Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 23:44:11 -0400
Reply-To: EMZ <vw4x4@FYI.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: EMZ <vw4x4@FYI.NET>
Subject: Re: Vanagon Crashworthiness
In-Reply-To: <199804282002.QAA06640@abc-mail1.net.abc.com>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Well if anyone wants to believe this, info. I would say Sell your Van.
Sell it as cheap and fast as you can. I don't let fear rule my life. I
will buy it!
Eric 86-VW4x4
vw4x4@fyi.net 72-240z
Pittsburgh, PA USA 1936-Chrysler
On Tue, 28 Apr 1998, HARRIST wrote:
> Hate to be a party pooper, but we vanagoneers should not get too smug about
> crashworthiness. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration crash
> tested one of our beloved bricks at 35 mph head-on into a fixed barrier. I
> obtained the crash footage from the National Crash Analysis Center, which
> maintains a catalogue of all government crash tests on a website. (Just
> point your browsers to NHTSA)
> First, let me tell you that this dummy was not instrumented. Don't ask
> me why, but I think it has something to do with the relatively low volume of
> Vanagons that were sold in the states compared with other vehicles. Because
> that dummy did not have its little accelerometers wired up, we will never
> know the loads that the pelvis and femur took as that brand new burgundy van
> crumpled into the fixed barrier. However, I am assuming they were
> significant based on the lack of crush zone in front of our feet.
> But there's a reason they shoot these tests at 1000 frames a second
> with a dozen or so cameras mounted above, below, inside and beside the crash
> vehicle. It's so you can see with your own eyes the forces that are
> transmitted to the vehicle and the dummies inside. If you order a vhs
> cassette of this crash test, you will see what I saw: the face of the dummy
> in the drivers seat smacks the steering wheel with incredible force. This,
> even though the dummy was buckled with shoulder and lap belt. I have talked
> with auto safety engineers about what I saw and the best explanation they
> came up with was a condition called excessive spoolout. That is to say, the
> inertial locking mechanism in the shoulder belt allowed too much belt to
> spool out. This, of course, allowed the violent faceplant into the
> steering wheel. Again, without instrumentation, we do not know the G
> forces applied to the face of that dummy as it struck the steering wheel.
> But my own crude frame-by-frame analysis of the footage indicates the
> dummy's face was not decelerating. If anything, it was accelerating toward
> the steering column. (Ouch)
> This is not an unknown condition. Back in 1979, a Honda sedan had
> excessive spoolout and it performed miserably in the government's New Car
> Assessment Program 35-mph head-on crash test. Honda engineers went to work
> on their belt mechanism -- they also redesigned their steering column -- and
> presto, three years later the Honda performed admirably.
> My guess is that VW never had to redesign their belt system because the
> Vanagon was never tested under the New Car Assessment Program. (The
> government only began NCAP testing light trucks and minivans in the mid
> 1990s. Still, no Vanagon or Eurovan testing, to my knowledge)
> I don't want to scare anyone. We take risks every time time we get out
> of bed in the morning. But I thought some of you might want to know.
>
> Stew Harris
> harrist@abcnews.com
>
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