07 Town & Country vs new Camaro. Guess which won the fight?

[Cameramonkey]

The van of course!

Headed home from a grocery run and as we were sitting at a stop getting ready to go, We heard a thud and. Not a "Oh God we were hit" but a "what was that?" level of impact. Apparently the lady behind us thought we were going or something so she started to go too. So TOTALLY not a hard hit at all.

When I got out I could see her front passenger bumper impacted our driver bumper corner. (we were angled right to have visibility because the streets arent totally perpendicular) With a slight repositioning and a quick smack, I was able to put our bumper cover back in place. Hers? Hoo boy! It wasnt pretty. And as she followed us up the street to the church parking lot so we could get out of traffic and exchange info, I could see that headlight was pushed up and out of alignment.


They sure dont make them like they used to. I cant even begin to imagine what hers would have looked like in a REAL accident.

 

[Bigtanker]

 

[Matthews]

I was really hoping you won a drag race with the van... But to each his own

 

[Bigtanker]

You can get one that does.

[video=youtube_share;u0l6QMEiOdE]http://youtu.be/u0l6QMEiOdE[/video]

 

[Matthews]

Getting the children to soccer practice a 1/4 mile at a time

 

[Cameramonkey]

That’s not a minivan, that’s a swagger wagon.

 

[churchmouse]

The van of course!

Headed home from a grocery run and as we were sitting at a stop getting ready to go, We heard a thud and. Not a "Oh God we were hit" but a "what was that?" level of impact. Apparently the lady behind us thought we were going or something so she started to go too. So TOTALLY not a hard hit at all.

When I got out I could see her front passenger bumper impacted our driver bumper corner. (we were angled right to have visibility because the streets arent totally perpendicular) With a slight repositioning and a quick smack, I was able to put our bumper cover back in place. Hers? Hoo boy! It wasnt pretty. And as she followed us up the street to the church parking lot so we could get out of traffic and exchange info, I could see that headlight was pushed up and out of alignment.


They sure dont make them like they used to. I cant even begin to imagine what hers would have looked like in a REAL accident.

Engineers call those crush/crumple zones.

 

[Cameramonkey]

Engineers call those crush/crumple zones.

Yep. Two mushy plastic bumpers, about 10 years apart in age/design. One laughed it off, the other ran crying to mommy.

 

[rhino]

You can get one that does.

[video=youtube_share;u0l6QMEiOdE]http://youtu.be/u0l6QMEiOdE[/video]

That's both hilarious and one of the coolest things I've ever seen. The cartop carrier seals the deal. If only it had wood paneling on the sides for the "country squire" look.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Engineers call those crush/crumple zones.

Body shops call them "cha-ching!".

 

[walleyepw]

Yep, vehicles are made cheeper and cheeper. I had a F250 for a rental vehicle this year. Looking at the frame you would have thought it was a toy truck.

 

[JeepHammer]

Correction,
Vehicles are being made lighter & lighter.
The lighter weight means less rigidity & support.

I saw something not to long ago (insurance company related) that said a 10 MPH impact created an average of $6,000 worth of damage in passenger cars.
If you remember the 70's cars with big, ugly 5 mph "No Damage" bumpers, this seems inconceivable.
When we strip those 'No Damage' bumpers off performance cars, there is often 100 pounds of bumper, shock pistons, mounts & frame braces.
That's 100 pounds PER BUMPER.

There is another thread where I say I use 2"x4" tubing 1/4" thick, and I know for a fact that this bumper with simple square cut end will rip an '06 GMC SUV from park light to tail light, including tires.
An idiot sideswiped me while my '86 Grand Wagoneer was parked and the damage to HIM was catastrophic, while I got some paint rub.
He hit my GW so hard it pushed forward against a phone pole, and the bumper on my vehicle RIPPED a fist size slot from park light to tail light.

Did I mention I was parked ABOVE the curb? Between curb & sidewalk... (Yup! Drunk.)
He managed to limp about 4 blocks trying to drive away,
I got a $2,800 check from his insurance company, his got towed to the junk yard (totaled)...

Hillbilly Urban Armor! Can't beat it!

 

[hoosierdoc]

I had a lady smack my hitch getting on 465 from 37 north. We were stopped, she liked where I was at and wanted to stop there too apparently. Her bumper had a hole in it and was hanging down, I had no damage. Another mini van conquest

 

[KittySlayer]

Correction,
Vehicles are being made lighter & lighter.
The lighter weight means less rigidity & support.

I saw something not to long ago (insurance company related) that said a 10 MPH impact created an average of $6,000 worth of damage in passenger cars.
If you remember the 70's cars with big, ugly 5 mph "No Damage" bumpers, this seems inconceivable.
When we strip those 'No Damage' bumpers off performance cars, there is often 100 pounds of bumper, shock pistons, mounts & frame braces.
That's 100 pounds PER BUMPER.

So besides being cheap to make more profit I assume one of the big emphasis to go lighter weight is to be Green and improve gas mileage in order to save dinosaur blood. I wonder what the environmental impact of these lightweight bumpers/parts is when a slow impact causes thousands of dollars of body damage along with paint, chemicals, disposed of parts, etc.

 

[rhino]

So besides being cheap to make more profit I assume one of the big emphasis to go lighter weight is to be Green and improve gas mileage in order to save dinosaur blood. I wonder what the environmental impact of these lightweight bumpers/parts is when a slow impact causes thousands of dollars of body damage along with paint, chemicals, disposed of parts, etc.

The EPA standards only address mileage, so we're supposed to pretend that those down-the-road issues don't exist (like battery issues with electric vehicles).

I haven't seen numbers on relative costs, but I would expect that light weight and fuel economy are the bigger driver since nothing is really cheap anymore (in terms of cost). There is also the issue that modern safety standards are achieved by designing vehicles to deform and shatter in order absorb and dissipate energy and impulse from collisions instead of doing work on the bodies of the occupants (like the way most races cars are designed to essentially "explode" in a shower of pieces).

 

[rem788]

Car manufacturers are making car/trucks lighter to enable them to meet the government CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) standards. If they don't meet the standards they are fined millions of dollars, hence the incentive. I really don't think the car companies are as concerned about the environment as they are about profit. They still sell the small high mileage cars that they don't make much profit on to offset the poor mileage of the SUV and 4 wheel drive trucks that they make ridiculous profits on. Other mileage enhancements include CVT transmissions, variable valve timing, start/stop technology, direct fuel injection, computer controlled engines, ETC.