Comment by deveac | Hacker News Reader

Comment by deveac | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

>This was in a "cheap", "plastic" 2006 Hyundai Accent.

This brings back memories of high school. I was driving a massive boat...a Pontiac Parisian station wagon (thank you grandpa). I was stopped at a light with a car in front of me and a car in back. I saw a truck barreling down in my rearview and knew he wasn't paying attention. I heard the screech of brakes as he slammed the car behind me with enough force to hit me and launch my wagon into the car in front of me...a cheap plastic Hyundai as I recall.

Anyway, the hood of the car behind me was totaled, and the rear of the Hyundai in front of me was demolished. My slab of Detroit steel was untouched. Even the steel bumper was perfect, -both the front and rear had a thin band of rubber running horizontally across. The rear rubber band was slightly deformed for a couple of square inches. That was it. I remember the cop just looking at it shaking his head :) I still think back to that transfer of force and almost can't believe it.

That worked out good for you because you were stationary at the time. If you were moving at highway speed and slammed into something, you would be better off in the Hyundai, where the front end of the car is sacrificed to help cushion the stop a bit. This is, of course, assuming that you hit an object that isn't easily movable, and that the Hyundai's passenger compartment is strong enough to not collapse.

Now if your Detroit Steel smacks into the Hyundai at speed, chances are that it wouldn't come to a dead stop, and the Hyundai would be smacked off the road. In that case, Detroit Steel wins. All depends on the accident.

Very true. I'm just glad I wasn't on my motorcycle. I've been rear-ended three times in my life (car all three times). It doesn't matter how defensively you drive, -you can't eliminate all of the risk from other drivers.

I had a similar "slab of Detroit steel" in the form of a '78 Chevy Impala station wagon. A drunk driver hit me at nearly 50mph while I was sitting still at a light. My car was only slightly damaged and still driveable. I however felt like I'd been nearly cut in half. From this I gleaned that the car was quite durable, but it made no concession whatsoever for my durability. There was likely a conceivable wreck that would result in my death but the car remaining driveable.

You should watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joMK1WZjP7g

Exactly, the new cars fail gracefully- for the old cars things are much more all, or nothing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crumple_zone

That was a nice video demonstrating how the hood of modern cars are designed to crumple upon impact to save the driver.

Great illustration of the modern safety engineering we read so much about.

I defy anybody not to cringe hard at that first cut of the Bel Air's cabin disintegrating on impact. Scary stuff.

It could be worse, you know. The car colliding with the modern day Chevy could be European car of that era. Here, see Citroen 2CV (the first car in that queue to be hit) to disappear: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR0LRSLCN2I It is like magic, but scary.

After seeing that clip I've been somewhat scared to drive my 2CV around..

Oh, absolutely. "Detroit Steel" is far more sturdy compared to its European brethren of the time, but I think the point is that good engineering is an even better protection than sheer material strength.

Pedestrian accidents and high speed impacts brought about the current crumpling cars. Heavy steel cage for the passengers surrounded by stuff designed to destroy itself in an accident at more than 15 MPH. (In a way that absorbs energy from the impact, protecting everyone involved).

Also note that the lack of crumple zones leads to a lot more movement for anyone in the car as well. And not to mention if the outside crumples the inside is less likely to.

Exactly - if all the vehicles involved in that accident were like the poster's there would have been some serious injuries. You want your car to crumple like a paper plate in an accident - if it doesn't, you will!

Reply on news.ycombinator.com