Electric car thread

[nomadpete]

Further to vehicle crash safety:

Last night I was talking with a Road Crash guy (he's the one who operates 'jaws of life' to cut trapped folk out of crashed cars).

 

His hates those European cars - they are much harder to cut up! Much tougher reinforcement is built into them - sometimes it breaks the jaws.

 

I admit he didn't comment on chinese cars.

[facthunter]

Practically All of them now use High Tensile steel which often cannot be satisfactorily repaired IF it's creased.  Nev

[Siso]

I wouldn't like to hit a roo (or any animal larger then a sheep) in a tesla, low bonnet,  may end up inside with you.

[octave]

Australian (and European) Tesla models have a little-known feature called "active hood"

 

"Tesla has installed a pyrotechnic system that raises the rear portion of the hood (closest to the windshield), if a frontal pedestrian crash is detected. The hood immediately lifts by a few inches so that the pedestrian's impact hits a softer, and more movable surface than that of the solid parts beneath the hood, or even the windshield."

 

https://insideevs.com/news/333820/teslas-active-hood-safety-feature-could-save-lives/

 

There have been cases of this deploying during a collision with a kangaroo. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 11 hours ago by octave

[nomadpete]

4 minutes ago, octave said:

Tesla has installed a pyrotechnic system that raises the rear portion of the hood (closest to the windshield), if a frontal pedestrian crash is detected.

I believe some european vehicles (eg Volvo) have a front bumper bar airbag for this purpose. The plastic bumper drops and the airbag pops up.

[octave]

The active hood has been around on European cars since 2005, so not a new feature

 

The Jaguar XK was the first car to feature a deployable bonnet pedestrian safety system in 2005, although the system was first unveiled by Honda in a concept vehicle in 2004 and introduced in a production model in 2008. The system uses pyrotechnic actuators to lift the rear of the bonnet upon impact with a pedestrian, creating a cushioning effect to reduce head injuries. 

• Jaguar XK (2005): This was the first vehicle to publicly unveil the production system, which was designed to meet new European safety legislation. The system automatically "pops" the hood up a few inches to create a cushion between the pedestrian and hard points in the engine compartment.
• Honda (2008): Honda unveiled its "Pop-up Hood System" technology in 2004 and incorporated it into a production vehicle in 2008. Honda's system uses sensors in the bumper to detect an impact, then an actuator raises the rear of the bonnet by about 10 centimeters.
• General Motors (2007): GM introduced its active hood system in 2007 in the European market. This system works at speeds between 25 and 48 km/h (16-30 mph) and is designed to reduce pedestrian fatalities.
• Buick Regal (2017): Buick made the active hood standard in China with the new generation Regal in 2017. 

 

 

[pmccarthy]

The VW beetle had a pedestrian friendly bonnet.

[Jerry_Atrick]

A long lost xth cousin of mine had a HQ panelvan (don't think it was a Sandman, but it was hotted up in the old vernacular). He hit a roo at speed (I am guessing c. 100kph), and the roo ended up in the car, hit him and he suffered mild brain damage as a result.  I am not sure less aerodynamic cars makes that much of a difference - maybe at lower speeds (say 60kph) it does.

 

Edited 1 hour ago by Jerry_Atrick

[nomadpete]

I have seen pictures of deer, roo or donkey, etc that have gone straight through the windscreen. 

 

There are less complicated ways to prevent unwanted pedestrian or animal entry via windscreens.

Way back, a friend bought a Citroen ID19. The bonnet didn't match the rest of the car. 

"Oh," said seller, "I hit a horse, it rolled up the bonnet and went over the roof!"

 

The beast had deformed the bonnet but I think the roof is glassfibre so it just flexed. 

 

Personally, I have been hit by a car and my biggest fear at the time was that the driver predictably hit the brakes and as there is nothing on a windscreen to hold onto, I slid off the bonnet and nearly went under the vehicle. All these newfangled mechanisms are unlikely to prevent this.

 

 

Edited 30 minutes ago by nomadpete
All true!

[octave]

There’s a safety requirement for a gap between the bonnet and the engine. In older cars, when pedestrians were struck, their heads often hit the bonnet. The gap acts as a cushioning zone to reduce the force of impact before the head reaches the engine. Many modern cars reduce this gap for aerodynamic reasons, so they use dynamic bonnet systems to meet safety standards.