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Why do Corvette's seem to disintegrate in a bad wreck?
We've owned a lot of Corvette's and always assumed they were a safe car to drive. But this was the end of a police chase last night about 30 miles from us in a C7. Makes me wonder now. Yea, he died at the scene.
See the front end with the Z51 front wheel attached.
I suspect the C7 aluminum frame is less safe than the one piece hydroformed steel framerails of the C5/C6. The C7 has a lot of separate pieces welded together, and some sections are brittle hollow castings (the front and rear subframes, and the framerail sections above the subframes.....Even the C7 control arms are hollow thin-wall castings.... The aluminum subframes and control arms of the C5/C6 were at least solid aluminum......kind scary....you can see the hollow rear control arm in the 2nd pic of the first post. All this saves weight....but maybe at the expense of crash protection.
The other safety issue is that the structure of a Corvette is so much lower than the typical "regular" car, or truck/SUV, it really can't provide effective protection to the Corvette occupants.
Solid is not stronger than hollow. Click here if you want more details
These cars are safer than the ones before them. The images you're including are horrendous wrecks. F=MV
You're not going to find many smart cars that can hit 100MPH in 800 feet. In the hands of a safe driver, damn near any modern car on the road will offer amazing protection. These cars are actually designed to break/bend/crumple in the safest manner possible.
Go do a search for any car name/type and wreck and you'll find images of a car that's not recognizable anymore. They're not always the car that provided the most energy to the collision, but if they're the recipient of that energy the results will be the same.
Not seeing crash ratings for Corvette on quick searches, but it's not a huge-volume car. I wouldn't be surprised if it's not amazing, but it's a car with some rick associated. If safety is critical to you, maybe it's time to sell the Corvette.
I don't care if it's a 5-star IIHS-rated vehicle, there isn't much left of any vehicle in a triple-digit collision with an immovable object. Unfortunately, there is a higher probably of a high-performance vehicle being involved in such accidents, because of basic lack of common sense of certain owners.
"Somewhere along the chain of communication, the (true) statement that a hollow tube can be stronger than a solid one of the same mass got changed into the statement that a hollow tube can be stronger than a solid one of the same diameter."
I would not consider any car that is small, low to the ground, light weight with a shell made mostly of plastic, has lots of power and can travel at exceedingly fast speeds to be a safe vehicle.
Plastic, steel, or aluminum makes little difference. It's the integrity of the passenger compartment that counts. It makes little difference if the composite body panels are shed.
The C7 has not been crash-tested. However, those old, heavy, battle wagons from yesteryear are death traps compared to almost any small car today.
Looked up the crash on google. The C7 was reportedly stolen by a 20 something year old. He died at the scene. (he is shown in the first pic with a white blanket over his body) The driver of the blue 4 door was uninjured and refused to go to the hospital. The passenger was injured in the blue car but was treated for minor injuries. Here is a case of paying for your mistakes with your life!!
Not seeing crash ratings for Corvette on quick searches, but it's not a huge-volume car. I wouldn't be surprised if it's not amazing, but it's a car with some rick associated. If safety is critical to you, maybe it's time to sell the Corvette.
Nobody crash tests low sales volume specialty cars like Corvettes or Porsches, but considering the relatively large number of Corvettes being delivered each year (often 30,000+), maybe they should. I doubt a C7 will be as safe as a Volvo or Honda sedan. On the other hand I'd rather crash my C7 than my old motorcycle.
Compared to the cars I grew up driving, a contemporary Corvette is a bastion of remarkable safety.
Nobody crash tests low sales volume specialty cars like Corvettes or Porsches, but considering the relatively large number of Corvettes being delivered each year (often 30,000+), maybe they should. I doubt a C7 will be as safe as a Volvo or Honda sedan. On the other hand I'd rather crash my C7 than my old motorcycle.
Compared to the cars I grew up driving, a contemporary Corvette is a bastion of remarkable safety.
I heard that the McLaren F1 (an extremely low volume car) had to do the crash testing, and it was the only car in the history of the tests that was driven away afterwards.
All the parts surrounding the passenger compartment are designed to be sacrificial and collapse, compress or sheer off as a means of dissipating energy. The passenger compartment is relatively open and uncompressed considering the high speed nature of this crash. Kudos to the fuel system engineers on these cars as apparently it remained intact despite all the trauma. Also, very probable the driver was not wearing a seat belt. http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-cult...eed-car-crash/
I heard that the McLaren F1 (an extremely low volume car) had to do the crash testing, and it was the only car in the history of the tests that was driven away afterwards.
I wouldn't believe that story without corroboration.
I used to tow cars/trucks when i was younger...they all seem to explode in big accidents like lego toys figures thrown against something hard. Usually large SUV's just crunch, but cars disintegrate.
02-17-2017, 02:36 PM
Why do Corvette's seem to disintegrate in a bad wreck?
