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Date:         Tue, 26 Aug 1997 15:12:11 -0000
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Bob O'Shaughnessy <oshaug@INFINET.COM>
Subject:      Re: crash damage, Van front end

>In a message dated 97-08-26 06:08:20 EDT, oshaug@INFINET.COM writes: > ><< spent about an hour on a 84 in a yard yesterday with a scary front > impact (steering collumn vertical, drivers floor crumpled) >> > >Although I love our 1976, and adore the 1986 Westy, I have to admit, I do >worry about the front end "crumple-ability" of our vehicles. Neither Suzy nor >I tailgate, and we are defensive drivers, but I have always figured that a >hard front end hit would cost us at least our feet, at most....

Interestingly, the above mentioned van should have protected any occupants from injury. The driver's door, while sealed shut from the impact (low, to the front, and on the driver's side) remained intact, no broken glass or intrusions. The steering collumn went straight vertical (from the crash, not from jaws-of-life, I looked) and the wheel-well/seat support wrinkled a bit, turning the seat. The driver's feet probabally were pushed up but shouldn't have been trapped. The windshield probabally popped out as both the steering wheel and insturment cluster were outside of where the window should have been. The passenger door wouldn't close, leading me to believe that it may have needed a bit of help to open.

I contrast this to the 1985 Corolla that I pulled a interior door panel from for my wife's 87. It is allways disconcerting to see the blood still on the cars in the junkyard, though this person obviously wasn't wearing a seatbelt. In addition, I shot a wreck in on 20/59 in Birmingham, Alabama where 40 foot long sewer pipe rolled off a flatbed and over the median, literally tearing in half an 87 Corolla identical to my wife's, killing the driver.

Drive Safely, with your seat belt on!

___________________________________________________________________________

Bob O'Shaughnessy 84GL, 85GL project (Mine) 82 Diesel L with carbed Rabbit engine (belongs to friend) 74 Bus (Dad's) 72 Wife, 94 Rabbit, 95 Cat, 96 cat. Currently seriously eyeing a early 70's Westy


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