Side Impact Rating

[speeder]

Zero stars.




As much as some of us love our old cars, (including VWs), it's something to keep in mind.

[pwd72s]

Ouch! Any word on how the driver fared?

[speeder]

Fatal crash.

[pwd72s]

Damn...I was afraid of that.

[GothingNC]

A few vehicles from the 90s that had horrible crash ratings.

https://www.caranddriver.com/features/g35863519/watch-these-12-vehicles-score-poor-ratings-during-iihs-crash-testing/

[KNS]

Many of those crash test videos are quite sobering. On several of the small offset crashes the head of the test dummy doesn't even touch the steering wheel airbag but misses it completely.

On others the car seems to disintegrate.

[herr_oberst]

Looks like a missile hit it. RIP, driver....

[Rusty Heap]

I got T-boned in the RAV4 a month ago..........interesting, the steering wheel and drivers side door airbags didn't deploy.

[Pazuzu]

That looks like someone went sideways into a pole, there's damage top to bottom, the top is caved in very sharply, and no normal car would hit a bug that low.

[Baz]

Side Impact Protection System (SIPS) is a passive safety system in an automobile to protect against injury in a side collision, developed by Volvo Cars.

SIPS was first introduced in 1991 for the Volvo 700, 900 and 850 series cars of model year 1992. It has been standard on every new Volvo since.

My 850......

[speeder]

Originally Posted by Pazuzu

That looks like someone went sideways into a pole, there's damage top to bottom, the top is caved in very sharply, and no normal car would hit a bug that low.

Pretty sure that another vehicle hit it, look at the shape of the indent in the door and on both fenders. I think that the crease in the roof is from the entire tub trying to bend in half on the left side, it's too sharp to be from a pole and of course doesn't match the rest of the damage at all.

I have a photo somewhere of a car that hit a pole sideways at speed, it's a pretty unmistakable imprint.

[speeder]

And getting hit by a fast moving vehicle in the driver's door is the worst possible type of collision in anything but an old Bug is about the worst. No frame, just a tub. Same with an air-cooled 911 or a 356, though they were built a lot stronger.

[Chocaholic]

…or a motorcycle. Be careful out there.

[porsche tech]

Circa 1969 on the army base I was stationed at in Germany…

[KevinTodd]

1979, about a week before I entered my senior year of high school. Pouring rain, hit the brakes way too late and did a full 360 before slamming driver's side first into the back of a completely stopped Dodge Dart.

Woke up in a ditch surrounded by first responders all looking like they were looking at a dead guy.

My brother was a fire Captain on a nearby Naval base and heard it called in as a fatality.

Broken pelvis, broken pubic bone, concussion, and lacerations, but I was alive.

Dad was in NY on business, and I knew he was going to kill me when he came home--but he didn't. He hugged me.

I remember him taking me to the wrecking yard weeks later when we took this picture. That may in fact have been the first and only time I ever witnessed my dad cry.

I clearly remember being able to see a faint impression of the Dart's license plate pressed into the driver's door.

I had a buddy in the car, too, and he was bruised and battered, but had no broken bones or lacerations.

I still get chills thinking about it, and have never had another VW until recently, when I purchased a '68 Bay Bus out of CA to convert to a bar.

Be careful out there in these (now) classics, boys!

[GothingNC]

I used to daily drive a 73 VW Thing for about 7 years with my two kids in car seats about 20 years ago.

Crash safety for that was probably about the same as an MG Midget.

[A930Rocket]

My first of two accidents was in 75 driving a 74 Super Beetle. I was 16. Going down a hill, I was doing a little weaving to impress my two friends, and the back end came around. Ended up backing down a driveway that angled off the road. Bent the left rear wheel and control arm.

Second accident was in 76, in the same Beetle. I rear ended my friend in his Vega, when he stood on the brakes, going through an intersection. 🤪

No accidents since.

[Cloggie]

Beetles are a throwback design to the 1930's where crash resistance was not even a topic.

The pictures are shocking, but I would be curious how the pre-1990 911's would do in accidents which are more common, namely the lower speed, lighter impact crashes.

I get that anything like what is witnessed in these Beetles would not be good in any older car, similarly if you run your G series 911 into a bridge abutment or semi-trailer you are basically just going to be turned into strawberry jam.....but are we taking our lives into our hands every time we get in the earlier 911's?

...have some searching to do...

D.

[FPB111]

Lookup Nikki catasarus - katasarus…sp? Concrete bridge abutment at very high speed. In 90’s Porsche cab.
It is really grossly graphic.

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Nikki_Catsouras_photographs_controversy

[speeder]

Originally Posted by FPB111

Lookup Nikki catasarus - katasarus…sp? Concrete bridge abutment at very high speed. In 90’s Porsche cab.
It is really grossly graphic.

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Nikki_Catsouras_photographs_controversy

She could have been in an up-armored Humvee and she would have been killed. The car was irrelevant. Also, it was a modern Porsche, which is a very safe car in any kind of normal collision.