This isn’t a straightforward piece to put in writing though the premise is easy. Outdated vehicles are merely not secure for you and your loved ones. They arrive nowhere close to to fashionable crash security requirements and any new automotive, even the most cost effective ones on sale right this moment, are gentle years forward in occupant security. In your personal sake, get a brand new automotive.
The above paragraph is a reality, one which was seared into my thoughts earlier this week once we witnessed the crash check of a Proton Wira, dwell on the Miros PC3 lab. Figuring out one thing in principle is one factor, seeing the carnage with your personal eyes is one other altogether.
Right here’s some background. This isn’t an official ASEAN NCAP check and there’s no ranking to be earned, though we’re in the identical facility in Ayer Molek, Melaka that palms out the stars and factors we’re accustomed to. The identical high-speed cameras and lights, the identical background, the identical gear and the identical wrecking crew, however with a vastly completely different topic.
One which’s from the previous. Now we have right here a 1993 Proton Wira from the primary batch of the tremendous fashionable sedan based mostly 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 pal bought the Wira with the intention to revive it, however the man has approach too many autos to work on/play with, and had a superb concept.
Crash it! He acquired in contact with Miros and right here we’re with a few different media retailers Hezeri invited to witness the loss of life of a automotive in actual time. He solely has one Wira to offer so there’ll solely be one crash – the total frontal – as a substitute of the same old entrance offset and NCAP’s gamut of exams. Additionally, we’re utilizing probably the most fundamental of dummies (that are very expensive issues by the best way), as the principle intention is to indicate the injury 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 velocity 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 down to examine the now-departed Wira (RIP, hero), and what instantly struck me wasn’t the fully crushed 1/3 of the three-box sedan, however the truth that the remainder of the Proton – now minus the engine bay – appeared visibly shorter than the automotive that was alive moments in the past.
Maybe not as pronounced in photos, however the wheelbase of the sedan has been shortened, and the wrecked physique seems barely curved, like a Mercedes-Benz CLS. The crew later lifted the wreckage and pointed us to the damaged weld factors on the undercarriage.
This compression of the passenger cell needs to be the most important distinction between a contemporary automotive and an older automotive constructed within the period the place crash exams weren’t a factor. The engine bay of a contemporary automotive acts as a giant crumple zone, designed to nicely, crumple upon influence, absorbing the power of the crash, so to talk. With out this big, precise ‘absorber bumper’ (keep in mind the Nissan Sunny 130Y?) the huge power is transferred to the cabin, as demonstrated by this Wira wreck.
The most secure vehicles on the highway right this moment are intact aft of the A pillars, that are bolstered to face up to the entrance offset crash check. The latter, the place just one facet of the automotive’s entrance finish makes first influence, is a more durable check than the total frontal, the place the influence is unfold over a bigger space. For this reason you don’t see any A pillar injury right here, however stunning scenes greeted us upon nearer inspection.
And not using a crumple zone, the influence of the collision pushed the firewall – and dashboard – again into the cabin, drastically decreasing what consultants name the ‘cabin survival zone’. The grownup driver dummy’s legs are pushed again to the seat base and his foot is flipped again in direction of his shin. The steering wheel is now not spherical as a result of the dented half ‘went into’ the dummy’s stomach.
Potential influence areas had been painted to actually spotlight contact factors with the dummy, and we see the colors on Mr Orange’s forehead, nostril and chin – with no airbag to cushion the blow, the dummy’s total face collided with the stiff steering wheel. There’s additionally color on the passenger facet of the dashboard, which implies that the top of the kid – secured in a toddler seat – smacked the sprint. Sure loss of life in the event that they had been each human, we had been informed.
The ultimate nail within the coffin is that each one 4 doorways couldn’t be opened by a crew of 5 grown males, who had instruments and no scarcity of expertise with mangled vehicles. The compression of the passenger cell will need to have sealed the doorways in place. If this was an actual accident, it will be inconceivable for passers-by to assist extricate the occupants earlier than the bomba arrive with their Jaws of Life. The doorways of recent vehicles are designed to be openable within the occasion of a crash.
Talking of doorways, if you happen to occur to recollect the facet influence beams touted by Proton for the Wira (a brand new characteristic that wasn’t within the Iswara), they’re current – we peeked into the crevice and noticed the horizontal metallic tubes.
As confessed firstly, this wasn’t a straightforward story to put in writing as a result of fairly just a few of us love previous vehicles right here at paultan.org. PT BM colleague Farid drove to Melaka in a slammed Volvo 240 and yours really’s earlier two-door automotive was a Toyota MR2 three years older than the departed Wira. Many people automotive guys have dream vehicles from that period, or on the very least, a fond reminiscence of the household saloon that we grew up in. They don’t make them like they used to, proper?
Certainly! Immediately’s vehicles, even probably the most fundamental ones, had been designed to satisfy fashionable crash security requirements that weren’t there within the Nineteen Nineties, which implies that even the Perodua Axia/Bezza or right this moment’s Proton Saga – small and light-weight as they’re – will maintain up higher in a crash than previous vehicles – there are not any two methods about it.
And whereas we’re utilizing the Wira for example, it will be the identical for a Honda Civic EG, Toyota Corolla SEG or any mannequin from the period – the notion of ‘previous vehicles are extra stable’ or that they’re product of ‘more durable metal’ is obvious mistaken.
Are we telling you then to ditch the previous automotive and change it with a contemporary rent buy mortgage ASAP? No, however if you possibly can afford a contemporary automotive to function household transport, security is all the time cash nicely spent. Should you’re preserving an previous automotive for fanatic or sentimental causes, get pleasure from your previous buddy responsibly with the realisation that its shell gained’t supply a lot safety in a crash. Be sure that your brakes and tyres are in good situation and don’t take an excessive amount of liberties. See the Wira’s loss of life blow from all angles within the video beneath.
GALLERY: 1993 Proton Wira frontal crash check
GALLERY: Trendy automotive wrecks at Miros PC3
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