Date: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 15:05:00 EST
Reply-To: HARRIST <HARRIST@ABC.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: HARRIST <HARRIST@ABC.COM>
Subject: Vanagon Crashworthiness
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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