I agree with what you say, however, I like my odds of survival a lot better if my legs aren't jammed under the dash requiring the jaws of life to get them unstuck. If I've got the choice of crashing in my truck ('02 F150) or a 2004 or later F150, I'll take the latter every time. I'll still run the risk of my aortic arch severing in eash case, but if it doesn't, at least my feet will still be attached to my body!

Until then, I will continue to do what I can to avoid those situations...

 

Like I said before, look at the how the driveshaft bends in the crash. Now i don't know how fast the truck was going, but the force it would take to do something like that would have to be rather large.

The single cab dakota did do better than the full size extended cab pickups, but there's a lot more weight to stop on those full size trucks...roughly a couple thousand pounds more.

 

well those trucks are an extended cab with the 4 doors so there is really no solid "b" post on them wich in sure a crew cab or standard cab would fair alitle better ..... at least what i seems to me in the many years of working fire and tow truck

 

I'd bet more like ~1K lbs. (maybe less, the Dakota isn't very light) for the models in the videos, but yeah, point taken.

 

someone has to fail the test.... might as well be the best selling truck in america, i will buy any of your 97-03s if u guys think they are unsafe.... for lets say...... 3000bucks i will take them off your hands when was the last time u guys hit a wall 3ft tall gonig 40 without letting off? the outcome of a crash is all based on where the bumper/frontend makes contact with the other object... the chevy sits lower then the dodge and the ford hence a better place for a frontal impact...... but what do i care? i like my truck im just gonna stay away from brick walls and take my chances

 

why does it matter if the driveshaft bent, they are thin wall mild steel anyways. the crashes were done at 40mph.

 

What does it matter in any case?

A real world crash happens much more differently than a testing condition crash. These crash tests are more like "feel good" tests by a "feel good" company. That way they can give some vehicle a 5 star and the owners will feel all warm and cozy in thier safety bubble.

Outside of the lab, that same sized obstacle, hit at the same speed, will most likely be made of brick or concrete block and fail way before it does that kind of damage.

Mike

 

I did a little net searching, and you're correct, not close to 2k lbs. More like 1300-1500lbs for the base V8 models.

 

You are correct, and that one looks like an aluminum driveshaft. My point was the amount of force needed to literally sheer the motor and transmission mounts to cause it to bend like that.

I agree though, this was in a lab/controlled enviornment; which means a worst case scenario...you would simply have to plow into an immovable object, that is as wide as the frontal area (as it appears in the vid) of the vehicle, with the truck being "sqaured up" on that object.

I will say one thing though, I'd rather have the manufactures examine data like this (extreme accidents) to make changes/upgrades.

 

http://www.iihs.org/ratings/rating.aspx?id=7

http://www.iihs.org/ratings/rating.aspx?id=96

They actually list some weights on the pages

Assuming the weights on those pages are the actual curb weights of those specific trucks tested, not base curb weights for the general model, I get an 886 lb. difference (4475 vs 3589). I have seen any empty Dakota Reg. cab V6 weigh in right around 3700 on the scales at Ennis Motorplex though IIRC (that could be made up for in tranny and elec. power options though), so I'm not sure if it's correct.

yikes: http://www.iihs.org/ratings/image.ashx?rh=7&id=2

 

tests are done to standards. This is what we have for testing a chassis' strength and obviously the F150 fails. My argument is, if you dont feel this is a good example of how weak the chassis is, and use an argument saying well real world is different, what can that be compared too. Should the test be a glancing 60mph blow from a 30 degree angle? a 45 degree angle? flipping on its side first?? there has to be some starting point and this is showing that in a head on crash the F150 is poor.

 

It doesn't fare well in this test, no doubt. That doesn't mean a whole lot to me though, it may excel in a wreck where, for instance the Chevy would fail miserably (I don't know for sure). As far as know it's a gamble either way, overall I'd rather be driving my F150 though. One test does not necessarily show how well it would do in an even slightly different situation.

If I hammer a nail straight on it drives further into the wood, if I hit it slightly off-center it it bends/crumples. This isn't to show a direct link between a straight on hit (frames aren't straight as a nail, so it's a bad comparison to start), just that a slightly different hit can drastically affect the outcome. I'm not going to sell my truck tomorrow because of it.

I've seen those results before, I sure don't think about it when I'm driving. It is kinda scary, yes, but so are lots of other things. I've got an old VW Rabbit too, those things are horrible in some crashes from what I've seen. I've also owned a motorcycle. I refuse to live my life in constant fear.

It might be enough to make me consider an '04 & up instead when it's time for a new truck, that's about as far as it goes though.

What are you driving now?

edit: check these tests out

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/ncap/cars/638.html (notice the curb weight Blurry94 ) seems like it did pretty good impact-wise.

here's another:

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/ncap/cars/638.html

seems like it did just fine there.

And here's a '02 Chevy vs. Ford comparison. They're both ext. cabs. Remember the Chevy beat it in the other test, both are the same body styles as the other tests (see post #6).

http://www.safercar.gov/NCAP/Cars/1971.html

http://www.safercar.gov/NCAP/Cars/1801.html

See? a slightly different impact changes everything.

 

I noticed those numbers and had hard time believing them; the last time I weighed my 94 Lightning, it was just over 4700lbs. I got the same reading (with about the same amount of fuel) at a different scale several months ago. GVWR my truck is listed at 5150, of course that's with all factory installed components, all fluids, oils and two full tanks of gas.

The weights listed on both trucks seem to be a little light.

 

if i owned an F150 i wouldnt selling it either. But at the same point its like ford knew this was a problem and went forward anyways. I'm driving a jeep grand cherokee and an 88 325is bmw.

 

Hey, I'd make about a thousand bucks profit off of you.

As for crash test videos. While I get a childish kick out of watching the safety ***** destroy something. In the end I'm the first line of defense for avoiding such things as walls, big trucks, cars, etc., going down the highway. A little bit of defensive driving has been pretty successful in keeping my cars intact.