If Bambi is large enough, YOU may be part of that roadkill as well. I've seen what sometimes happens to vehicles that hit deer, especially a large buck.

 

Maybe is the key word.

The odds are in favor of the driver in the SUV surviving over the large buck. I see plenty of those accidents in the hills where I live. The vultures try to get a piece of the action though.

 

I'll take a head-on with a deer over a roll over accident. If there's going to be blood, I'd prefer if most of it wasn't mine

 

This is one of the reasons, among many, why I like Subarus. The center-post (B-pillar) in a number of Subarus, especially older Foresters, is so strong that even Fireman's jaws have trouble cutting into them. Ironically, this has been a Fire Department complaint with the Forester. The secret to the amazing strength is high-grade steel inserts inside the pillars, corkscrewed back and forth over each other some 5 or 6 times.

 

I think a problem with large SUVs is that things like debris, deer, other cars, etc. can get stuck under them and then flip them over, especially if the drive wheels are still going. Sadly, my friend's mother is no longer with us today because of this scenario.

 

I'd take the roll over, assuming I were strapped in. A deer crashing through your windshield is capable of decapatating(sp) you. Not how I want to go.

 

Exactly and it's not just the Forester, fire departments are noting this as they cut into almost all the premium cars highly ranked for safety. Basically they just go through a lot of expensive blades while the victims wait inside.

Take a look of color-coded cutaway drawings of the best cars and you will see expensive high strength steel used in windshield posts, B pillars, etc. All this to create a safety cage effect.

 

Yes, the airbags and belts/harnesses definitely help protect the front occupants. But it all depends on how the deer hits. A friend of mine, for example, had a two-year old Nissan minivan totalled when a big buck hit the left front end (behind the air-bag sensors, which did not go off) and bounced up onto the windshield. He was fairly well-proteced...but his wife, up front with him, was injured and got a number of stitches.

I ended up helping him get a new vehicle to replace it (as I do with a fair number of people)...a Mazda MPV.

 

How often does that happen (going through the windshield vs just hitting the front of the car)? Not a lot of deer in CA

 

It happened to a friend of mine....see my post above. I agree with you, though, that conventional front-end deer impacts are more likely.

 

There were 5 in my backyard Saturday morning. But I don't drive back there.

 

Not only that, but the type of steel is important - Mercedes is using a ultra-high strength steel with boron added and lower levels of carbon. The less carbon steel has, the stronger it is at the expense of ductility. Toyota has jumped on the UHSS bandwagon in their unibodies, but Honda hasn't - they use UHSS in non-critical areas such as the rear bulkhead.

 

^Great information, nthach, thank you.

I find it interesting that Honda can have their element perform to such high levels, but the CRV drop the ball so much. Congratulations to Subaru and Jeep though, the new Forester is a phenomenal SUV, and I always appreciate the added, dare I say, German "solidness" from Subaru products over comparable Honda/Toyota products.

 

Good stuff.

Located an old article I posted years back about Subaru's reinforced pillars. So strong Jaws of Life has trouble cutting it apart.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/car...-a-subaru.html

 

Exactly, the answer is more than simply thicker heavier steel. Porsche also uses the ultra-high strength steel with boron added in certain cockpit areas including windshield pillars and rollbars for converts, essentially creating the safety cage.