Frightening pvc crash test.

Wh05apk

Wh05apk

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On 4th van so not a total newbie....


Just seen this, unfortunately no sound, so no idea of speed etc, but looks quite frightening as it looks like most of the furniture just comes loose, and anything inside just becomes a missile.

Don't know what was happening to the drivers seat, but that seemed to collapse?

This is a pvc, I'm sure a coach built or a class would fare far worse.
 
There would have been nothing left of most A class or C class vans, but the 2 vehicles hitting front corners is the worst possible scenario and far worse than hitting the back of another car.
Should make us all think about what is safe to keep in our cupboards, and keep heavy dangerous stuff low down.
 
commercial vehicles tend not to be as safe as cars in crash tests along with SUV’s The Blue vehicle did not seem to come out of unscathed either. I think it goes to show don’t overload your vehicle and keep what you can strapped down or in the lockers.

I recall seeing a lotus Europa years ago with the whole front and roof missing post crash, apparently 3 people had been inside ( that may have been a fairy story as they are pretty tight inside for two but whatever) the occupants apparently where unscathed and the thought was that the energy from the impact was absorbed by the Fiberglass shell disintegration.
 
I noticed that from above the car folded up but the van did not start to crumple until it reached the car A pillar?
 
What this vid tells me is that the front seat backs move around too much on impact, not giving driver or passenger support, don’t have glassses in draws, use plastic and keep only lightweight stuff in the wall cupboards ( which I do anyway).
no dummies appeared to have any major leg trauma which is good but the airbags appeared to be a couple of inches too far away from heads so that necks flexed too much. Tells me they had the seats set too far back, it would concern me if the seat positions were normal.
Otherwise this gives me hope that we would come out of a smash in relatively one piece.
 
I would like to see where the van engine ended up, I would suspect that It is designed to go under the van floor on impact to stop taking legs off. In fact it looks as though it remains in place not moving much at all, good
 
If you watch the follow on vid of the old A class that frightens me to death the way the whole new structure collapses foreword on the front driver and passenge. I hope safety has moved on in those since this vid was filmed.
 
Coolcats said:
commercial vehicles tend not to be as safe as cars in crash tests along with SUV’s The Blue vehicle did not seem to come out of unscathed either. I think it goes to show don’t overload your vehicle and keep what you can strapped down or in the lockers.
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Lorries do rather well actually. And dont forget you sit higher in some A Classes.

The new Flair is about as safe as you can get in a non truck motorhome.

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I have not been in a MOHO crash, but I was in a boat many years ago which was a speed cruiser, my friend who had not had the boat long was doing about 25 Knots, we were coming from Rye and headed to Newhaven as we came around Beachy head we were met with 20 feet waves, the boat rammed into the first wave at full speed, it felt as if we had hit a brick wall. I thought we were going to die, luckily the boat was well built and came to the surface almost stationary. The cabin furniture fell apart, doors came off, cupboards emptied and everything went flying. The boat cabin is built exactly the same as a MoHo so I would think the same would happen in a crash.
 
Having walked away (well crawled actually) from a high speed crash in my works van some years ago I was congratulated by the Old Bill about the fact that the load didn’t kill me.

Pretty much nothing moved because the van was fitted with load lock rails, locking bars and everything strapped in, that’s because when I first drove trucks I was trained to secure loads etc as the company moved sensitive equipment.

About 12 years ago a guy picked up 2 full barrels from Carlsburg Northampton in a Sprinter, they fork lifted them into the back of his van on special pallets, he had a shunt on the M6 and should have walked away, but the barrels came through the plywood bulkhead and killed him.

The top cupboards in our MH only carry nothing, all the cooking stuff etc is stored in containers under the benches and beds, said containers come out once parked up and slot into top cupboards.

It’s not as convenient but the crash taught me a few things, (other than don’t trust garages to get things right, if you’ve got a Renault traffic, Vauxhall Movano etc and the gear box or engine is taken out, ask for prof that the big nylon lock nut has been replaced) I won’t even allow swmbo to leave her handbag on the seat or dash as the last thing I remember before blacking out was the side window glass the only thing between my head and the tarmac, a Mercedes truck badge heading for me and a cigar packet corner nearly taking my eye out.

Still got the scar today.

The truck drivers quick reactions saved my life.
 
Otter Spotter said:
I would like to see where the van engine ended up, I would suspect that It is designed to go under the van floor on impact to stop taking legs off. In fact it looks as though it remains in place not moving much at all, good
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The van has an obvious built-in advantage because of the relative height of its floor pan and bulkhead structure and engine, compared against the car. That, and the difference in mass / kinetic energy. The car inevitably comes off worse in this scenario, even though its crumple zones look better at absorbing energy compared against the energy absorbtion design of the Ducato cab which doesn't look very good even to a non-engineer.

What is happening to those cab seats?? Dear me.

From other crash test videos and photos of real accidents, A classes become convertibles in an instant. The moral is: don't crash, ever. Be very risk-averse.

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SpeedyDux said:
The van has an obvious built-in advantage because of the relative height of its floor pan and bulkhead structure and engine, compared against the car. That, and the difference in mass / kinetic energy. The car inevitably comes off worse in this scenario, even though its crumple zones look better at absorbing energy compared against the energy absorbtion design of the Ducato cab which doesn't look very good even to a non-engineer.

What is happening to those cab seats?? Dear me.

From other crash test videos and photos of real accidents, A classes become convertibles in an instant. The moral is: don't crash, ever. Be very risk-averse.
Click to expand...
Risk averse, agreed but it’s the other idiots on the road you can’t manage😱
 
Video footage at bottom of screen indicated the speed as being 48 Kph - 30 miles per hour.
 
bobsnicholson@ said:
To me the estate car came off far worse. Impact looked to me to be 60 mph 30+30.
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A common misconception. If both vehicles were the same mass the effect of them both doing 30 mph is the same as hitting a wall at 30 mph for both of them not 60!
As the PVCs mass is higher than the car the impact will be a bit less than hitting a brick wall at 30 (assuming that they were both doing 30).
I think people really underestimate the amount of energy involved in even a low speed crash.

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I have seen empty passenger seats in cars break there fixings & end up flopping about in 2 different accidents.
 
Dated 1993... one would hope that things had improved in the last 25 years [but wouldn't be surprised if they hadn't]
Edited:
Sorry - just realised the "date" was just part of the video channel's name
 
Here's the original article:
https://www.adac.de/reise-freizeit/ratgeber/tests/wohnmobil-crashtest/

Google translate does a fair job:
"How safe are the popular box vans that have been converted into mobile homes in the event of an accident? The first crash test shows that there is a high risk of injury to the occupants in a head-on collision.
The number of mobile homes has been growing rapidly for years
The passenger compartments cannot withstand the impact
Construction weaknesses in the kitchen and rear bench

The collision is violent: at 56 km / h each, the fully loaded motorhome and the station wagon collapse head-on, slightly offset. 3.5 tons against 1700 kg. After the crash, the motor home sways violently, pushes forward, but does not fall over. The test team at the ADAC Technology Center in Landsberg staged an accident that can happen during a risky overtaking maneuver on the country road. Aim of the test: How safe is a van converted into a mobile home for the occupants in a frontal accident?
High risk of injury to the occupants
A mobile home is crashed against a car in the ADAC test and technology center in Landsberg
The wooden construction of the bench did not withstand the crash ∙ © ADAC / Uwe Rattay

After the crash, a picture of devastation emerges: The front section of the station wagon is severely deformed, the maximum load capacity of the passenger cell has been exceeded. The driver's door is jammed so badly that it can only be opened with a heavy device - in an emergency this would make it much more difficult to rescue the occupants.

It doesn't look any better with a motorhome. The passenger cell has collapsed, the wheel has penetrated the footwell, the floor pan is arched, and the driver's seat is tilted backwards. The survival space for the driver has been reduced considerably. As the lower part of the steering column is pushed into the footwell, the steering wheel moves forward and up.

As with cars, rescue workers would have a very difficult time with a motorhome. Here, too, the driver's door could only be opened with a heavy device. The passenger door can be unlocked, but only with great effort. The rear sliding door does not open at all, only the doors at the rear open slightly.

If the van falls over in such a collision, as it almost happened in a crash, the situation becomes worse. ADAC project manager Andreas Ratzek: "Then it would be even more problematic for the rescuers, and the occupants could be injured by objects flying around."

Even so, the risk of injury is very high: the driver of the motorhome is particularly at risk in the head, chest area, legs and feet, as is the car occupant. The evaluation of the dummy data suggests serious injuries. In the worst case, life-threatening injuries or irreparable damage can occur. The risk for the motorhome co-driver is significantly lower. Mainly because the passenger compartment hardly deforms on its side.

The two rear seated passengers are exposed to a high risk of injury. Since the backrest of the driver's seat moves backwards in an extremely atypical manner and the seat console of the rear bench bends very far forward, the heads of the occupants come dangerously close to the front seat. Serious head injuries threaten here.

Also because the wooden construction under the seat collapses and the hard tubular frame of the backrest is exposed when the upholstery slips: When the dummy's head bounces back, it slams directly onto it. Serious internal injuries and bleeding can also occur because the belt hardly moves with it.

For children, the protection provided by the well-secured child seat prevents things from turning out worse."
 
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I think it might be worth repositioning our fire extinguisher that is attached to the side of the top wall cupboard in the sliding door opening directly behind passenger head.
Salutary video.

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I think I will have to rethink where we keep our glasses ........ the are well wrapped with foam and teatowels but even so.
 
SpeedyDux said:
The van has an obvious built-in advantage because of the relative height of its floor pan and bulkhead structure and engine, compared against the car. That, and the difference in mass / kinetic energy. The car inevitably comes off worse in this scenario, even though its crumple zones look better at absorbing energy compared against the energy absorbtion design of the Ducato cab which doesn't look very good even to a non-engineer.

What is happening to those cab seats?? Dear me.

From other crash test videos and photos of real accidents, A classes become convertibles in an instant. The moral is: don't crash, ever. Be very risk-averse.
Click to expand...
Not in that crash it wouldnt. The one you re thinking of hit a 32 tonne tipper
 
We all know that Motorhomes fall apart in a crash it's a risk we are prepared to take or we wouldn't be driving them.
That test is very extreme in real life at least one of the drivers would have been pushing the brake peddle through the floor lessening the impact speed considerably.

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