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10/23/2005 10:30:26 AM · #1 |
This morning my younger brother had an accident with our father's car. He has a lot of bruising all over his body and perhaps a broken nose, but given the impact of the crash he is in excellent shape. The police, ambulance brothers, salvager and our parents think he would not have survived it when he had the same accident with our mother's Nissan Micra or perhaps even the company VW T5. It was a dream crash for a car crash tester. He hit a tree smack in the middle of the front at app. 60-70 km/h. Every bit of life saving engineering in the car did its job.
The inside where the people sit is completely ok. But the bottom and roof are bent and you can see the shape the front is in. The rear won't open either, but all other doors open fine.
So thanks to the people at Chevrolet. Unfortunately for them we will not buy another one (fuel mileage / cost of fuel).
Cause of the accident is a hangover combined with wet slippery roads and bad corrections of getting out of the sidewall of the road. He blew 0 on the police alcohol testing thingy.
More pics here.
And the blond police girl, oooww, sweet. :)
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10/23/2005 10:40:55 AM · #2 |
Thank goodness your brother and the other occupants are OK... that's the best news. Looks like it could have been much much worse for them. I assume they were wearing seat belts. I know it's traumatic, even when everyone is OK, and I hope that everyone does well with the psychological impact as well as the trauma itself.
Chevy makes a tough car. My ex-husband had an accident in his Cavalier Z24 that should have killed him but didn't...the paramedics, EMTs, police, and wrecker service all thought there was no way anyone could have survived that crash but he did. His seat belt saved him from certain death...that and the design of the car itself. He had very serious injuries, and it took 45 minutes to be extracted from the vehicle, but he lived. Chevys are the only cars I buy now.
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10/23/2005 10:41:09 AM · #3 |
| Glad to hear all got out OK. |
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10/23/2005 10:43:34 AM · #4 |
| very sobering story, glad he's ok. |
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10/23/2005 10:45:42 AM · #5 |
Originally posted by laurielblack:
Chevy makes a tough car. My ex-husband had an accident in his Cavalier Z24 that should have killed him but didn't...the paramedics, EMTs, police, and wrecker service all thought there was no way anyone could have survived that crash but he did. His seat belt saved him from certain death...that and the design of the car itself. He had very serious injuries, and it took 45 minutes to be extracted from the vehicle, but he lived. Chevys are the only cars I buy now.
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Wow, that must have been quite an impact.
The only reason we move away from Chevrolet is the fuel usage of this particular model. Fuel in Holland is at 6+ dollars a gallon. We already had thoughts about getting a Volvo (=safety). I say we, because it is essentialy a company (our company) owned car.
Message edited by author 2005-10-23 10:46:19.
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10/23/2005 11:37:08 AM · #6 |
Glad to hear the drivers both did well in the crashes. Truth be told, both of those vehicles are poor performers in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's crash tests. (See iihs.org) The Cavalier and TranSport are both rated Poor - the lowest rating.
Fact is that General Motors in the US have had some really poor performing vehicles in the tests. Only very recently have they started to improve, but they are very late to the party in that aspect. |
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10/23/2005 12:28:10 PM · #7 |
Originally posted by photodude:
Glad to hear the drivers both did well in the crashes. Truth be told, both of those vehicles are poor performers in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's crash tests. (See iihs.org) The Cavalier and TranSport are both rated Poor - the lowest rating.
Fact is that General Motors in the US have had some really poor performing vehicles in the tests. Only very recently have they started to improve, but they are very late to the party in that aspect. |
I was going to say just that. The fact that these crashes were survivable in these vehicles is a measure of just how far we've come in safety, because they are among the least safe vehicles in their respective classes. But General Motors now owns Saab, has for some time, or at least a big piece of it, and the Saab safety engineering has percolated down into all GM vehicles.
To put this in perspective, my parents were driving a 1979 Saab on the freeway and ran into a vehicle that was stopped crosswise in their lane. They square t-boned it at 65 mph, and when the dust settled they both opened their doors and walked to the side of the road. These were people in their early 80's at the time...
In any American car of the late 70's this would not have been possible.
So things are a heck of a lot better than they used to be.
Robt.
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10/23/2005 12:37:14 PM · #8 |
| Actually, it's going the other way... Saab is starting to restyle other GM family platforms for their vehicles. So they are limited by the overall platform design. |
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10/23/2005 12:40:47 PM · #9 |
Automobile bodies of previous decades seemed to be designed to survive the crash, but little consideration for the occupants. They finally got wise enough to realize the cars are replaceable, people are not. Current design philosophy mandates energy absorbing zones built in to the car body while maintaining maximum integrity of the passenger compartment.
I read recently that Chinese manufactured automobiles have consistantly scored very low on impact survivability, but I have yet to see a Chinese made vehicle on the road. |
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