True Story

[BradKW]

 

[AngryVanMan]

I saw the show/episode that picture is from, where they ran that car into those concrete barriers at 70mph, less compromised passenger compartment and footwell than the average compact car IIRC. Awful looking design, but impressive engineering!

Oh here is the vid:

 

[johnny b]

While the strength of the 'passenger cell' is quite impressive, the last part of the video gives the conclusion....human occupants would most likely not survive due to the internal organs suffering the effects of rapid deceleration.....ie: turn to mush!

Damn tough squirrel, though.

 

[AngryVanMan]

Makes you think twice about all those vehicles without much crumple zone, like ahem, vans/class C and especially Class A's! You've really got to be on the lookout for squirrels when there's not much metal in front of your feet! Maybe we should put our water jugs ahead of the front bumper, sort of like having those highway water deceleration barriers/barrels always strapped to your rig!

 

[Gary68]

what usually happens is a squirrel runs into the road and the driver swerves right into a tree,hold your line,the kitty is not worth yours and whoever is with you's life

 

[TMG51]

I saw the show/episode that picture is from, where they ran that car into those concrete barriers at 70mph, less compromised passenger compartment and footwell than the average compact car IIRC.  Awful looking design, but impressive engineering!

Oh here is the vid:

How much the passenger compartment does or doesn't squish isn't really the testament to safety of human occupants - it's about how much other stuff there is to absorb the impact and slow you down. Build a solid steel box and slam it into a wall at 70mph and it might not deform but that means any occupants inside it are absorbing all of the impact. When there's no crumple zone, the crumple zone becomes your face.

 

[AngryVanMan]

Right on TMG51, crumple zone is the primary factor in high speed head on crashes, which is what that video shows (likely an UN-survivable crash in most any vehicle). Passenger safety however is also highly dependent on the structural integrity of the passenger compartment, which is why so much effort is put into roll cages in race and drag cars. Much better to have your cage bounce off the steel, glass and pavement around you rather than your face or extremities, ouch. You should check out those crash test videos of the early Chinese domestic autos where the entire vehicle becomes the "crumple zone" if you haven't seen them, it's not a pretty sight!