Car Safety

[Aqwert76]

next time crash a 2008 v70 into Renault Modus and see what happens

[vinnyd91]

It wasn't a proper head on crash though, was it? I would like to see what would have happened if the Volvo and the Renault met actually nose-to-nose in a collision.

[CptTuttle]

The 7/900-series (Of course it also applies to PV444/544, Amazon, 1/200-series and P1800/1800/1800ES) are very narrow between the frame rails. Also, there's nothing that takes the impact until the sills, when it's too late. At the time only Mercedes cared about offset crashes, so only their cars could take it, other cars, like Volvo, may have been good in full frontal crashes but not if less than the half front end impacted the obstacle. Still, I'll rater die in my 164 than drive a Renault.

[vinnyd91]

Is that the same for the 2 series?

[CptTuttle]

Yeah, if you remove all the bolted on sheetmetal in front at your 240-260, you'll see that the frame rails doesn't go to the sides of the car at all, they actually are just marginally wider than the transmission tunnel. So in offset crashes, there won't be much that absorbs the energy. This problem are not unique for Volvos, it applies to most old cars. The first car designed to survive offset crashes was the W126 MB S-class, though many other brands didn't care until euro-NCAP started testing.

[ksa8907]

how about next time you team up two cars from the same era.

[organopleno2000]

OK, smart Modus body, but how about DECELERATION ?

The M has a shorter deformable front (say 0,7m against 2m). However, both cars decelerate about equally, thanks to the V long and soft front ! From cinetics we get: ~13G.

But in the other following scenarios, we get (40mph) :

V/V crash (or V into a wall..): 16G

M/M crash (...): 47G !...

If I ever «walked out» the Modus, my kids at the rear

would never see me, since THEY WOULD BE DEAD !

Clever or not, short-nose cars are unsafe.

[aviatorboy]

Simply Awesome