850's crashworthiness vs. Lincoln or Cadillac[850][1993] J.P. Rosario -- Tuesday, 31 July 2001, at 9:53 p.m.

 I am curious-would any Volvo 850 be more crashworthy in a head-on collision than a '90's Lincoln Town Car or Cadillac Brougham? Somebody
 told me that the bigger the vehicle, the better it would withstand a crash. I once saw the wreckage on a highway of both a '95 or '96 850 and a
 mid-'80s Chevrolet Cargo Van. I will say this-the Volvo seemed to have done much better than the Chevy Van (which has a tiny front end).
 --
 J

 J.P. Rosario wrote:

 > I am curious-would any Volvo 850 be more crashworthy in a head-on
 > collision than a '90's Lincoln Town Car or Cadillac Brougham?
 > Somebody told me that the bigger the vehicle, the better it would
 > withstand a crash.

 It's called engineering. The Volvo is designed so that the passenger space remains intact with nothing intruding in it, and the rest of the car is
 designed to absorb energy by crushing in specific ways. Although not alone in this kind of crash worthyness Volvo has always been a leader
 going back for many years. Brute force (mass) doesn't always win.

 Bill Matthews
 Hockessin DE
 94 855T
 95 854GLT
 73 1800ES
 other cars

 Hmm...good question. Crashworthiness has a lot to do with the mass of the vehicle, but the design of the vehicle is a huge factor as well.
 Basically, anything that reduces the G-forges experienced by the passengers in a crash will make it a more "crashorthy." Let's assume we
 have a Towncar and an 850 travelling at the same speed towards a head on collision, and let's also assume that there isn't anything else acting
 on the vehicles. The vehicle with the most mass will have the most inertia, and therefore it will be harder to decelerate. That vehicle will
 decelerate less quickly than the other one (good). But if it doesn't have any crumple zones, the passengers will experience all of the
 deceleration at once (bad). On the other hand, the passengers in the other vehicle may very well decelerate more slowly (good) if their vehicle
 has effective crumple zones that lengthen the impact time. Then there are all the other things like the airbags, but I'm not sure specifically how
 they factor in. I'm assuming that those devices are aiming for the same goal. So, the answer to your question? I don't know. I just couldn't keep
 myself from going through the physics.

 Tim
 --
 Tim Smith 85 745GLE M46 w/79K (mine), 94 854T w/105k (Dad's)

 JP: here's my $.02 worth, hope it's worth your time to read it. 1st scenario: a guy is driving a big old Mercury or something like it (70's vintage, if
 I recall correctly), driving about 35 mph, on his way home to lunch; a guy coming the other way crosses the yellow line and they do a head-on at
 about 75mph combied speed. The'offender' is in a medium-sized import car I don't know what it was, can't even say if it was or was not a
 VoVo, but I don't think so. The import looks like a giant has crumpled the car in his fist, the Merc is barely scratched. The 'offender' crawls out
 the passenger-side window and can walk; the guy in the Merc is dead from a broken neck: true story! 2nd scenario: I am driving down a
 fairly-well travelled one-lane-each-way-road, one that I have travelled hundreds of times; a few dips, a few slight rises, a slight twist here and
 there, posted limit 30, most people do 40 or higher. I see a huge cloud of dust coming at me, I slow down, downshift, then almost crawl, then I'm
 in the dust cloud...I put on every light I could find: flashers, front and rear fogs,(headlightsare ALWAYS on), etc. BOOM!! I have been hit by a
 street sweeper, going BACKWARDS at a construction site, no flagmen, no lights, no warning. My car ('85 240 wagon) looks like a giant has
 crumpled it in his fist. Radiator destroyed, grill gone, most of the front gone, hood accordioned, etc. I crawl from the passenger's side, as my
 door is unopenable. I walk back to a nearby shop to call the cops. They come, with ambulance, to take away the driver of the apparently
 undamaged streetsweeper: true story also! I went looking for another VoVo the next day, got an '86 740 GLE wagon, 2 1/2 years later I am still
 alive, well, and blessed. VoVo be's a quirky beast, but I'm stickin' with 'em. It's not always how the car LOOKS, it's how the occupants fare that
 impresses me. Me and my VoVo. --PD

 Some big American cars and most trucks have ladder frames, which provide too muck stiffness (no crumple room) in front and back and no
 protection from the side. Volvos are the opposite - very soft front and rear end with a very rigid passenger cage, including very sturdy side
 protection in the body itself, not just the doors.

 Bigger SUV's have ladder frames, yet another reason that they are so dangerous to their occupants and other road users.

 In allmost all crash tests cars of the same type/weight are compared. In particular with the head-on test against a (deformable) barrier.
 General spoken, the heavier/bigger/larger the car the better in case both cars have similar constructions. However, much depends on the
 construction. I that way a heavier car could perform worse (for the passengers) than a lighter car. Note that crash worthiness is to protect the
 passengers, not the car.

 Keep in mind that the Volvo (850) would help a driver AVOID the accident morso than the Cad or Linc. Braking handling and accident
 avoidance in general are superior on the Volvo in most cases. The firm suspension with good brakes and tight steering have helped me in a
 few emergency situations, and it's always amazing how quickly I can slow down and how precise my steering is in a panic situation.