GS3Tek

iTrader: (8)

weight saving from loss of 2 legs is made up with a wheelchair
just kidding people....

Those pictures do look scary though.

I wonder if there are newer or different versions of more crash tests elsewhere?

Yanz

Looks bad, but at the same time, I'm sure the current Prius is safer than most older vehicles out there. I wonder if they will test older vehicles to see how they would have done, but then I don't want to see the result...

Also, does it appear that better performing vehicles seem to deflect off the barrier?
These vehicles travel past the barrier after impact

mmarshall

One of the things that concerns me about hybrids and severe impacts is the more-or-less standard practice of mounting the big heavy battery-pack right behind the rear seats, and usually right above or next to the gas tank. I haven't (yet) heard of a gas/electric hybrid going up in a Pinto-style fireball from sparks from a ruptured battery-pack coming into contact with gas running out of a ruptured fuel-tank, but the possibility of it happening seems significant.

TRDFantasy

Extremely good point. The best-performing cars in this small overlap test so far all travel past the barrier, or "bounce" off the barrier greatly after impact. The Camry for example barely deflects off the barrier at all, and takes almost the full force of the impact on that small frontal section of the car. The cars that deflect off the barrier are reflecting a big part of the impact energy back at the barrier, as well as translating some of that energy into momentum causing those vehicles to deflect so greatly.

It's interesting that the IIHS almost conveniently fails to mention this, as well as the consequences of this.

In a real world crash, deflecting that much off impact, and continuing to travel past impact could be very dangerous, as it could increase the chances of second collision or further damage to the car and/or occupants.

Sulu

That seems like such an obvious risk that I have no doubt that the designers of hybrid vehicles did everything they could to reduce if not completely eliminate that potential problem.

Sulu

You are correct. The stiffer the car's structure is, the less it will crumple and absorb the impact forces of the collision, and the car will be much more likely to bounce off the item that it hit. But as the car bounces around, away from the initial straight-ahead direction of the crash, the occupants inside the car still continue to travel forward, in the initial direction of the crash, until hit by the car as it bounces back. This is the secondary impact or secondary collision: the primary impact is the car hitting the other car (or brick wall) and the secondary impact is when the occupants inside the car hit something in the car, unless quickly and adequately restrained by a seat belt or airbag. The secondary impact is what causes the major injuries to the occupants; reducing the forces of secondary impacts will lessen severity of injuries.

But it seems that the floor and firewall in the Camry and Prius v may be too soft because that is crumpling too easily, crushing the driver's footwell deflecting the steering wheel to the right (and deflecting the front steering wheel-mounted airbag away from the driver's head). If that front airbag had stayed in place, the driver would have hit the airbag rather than the instrument panel and A-pillar.

Yanz

hmm. another thing. The front wheel that impacts seems to fall off all of all those vehicles, which seems to help it move past the barrier and take less impact.

Here is another one:
I wonder if the wheel were to fall off camry or prius, if that would help.

LeX2K

Why did they remove the headrest from the seat on that Mazda?

After watching 6-7 of these vids, not sure now valid the test actually is. But either way, the Camry's structure doesn't look to hold up very well at all, the entire thing creases and crumples compared to several other cars. The steering wheel doesn't stay where it is supposed to, making the airbag less effective or even useless.

pbm317

They're removed on all the vehicles... i don't know why though

pman6

maybe the safest way is for the front wheel to fly off

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

I don't know about you, but I rather bounce off a bit while still being somewhat protected, than to have my entire bottom half squashed from the primary collision.

<VENOM>

Watched the videos, the good and acceptables look like they hold together visually better, then the poor ones but watching the legs in the videos, it looks like most could walk or limp away, and according to this

http://www.iihs.org/ratings/datatables.aspx?class=30

the camry might not look that great after the crash but I can't see the driver being anymore harmed in this accident verse the accord driver

the insurance institute for highway safety really knows how to stir the pot

UDel

Probably to give a more unobstructed camera view of what is happening, in movies and tv shows they almost always remove the headrests so you can see the actors/scenery better in driving scenes.

ydooby

The Honda Civic 4-door, 2-door, and the Volvo XC60 are again the only cars to earn a Good rating in the latest round of IIHS's small overlap front crash test, with the Civic being the first in the compact car segment to do so. Kudos to both companies, although it must be noted that both made modifications for their cars to pass the test, Honda more so than Volvo.
http://www.iihs.org/news/default.html#030713