the institute called a first, the door of the VW CC was sheared off its hinges, raising the possibility that an occupant could be partly or completely ejected.
The institute’s new small-offset test is unlike any that it, or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, has conducted before, although the federal safety administration has been considering such a test.
“We don’t do this just to make it harder,” said Adrian Lund, president of the insurance institute. “We do it because people are still dying in crashes.”
He said the new test was an effort to answer this question: Why are some 10,000 people still dying each year in frontal crashes, despite the installation of air bags, widespread use of safety belts and high scores for most new cars in previous front-crash tests?
A 2009 institute study of newer vehicles that performed well in front crash tests found that small-overlap-type crashes accounted for 20 to 25 percent of fatalities, with similar findings for serious injuries.
Mr. Lund said that the main crush-zone structures are generally found in the middle 50 percent of the car — an area struck in the previous frontal crash tests. But those structures do not typically extend to the car’s outer edges, which means that in a small-offset crash a wheel can be forced back into the footwell, resulting in serious, debilitating leg and foot injuries.
The Volvo S60 had only a few inches of intrusion, the institute reported, because its reinforced upper rails and a steel cross member below the instrument panel helped to keep the car’s “safety cage” intact. Since the late 1980s, Volvo has been performing its own small-overlap tests while developing new vehicles.
The Lexus IS suffered 10 times more intrusion, trapping the dummy’s left foot and wedging the right foot beneath the brake pedal. In the Mercedes C-Class, the dummy’s right foot was wedged beneath the brake pedal as the left front wheel was forced back.
The small-offset impact also causes the dummy to head toward the front windshield pillar, even as that pillar is pushed toward the dummy. In some cases, the restraint systems might not keep the dummy from hitting the pillar because the steering wheel, which contains the air bag, veers so far to the right that the dummy misses the bag.
Read more http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/19/automobiles/tougher-crash-test-brings-lower-scores.html?_r=1&hpw
Isn't the paint job pretty. who cares if the door falls off in a crash, accidents only happen to other drivers.
