Ford F150 crash test

I'm currently writing a piece on vehicle safety. I found the images on the following link pretty hard to believe.

Ford F150 vs Mini Cooper crash test

IMHO, although the 2004 F150 will be an improvement on the model seen here, these results are pretty much indefensible. It's a good job that Ford is involving Volvo in its next generation SUV (to be a badge-engineered Volvo XC90) and that Yamaha is involved in the engine safety of its next V8.

Ralph Nader for President? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Rob

Ouch!

I watched an Insurance Institute program on PBS, or possibly it was on one of the "news magagines" like 60 Minutes, and the old F150 which is the F150 Heritage, still being produced, has (I believe) the absolute lowest crash ratings given out by the Insurance Institute.

BUT!!! The new F150 has received the highest crash test results given out by the Insurance Institute. Pretty big turn around - shows Ford is listening and reacting. By the way, I believe the F150 Heritage is scheduled to go out of production either this, or next, year.

I guess it's all about momentum.
The F150 must have an awful lot more weight to slow down, and hence dissipate the momentum.

Wow, I own a 1997 Ford f-150 Lariat. My neighbor has a minicooper. I could almost put the minicooper in the back of my Ford. Its hard to believe the Ford would do so badly. Is there any updated data on the above crash test for the newer models?

What they don't show, is what the truck and car each did to

the barrier. I'll bet there's quite a difference! The F150

is likely, double the weight of the Mini. That's bound to

affect the results just a tad! Somebody's comparing apples

to oranges here!

Who did this test, Ralph Nader or BMW?

Still, I'm glad my F150 is a 2004! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

What they also don't show is what would happen if an F150 hit a Mini. As someone else pointed out, the F150 hits an immobile object with more force than does a Mini, due simply to weight. So if the two vehicles hit each eather, more force would be applied to the Mini than to the F150, I think. Physics was a long, long, long time ago.

[ QUOTE ]
What they also don't show is what would happen if an F150 hit a Mini. ...

[/ QUOTE ]

If both were traveling at 20 MPH, and hit head on, the results would be about what you see here.

The only effect of the difference in mass would be that, after contact, the mini would move backwards a bit. However, the structures of the two vehicles won't care, a 40 MPH impact is a 40 MPH impact.

I've always been a fan of avoiding the situation where you need to put your "crashworthyness" to the test... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Actually Wyler, that is not quite accurate. Since Force is Acceleration/Decceleration in conjunction with Mass, the heavier, more massive vehicle will hit with more force. When in contact with an immovable object, the pictures tell the story.

But when one vehicle hits another, your scenario only plays out if both vehciles are identicle. If they are not, then when a heavier vehicle hits a smaller vehicle, the imaginary line at the point of impact is displaced towards the smaller vehicle. This then imparts energy away from the more massive vehicle onto the smaller vehicle.

This is also why many race cars are designed to disintegrate upon impact, they lose energy and therefore less force is transmitted to the driver.

This also works if a vehicle hits a slower moving vehicle or a stopped vehicle (which is moved upon impact). In both cases the point of impact is displaced towards the slower/stopped vehicle and away from the faster moving vehicle.

How do I know all this? I called an engineer!

The moral of the story - always be in the bigger vehicle!

Pat:

Okay, that makes sense.

F=mv^2

So, mass does have an effect on the force of impact. Still, I'm not ridin' in an F-150 any time soon. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif