Re: MB 600 / Safety

[jstevens@kaiwan.com]

At 04:24 PM 8/31/97 -0500, you wrote:
>
>	Sadly, I have heard of no car company that runs crash tests on
>"immoveable barriers" configured like a pole, tree, etc.  Instead, front
>crashes are on barriers that use whole front of car, or offset tests that
>take 1/2 or so.

I saw a report a few years back on how manufacturers crash test...of the
twelve types of crash tests, VW/Audi was one of only four manufacturers to
perform all of them.  Included were offset impact, and actually rolling
a car vs. simulation of rollover by placing the car on its roof using a
crane.  Some other interesting ones...driving under a tractor trialer,
striking a pedestrian.  Mercedes was one of the others, Volvo was not.

Also, Di's car didnt roll, but hit a pylon offset to the drivers side
at over 80mph.  Too bad there wasn't a guard rail going along the row
of pylons, as you see here in the U.S.  I am sure MB will be releasing
a complete study after their engineers are finished examining the car.
I would be curious to see pics of the car that were taken before the
roof was cut off to extricate the passengers....the passenger cabin looks
surprisingly intact given the force of the impact.

John
90q20v