NAC - SUV Safety

[Brett Dikeman]

At 8:24 PM +0000 4/20/04, timofej.crift at att.net wrote:
>I am not saying that a car would weather rolling over better, it 
>just takes more to do it. It has been shown that cars do just as 
>good a job if not better of protecting the passenger compartment.
>
>SUV's have a higher center of gravity and are therefore more prone 
>to rolling over.
>
>Just a wild guess here; since I dont feel like taking measurements 
>and running through all of the equations and finite element 
>analysis, but I would venture that a car would handle rollover 
>better than an SUV.  Before all of the bullets start flying, its 
>just a guess. From what I see, the roof structures of SUV's appear 
>to be about as supportive (built with the same strength)as auto 
>roofs, but need to support more weight and momentum in the event of 
>rollover.  Like I said, one would need to do some engineering 
>analysis or crash tests to be sure.
>
>Do any of the auto safety organizations perform rollover tests?

Yup, and they perform rather poorly because of sub-standard 
spaceframe design, heavy weight, and (often times) rail-based 
construction.  Rail-based construction is actually a huge factor, 
which is why many manufacturers have abandoned it.

About a week ago a Ford Expedition crashed into the guardrail on 495 
and rolled, killing both parents.  Kid in the back seat was the only 
occupant wearing a seat belt, and survived.

It's a state law, and while enforcement is not as tough as in lower 
NY(where they set up inspection points), the state police do ticket 
people for it.  Personally, I see it as Darwinism at work.  For a 
good 50 years it has been widely known that seat belts save lives 
better than anything else.  If you're too goddamn stupid to wear a 
seat belt, you deserve everything you get.

Wayland has always had a rather bad problem with drunk driving among 
students, so waaaay back when I was in high school, the local police 
department would send over an officer with a few slides of post-crash 
scenes over the years.

The most memorable, which has served as personal inspiration for 
always wearing a belt, was one of a car that had clipped the side of 
a building (ironically enough, I believe it was one of the 3 town 
liquor stores). Noone in the car had their seat belt on, so they got 
tossed around when the car hit the curb, and the windows were down. 
There was a small tarp on the ground near the corner of the building, 
and someone asked what it was covering.

"The passenger's head".

Brett
-- 
"They that give up essential liberty to obtain temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Ben Franklin
http://www.users.cloud9.net/~brett/