well said, BigMatt.

 

I think the real problem is the fuel mileage issue. They have made the steel so light that it must crumple a lot inorder to absorb the impact. They could make a vehicle that is solid and wouldn't fold up like an accordian when it was rear-ended but the enviros and others would have a fit about the reduction in gas mileage.

I prefer a tank to a house of cards. What's the next step? Having the car explode the way a Indy or CART car does at impact? The system works well for cars going 200 mph that have to meet weight restrictions.

 

I take the tank, 40% +/- of all crashes are offset head-on crashes with other cars.

 

if i were in a small car then i would feel better havin crumple zone. but if im in a truck then make it a bada$$ tank. actually im for the tank all the way cause i dont see myself gettin a car ne time....ever.

 

No offense taken, however my sister-in-law was involved in an accident. She was driving a Dynasty, hit an F150. The result, she got busted up real bad, her daughter broke a vertrabre in her neck, no problems now, her son died. the guy in the pickup had a broken arm. Her car was totaled, he drove his home.
My point is I want a vehicle that will survive an accident, I don't want to drive unsafe cars which is what the auto manufactures are foisting on us. And activist gruops are saying to make pickups and SUVs more 'unsafe' by making them sit lower to the ground and made so they crumple up on impact. This is with out a doubt stupid. Why not make cars safer and able to withstand a crash so occupants can survive. As far as being able to live through an accident in an older vehicle if you place seat belts and shoulder straps in the vehicle your chances have improved. Air bags came about because vehicles are so small people were impacting the windshield in lttle cars and suffering major head trauma and/or death. Each accident is different than any other. Sometimes you can walk away sometimes not. My point is we are not given safe cars to choose from, nor do they contain enough room for peoples needs, hence the large volume of pickup truck purchases.
They can build large cars that are safe, get good mileage and are priced competively. They ran down the small car road of the Japanese and haven't fiqured out how to come back.

 

Another thing to remember is if they test vehicles to survive a head on with a concrete barrier at 40 mph. That is the same as two vehicles meeting head on at 20 mph each. So if one car is moving at 40 mph and the other is going 40 that is the same as a head on into a wall at 80 mph. Now think of what happens on an interstate at 65 to 80 mph. Why would you want a car that can only survive hitting another car at 20 to 30 mph?

 

when iwas rearended this year in my truck a 99 cav hit me at about 40 k stright on. my bumber was barely pushed up and had a few scrapes. her car was totalled tho. she was really shaken up and i didnt even notice the impact, just the sound i heard.

i prefer the old tanks vs cars cause i saw what happenes to new cars vs my truck. the new cars lose and she was realky shaken up. i think the air bags scared her more than anything

 

well from to sides of experence i have to say crumple zones are much safer. i have been in a crash with a tree in a 93 Honda Accord that crumpled big time but both me and my girlfriend walked away- although the car was totaled. same style crash in a big ol' chevy truck walked away but hurt alot worse. now from a firefighter/emt standpoint cars are easier to extracate after a crash and people are hurt alot less with the cars absorping most of the impact. crumple zones are a good thing when designed right and cabin intrusion is at a minimum. body can't handle these impacts at such high speeds, thus crumple zones decrease injury to the person

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by TheBrokenMarine
[B]Man screw crumple zones! Look at what we've got...the old days you had real bumpers that actually took the pounding before you even got to the rest of the vehicle.

Thats how i feel too

 

last year i was late to work and in a hurry, i got a 8 point buck with my truck at 80 mph. what did i break ? the headlight , thats it. slapped in a new one and that was that. my wife hit a doe and a small one at that at 45 mph. the insurance company totaled out her car. give me steel keep the alum for beer cans

 

I choose defensive driving.

 

yea, so did i, untill a lady came into my line at the last minute and hit me head on. she was in a big old chevy caprice, i was in a little acura legend. she went to the hospital with a broken back, i walked away.

 

Vehicles are only as safe as they are driven
people need to start realizing this and stop relying on things like crumple zones- when you drive you're in control,and the life you save may be your own

 

Thats to a certin extent, say if someone swirves ito your lane, alot of times there's no way you can avoid being hit, or if theres a deer that jumps out in front of you, its really hard to avoid an accident in that situaton.

I think alot of times it depens on what your hitting. You hit a medium sized tree witha little honda ricer, it'll total the car, you hit the same tree with a full size chevy, it'll probably plow the tree over, and you'll feel it too, you hit a slightly larger tree with the same chevy and your body absorbs the impact. Hit that same tree with the little honda, and the car absorbs the impact. You crash the honda and the chevy together, its gonna crumple the "crumple zones" on the car, and mess up the front end on the chevy and give you a nice bump where your head hit the windshield, giving you a reason to total out the chevy and buy a ford, thus the circle of life is complete!