I read a news report about a two car collision in Te Puke. One driver had to be cut free from his car. The silver car pictured is a Mk.V Volkswagen Golf I am pretty sure. In the left of the picture is a firefighter holding a hydraulic cutting device I think. Was it the Golf that was cut open? The passenger door looks to have opened fine, but what about the driver's side, cut open or not?
Nevermind, I see it was the car heading away from Whakatane which the driver had to be cut out of. The Golf is outside Te Puke Engineering on Jellicoe Street, heading towards Whakatane.
Pretty good crash performance then if they managed to open the driver's door in a crash like that.
grangies,
Aug 5, 7:19am
Even if the Golf did need to be cut open, what would it matter?
gammelvind,
Aug 5, 7:26am
Drove slowly past it while the medics were still assisting the occupant, noticed it was a VW, but what I did think was poor bastard. Though looking at the mess did also think someone wasn't did 50k.
charlie4561,
Aug 5, 7:29am
Well that would mean that the rigid passenger cell had failed to some extent in that particular crash. Obviously that could happen even to a Golf at certain speeds, however I believe that is only a 50km/h zone.
gammelvind,
Aug 5, 7:42am
It was the 50 km zone.
grangies,
Aug 5, 8:08am
I can only see the car by the photograph you have linked. And to me it looks like the rigid passenger cell has held up well.
The front of the car is completely smashed to buggery, but the passenger compartment looks to have held up ok-ish.
Even if the fire department did have to cut the doors off to get them out. It's got to better than having to cut the totally mangled wreck open to retrieve the human mush.
johotech,
Aug 5, 8:19am
The A pillar is pretty bent. Hardly looks like a major smash, more a glancing blow. But at 100k combined impact speed, not too bad.
networkguy,
Aug 5, 8:26am
Why the interest in it being a Golf, are they known to be exceptionally safe or something?
mrfxit,
Aug 5, 8:29am
Apparently yes. Seen photo's of a Golf & Commodore of about the same age & the Holden was written off but the Golf was easily drivable & repairable
joanie32,
Aug 5, 8:33am
Doesn't work like that bro, two cars travelling at 50k doesn't mean 100ks worth of damage.
networkguy,
Aug 5, 8:48am
Actually it kind of does work like that, Mythbusters covered this
Um your video seems to prove precisely the earlier poster's point, which is that a crash between two cars at 50mph is less severe than a car hitting an immovable concrete block wall at 100mph. The two cars act as shock absorbing crumple zones for one another.
networkguy,
Aug 5, 9:08am
No you are confusing a brick wall with another vehicle. Mythbusters show that hitting a vehicle coming at you at the same speed as you is like hitting a brick wall. But when you hit another vehicle its not like a brick wall is it? Energy is going to be absorbed by the other vehicle, and it will end up moving in the same direction as you (assuming enough energy to overcome friction of wheels). But the total energy is only about half of what it would have been if that vehicle had been moving towards you - would you rather hit a brick wall and come to a sudden stop, or another (stationary) car where you experience less deceleration? Note this doesn't consider the people in the other car, just the energy of the scenario which is what they were commenting on. In real life if its your fault I would rather you hit the brick wall than me sitting in my car!
Edit - assuming above that both cars are same weight as in Mythbusters scenario. Lots of variables I know.
Edit again - I just realised this all hinges on how you take the original question. He says "2 cars travelling at 50k doesn't mean 100ks worth of damage." 100ks worth of damage against a stationary vehicle or against a brick wall though? Because against a brick wall your vehicle absorbs alot more energy. I shouldn't have gone into this haha!
timmo1,
Aug 5, 9:58am
6th or 7th form physics equation ;)
pandai,
Aug 5, 10:09am
Crashes like this one with a small frontal overlap are always a bit of a mess. The impact sort of misses the absorption beams/structure of the front of the car.
It makes the small overlap crash test videos the most interesting ones by far.
Note to self, if I hit anything, hit it square on.
tamarillo,
Aug 5, 10:25am
Crickey that's a bit complicated. Can't we just say that you can't get something from nothing. The thing being energy. Each car is hitting something at 50 and so has the energy of that impact. Two cars hitting each other can only produce double the energy shared between them, hence no more damage occurs. Granted this works only when both are same weight and absorption qualities. If ones a truck and the other a vitz the energy won't get shared out as well!
intrade,
Nov 14, 5:27pm
this is raising the only problem i have when you drive a older car you dont crash you dont die but if somone crashes in to you with there car then you can die no matter how good a driver you are. the more unskilled drivers are on the roads the larger the chance you get crushed, usually these morons own cars with 100 airbags stability control and self parking and there likes and the police endorces crashing in to anything and anybody, as they wanted to remove power poles in a news article i did hear about not long ago.
Since the public registrations are closed, you must have an invite from a current member to be able to register and post in this thread.
Have an account? Login here.