c5c6c7

Of the 4 corvettes I owned I only had one convertible...I loved it but I really felt unsafe in it. I was always concerned with "what would happen in the event of a roll over?". I assumed that I would be squashed like a pancake and I never bought another convertible for that sole reason. My question is:
Is the Roof frame in a coupe really designed to offer enough support to act as a roll over bar and protect the passengers from getting squashed or is it just cosmetic and it will cave just as easily as if there was nothing there?

DALE#3

If your really worried about a flip.Then select a coupe.It's like riding a motorcycle and worrying if this ride maybe your last.
Nothing like top down other than a Motorcycle.To me I ain't worrying while i enjoy being TOPLESS.
You could add a Rollbar.They are out their


If it's my time to go? Ain't nothing gonna change that
Guess it doesn't answer your question but maybe go with a vert with bars?
Some info. here:
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...rotection.html

defaria

Sorry but this is ridiculous. You don't have a "time" to go. Fate and destiny are human concepts and have nothing to do with reality. A person who recklessly does reckless things merely increases his chances of something bad happening. It may or may not be worth it for your viewpoint and chosen lifestyle but it has absolutely zero to do with a "time to go". IOW if it is your time to go then there are probably a million things that you could do to insure that your time to go is not now. You can choose to ignore this but it doesn't change reality.

Allen_B

If you're concerned about roll-over safety, invest in a roll cage regardless.

The idea that the C7 coupe is any more safe that a convertible in a roll-over is likely dubious at best. I will concede the optics are in the coupe's favor but the rigidity of the frame and windshield for both, I'd wager actual testing would likely not show tangible improvements for the coupe. None out there that I'm aware of so mine is just an opinion, but the C7 was reportedly designed as a convertible to start with.

I seem to recall reading that as of 2009, NHTSA required ALL cars sold in the U.S. to have A-pillars strong enough to withstand a minimum weight load of 3 times the vehicle weight. I can't provide stats on the C7 but today it is really difficult to buy a "dangerous" car from any major manufacturer today.

Add that to the design of the C7, one has to defy a lot of laws of physics to flip one. Sure it is quite possible but it's more likely to get your tongue stuck in a fan and would offer, it takes the roughly the same level of judgement to do either.


Allen

DALE#3

I'll shorten my view point a little.If i accelerated my odds of dying sooner.Then guess what?? It was my Time to Go

c5c6c7

I'm not so concerned about my driving ability...I'm more concerned with the idiot that's going to mess up my day.

Gearhead Jim

On both the C6 and C7, the windshield frame/glass are strong enough to meet the Federal rollover standards without anything else. The extra strength of the halo obviously helps but I've never seen any numbers on how much. But I will say that in most of the C6/C7 rollover pics I've seen over the years, the coupes are damaged but mostly "erect", the convertibles are mostly flat.

Having said that, Corvettes don't roll over very often on the street. Track use is a different matter.

As for roll bars, I was at an SCCA autocross one time and some of the non-Corvette guys were discussing aftermarket roll bars that were readily available for their car. One of them said he'd really like a roll bar in his 'vert, but his wife worked with brain damaged people and talked him out of it. She said that for every life saved on the street by a roll bar, someone else became a vegetable from head impact against the bar in a non-rollover accident, even with padding on the bar. If you're willing to wear a helmet every time you go for groceries, then the roll bar came out ahead.
Interesting perspective.

CVSUINES

i think that coupe looks so much better

Seldoon

If you drink too much tea you will find it is soon time to go!!!

Seldoon

That's what everyone says. It's not me, its the other guy!!!

Seldoon

I think the coupe looks better than the convertible with the top up on the convertible BUT the convertible looks better than the coupe when the top is down.

Kevin A Jones

Simple, if you are afraid of the Vert, stick with a coup

owc6

My only real concern is when I drive into DC with the top down.

Bill Dearborn

The halo holds up quite well in a roll over and pretty much obviates the need for a roll bar. The problem isn't the roof halo. It is the A pillars. There isn't enough structure there to hold the car up so they collapse. If you want to keep them from collapsing you need a roll cage not a roll bar.

Bill

Foosh

How do you know this about the A-pillar, Bill? From the frame pictures I've seen, it appears to have been considerably beefed up in the C7.

fsvoboda

Look at the bare frame, and you can see that the lower section is very beefy to hold up against side impacts, but neither the windshield frame nor the rear halo is very robust. I would be a lot happier if the rear halo continued up with a much bigger cross section. I have heard it described as essentially just strong enough to provide an anchor for the hatch hinges.





All that said, especially with the roof in place you're going to get some protection. I think that ideally the car would come from the factory with a strong enough roof structure to stand up on the track. Yes, Corvette is very unlikely to roll, but these are high performance vehicles, and people are going to get into trouble in them.

Billy346

Even "if" the coupe does not offer much more protection than the convertible, I'll take the extra halo holding the car up in the event of a rollover to give that windshield some help.

direct007

This topic came up in another recent forum post. Back in 1991, my 1989 vette convertible was stolen out of my mechanic's parking lot by a neighboring kid and he drove it around 100mph, took a right turn and flipped it onto railroad tracks. The windshield frame kept the car from flattening altogether. The kid got out alive and ran away from the scene. The police found him at a bus station a few blocks away. The only solace I had that day was that someone survived a roll over in a vert. Today, the verts are built much stronger than the 1989 C4. Any accident can kill you, but if you are concerned that the windshield frame will flatten and you will be crushed, you do have a fighting chance. Here is the picture of the 1989 vette after it was flipped right side up:

JerryU

Had a thought when we started helping the Richard Petty Driving School with welding their own chassis. Unlike the cup car owner's, who mostly buy chassis, to keep cost down they are fiberglass bodies on a steel chassis. They had a very sturdy, full roll cage.

Talked with our export sales manager who was selling a lot of product to the Middle East and where the young son's of very rich Sheikh's were traveling very fast and getting in horrible accents in expensive cars. Thought dad might want to buy his son a safe very fast car!

He said, "You don't understand the culture, going to the "afterlife" is thought to be great!"

6spdC6

The topic of this thread is safety not looks.


With that said I have 15 years of going to CAC with the C5/6 registry. At our annual dinner/meeting there many of the engineers come for dinner and a chance to pick the minds of a group that has bought the latest Vettes.

That safety topic has come up a couple times and from what was said the windshield systen is like a mine role-bar. With the top up a little more protection is in place. Of course the coup with a role bar is the one I want to be in if I'm in a role over.



Of my last 4 Vettes, 98 05 15 are Verts, my 07 was a Z06