This isn’t a straightforward piece to write down although the premise is straightforward. Old cars are simply not protected for you and your loved ones. They arrive nowhere near to modern crash safety standards and any recent automotive, even the most cost effective ones on sale today, are light years ahead in occupant safety. For your individual sake, get a brand new automotive.
The above paragraph is a fact, one which was seared into my mind earlier this week once we witnessed the crash test of a Proton Wira, live on the Miros PC3 lab. Knowing something in theory is one thing, seeing the carnage together with your own eyes is one other altogether.
Here’s some background. This isn’t an official ASEAN NCAP test and there’s no rating to be earned, although we’re in the identical facility in Ayer Molek, Melaka that hands out the celebs and points we’re accustomed to. The identical high-speed cameras and lights, the identical background, the identical gear and the identical wrecking crew, but with a vastly different subject.
One which’s from the past. We’ve here a 1993 Proton Wira from the primary batch of the super popular sedan based on the fourth-generation Mitsubishi Lancer. This white 1.5 GL was donated by Hezeri Samsuri, veteran motoring journalist and founding father of Careta. Our friend purchased the Wira with the intention to revive it, however the man has way too many vehicles to work on/play with, and had an excellent idea.
Crash it! He got in contact with Miros and here we’re with a few other media outlets Hezeri invited to witness the death of a automotive in real time. He only has one Wira to present so there’ll only be one crash – the total frontal – as an alternative of the same old front offset and NCAP’s gamut of tests. Also, we’re using essentially the most basic of dummies (that are very costly things by the best way), because the predominant intention is to indicate the damage to the automotive.
After a nervous wait from the viewing platform, we heard the countdown after which the sound of the Wira arrowing into the constructing at a recorded speed of 62 km/h (64 km/h is the norm). It hit the wall with a muted ‘doosh’ sound, making a combustion of glass and trim.
We rushed all the way down to inspect the now-departed Wira (RIP, hero), and what immediately struck me wasn’t the completely crushed 1/3 of the three-box sedan, however the indisputable fact that the remainder of the Proton – now minus the engine bay – appeared visibly shorter than the automotive that was alive moments ago.
Perhaps not as pronounced in pictures, however the wheelbase of the sedan has been shortened, and the wrecked body appears barely curved, like a Mercedes-Benz CLS. The crew later lifted the wreckage and pointed us to the broken weld points on the undercarriage.
This compression of the passenger cell must be the most important difference between a contemporary automotive and an older automotive inbuilt the era where crash tests weren’t a thing. The engine bay of a contemporary automotive acts as a giant crumple zone, designed to well, crumple upon impact, absorbing the energy of the crash, so to talk. Without this giant, actual ‘absorber bumper’ (remember the Nissan Sunny 130Y?) the huge energy is transferred to the cabin, as demonstrated by this Wira wreck.
The safest cars on the road today are intact aft of the A pillars, that are reinforced to resist the front offset crash test. The latter, where just one side of the automotive’s front end makes first impact, is a tougher test than the total frontal, where the impact is spread over a bigger area. That is why you don’t see any A pillar damage here, but shocking scenes greeted us upon closer inspection.
With out a crumple zone, the impact of the collision pushed the firewall – and dashboard – back into the cabin, drastically reducing what experts call the ‘cabin survival zone’. The adult driver dummy’s legs are pushed back to the seat base and his foot is flipped back towards his shin. The steering wheel isn’t any longer round since the dented part ‘went into’ the dummy’s abdomen.
Possible impact areas were painted to literally highlight contact points with the dummy, and we see the colors on Mr Orange’s brow, nose and chin – with no airbag to cushion the blow, the dummy’s entire face collided with the stiff steering wheel. There’s also color on the passenger side of the dashboard, which suggests that the top of the kid – secured in a toddler seat – smacked the dash. Certain death in the event that they were each human, we were told.
The ultimate nail within the coffin is that every one 4 doors couldn’t be opened by a crew of 5 grown men, who had tools and no shortage of experience with mangled cars. The compression of the passenger cell should have sealed the doors in place. If this was an actual accident, it will be not possible for passers-by to assist extricate the occupants before the bomba arrive with their Jaws of Life. The doors of contemporary cars are designed to be openable within the event of a crash.
Speaking of doors, in case you occur to recollect the side impact beams touted by Proton for the Wira (a brand new feature that wasn’t within the Iswara), they’re present – we peeked into the crevice and saw the horizontal metal tubes.
As confessed initially, this wasn’t a straightforward story to write down because quite just a few of us love old cars here at paultan.org. PT BM colleague Farid drove to Melaka in a slammed Volvo 240 and yours truly’s previous two-door automotive was a Toyota MR2 three years older than the departed Wira. Lots of us automotive guys have dream cars from that era, or on the very least, a fond memory of the family saloon that we grew up in. They don’t make them like they used to, right?
Indeed! Today’s cars, even essentially the most basic ones, were designed to fulfill modern crash safety standards that weren’t there within the Nineteen Nineties, which suggests that even the Perodua Axia/Bezza or today’s Proton Saga – small and light-weight as they’re – will delay higher in a crash than old cars – there aren’t any two ways about it.
And while we’re using the Wira for example, it will be the identical for a Honda Civic EG, Toyota Corolla SEG or any model from the era – the notion of ‘old cars are more solid’ or that they’re made from ‘harder steel’ is apparent fallacious.
Are we telling you then to ditch the old automotive and replace it with a fresh hire purchase loan ASAP? No, but if you possibly can afford a contemporary automotive to function family transport, safety is all the time money well spent. In the event you’re keeping an old automotive for enthusiast or sentimental reasons, enjoy your old buddy responsibly with the realisation that its shell won’t offer much protection in a crash. Make sure that your brakes and tyres are in good condition and don’t take an excessive amount of liberties. See the Wira’s death blow from all angles within the video below.
GALLERY: 1993 Proton Wira frontal crash test
GALLERY: Modern automotive wrecks at Miros PC3
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This Article First Appeared At paultan.org
