Question for Honda Forum about Crumple Zones
#11
10-05-2019, 03:37 PM
I loved that little car. My problem was getting in/out of it as I got older (lower back injury). My wife drove a 76 Pontiac Astre (the Pontiac version) with a 3 speed AT. It had a steel sleeved block in it too. Ran great and she drove that thing for almost 10 years without a lick of trouble. My 73 got an engine upgrade, as I put in a 200 CI V6 (odd fire) from a 78 Chevy Malibu, with a 4 speed trans. That thing was fun, and I daily drove it for a solid 8 years having fun with a smile on my face. I even installed a trailer hitch on it, as I occasionally pulled a little box trailer with it. I still have the trailer, sold the car about 20 years ago. Now I have a 76 Cosworth Vega sitting in the back yard. It's a fun car, but needs to be restored (paint job minimum). Trying to find some decent sized 13 inch tires for it is the hard part.
#12
10-05-2019, 07:36 PM
Believe it not, air bags caused more vehicles to be redesigned in the interior than anything. Crumple zones don't really require a lot of changes, and those changes are mainly to make sure nothing gets into the interior in an impact. More people died from biting the steel dash in the early days (before padded dash boards, or plastic dashes), or had serious head and neck injuries from steering columns not collapsing. Little changes like those I just mentioned did a lot for safety. And yes, seat belts save more lives than people really want to admit. Mainly because they keep you in place, and let the other things do their job (like air bags).
I found this article about a concept car from 2004 called the Pininfarina Nido, While looking for ways to protect tiny cars where there is no room for crumple zones,, they created a new form of safety design that involves not only a reinforced frame but also a chassis containing a sled to protect people, and a series of truncated cones to dissipate the energy of a crash. Here is the long description and a link if you are interested. I think it sounds promising .
Here is a long quote from the article:
The Pininfarina Nido
"The chassis supports all the mechanical components, such as the front and rear suspension, the engine etc. This chassis consists of a deformable front section and a rigid safety cell surrounding the occupants. Inside the chassis is a sled which holds the driver and the passenger, together with the driving controls and instruments.
The chassis and the sled are connected in normal conditions by a third element, consisting of two energy dissipating absorbers with controlled rigidity achieved by the combination of three honeycomb sections of different density.
In the event of a head-on collision, the Nido absorbs part of the energy with the deformable front section of the chassis, constructed of two metal struts with internal plastic foam absorbers. These components are shaped as truncated cones in order to dissipate the energy over the cellular sheet metal firewall, which in turn transfers the energy along the central tunnel and the side members. The remaining energy, due to the mass of the occupants and the sled, shifts the sled itself forward and compresses two honeycomb absorbers between the rigid cell and the dashboard of the sled shell, resulting in the gradual and controlled deceleration of the sled and the passengers."
Last edited by Starrose; 10-05-2019 at 07:38 PM.
#13
10-06-2019, 02:04 PM
Dp the steering columns collapse on the 4th and 5th generation Honda Accords? I assume the dashboards were soft by then? And I honestly do not like airbags very much especially after the Takata airbag scandal. I have read they can actually cause head injuries. I really think they need to come up with a better way to keep people safe.
I found this article about a concept car from 2004 called the Pininfarina Nido, While looking for ways to protect tiny cars where there is no room for crumple zones,, they created a new form of safety design that involves not only a reinforced frame but also a chassis containing a sled to protect people, and a series of truncated cones to dissipate the energy of a crash. Here is the long description and a link if you are interested. I think it sounds promising .
Here is a long quote from the article:
The Pininfarina Nido
"The chassis supports all the mechanical components, such as the front and rear suspension, the engine etc. This chassis consists of a deformable front section and a rigid safety cell surrounding the occupants. Inside the chassis is a sled which holds the driver and the passenger, together with the driving controls and instruments.
The chassis and the sled are connected in normal conditions by a third element, consisting of two energy dissipating absorbers with controlled rigidity achieved by the combination of three honeycomb sections of different density.
In the event of a head-on collision, the Nido absorbs part of the energy with the deformable front section of the chassis, constructed of two metal struts with internal plastic foam absorbers. These components are shaped as truncated cones in order to dissipate the energy over the cellular sheet metal firewall, which in turn transfers the energy along the central tunnel and the side members. The remaining energy, due to the mass of the occupants and the sled, shifts the sled itself forward and compresses two honeycomb absorbers between the rigid cell and the dashboard of the sled shell, resulting in the gradual and controlled deceleration of the sled and the passengers."
I found this article about a concept car from 2004 called the Pininfarina Nido, While looking for ways to protect tiny cars where there is no room for crumple zones,, they created a new form of safety design that involves not only a reinforced frame but also a chassis containing a sled to protect people, and a series of truncated cones to dissipate the energy of a crash. Here is the long description and a link if you are interested. I think it sounds promising .
Here is a long quote from the article:
The Pininfarina Nido
"The chassis supports all the mechanical components, such as the front and rear suspension, the engine etc. This chassis consists of a deformable front section and a rigid safety cell surrounding the occupants. Inside the chassis is a sled which holds the driver and the passenger, together with the driving controls and instruments.
The chassis and the sled are connected in normal conditions by a third element, consisting of two energy dissipating absorbers with controlled rigidity achieved by the combination of three honeycomb sections of different density.
In the event of a head-on collision, the Nido absorbs part of the energy with the deformable front section of the chassis, constructed of two metal struts with internal plastic foam absorbers. These components are shaped as truncated cones in order to dissipate the energy over the cellular sheet metal firewall, which in turn transfers the energy along the central tunnel and the side members. The remaining energy, due to the mass of the occupants and the sled, shifts the sled itself forward and compresses two honeycomb absorbers between the rigid cell and the dashboard of the sled shell, resulting in the gradual and controlled deceleration of the sled and the passengers."
As for the Nido, they were talking about Smart cars and similar sized cars like the Toyota Yaris, that are commonly found in Europe. But the deformable front section of the chassis is part of the crumple zone. If you were to look behind the plastic bumper cover of your Accord, you'd see a 2 inch thick Styrofoam pad behind it, that's either clipped or glued to the steel reinforcement bumper. This is normal for most cars today.
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