B-Body Carnage! - Factory crash testing back in the day

[Ron H]

Woulda been nice to tell the engineers before they wrecked the Charger "Hey - the outcome of your test will be bad; the car will be totaled as well as the crash dummies. Why not just let me have the car instead before you wreck it?" Oh the pain...the pain...watching that Charger get destroyed..

 

[rick68b5]

the hell with the charger I'm more upset about the k car

 

[Slap Stick]

Uh....I think they need to rethink the size of the "crush zone".

 

[64BEL]

The way that thing is accordioned, it makes you wonder if the engine was in it. It wouldn't be a very good test without it, so I suppose it was. It's hard to tell in the after pic. No driveshaft, so it wasn't under it's own power for the crash.

 

[coronet68mx]

Those who have a b body in driveable condition, PLEASE DRIVE SAFELY, DONT RUN!!! unsafe then unsafe now, and today these cars are 50 year old steel, more reason not to make anything stupid at the wheel, so again BE SAFE GUYS PLEASE

 

[chargervert]

The way that thing is accordioned, it makes you wonder if the engine was in it. It wouldn't be a very good test without it, so I suppose it was. It's hard to tell in the after pic. No driveshaft, so it wasn't under it's own power for the crash.

The driveshaft is that flattened,folded in half piece of steel flying out next to the muffler.

 

[chargervert]

Interesting how it's all painted white underneath. I wonder what that was for. I was curious of the same thing about my car, much of the undercarriage up front had white paint under the grime.

They paint the underside white on crash test cars so they can be seen clearer on film.

 

[Ron H]

the hell with the charger I'm more upset about the k car

Funny! We had a fleet of K-Cars when I worked for a company being assigned one. What POS's they were. On an incline you could floor it and still lose speed going up the hill. A door came unhinged on another...must a been the QC hangover day. I got lucky when a Grand Am was turned in by a manager who retired and switched it out to get that. Much as I love Mopars...I have my limits..

 

[Gone]

The test concluded that if you hit a solid immovable object at 100 mph in a second generation Charger there would be no survivors in the car.

I conclude that if you hit a solid immovable object at significantly less than 100 mph in any one of these cars that you would not survive.

 

[64BEL]

The driveshaft is that flattened,folded in half piece of steel flying out next to the muffler.

I think you're right, now that I look at it again. At first I thought that was the driveshaft, then I thought it was a piece of exhaust pipe. But, looking again, I think I see the u-joint at the bottom of the screen.

 

[Dennis H]

Do my best to avoid accidents vs surviving them.

 

[mopar 3 B]

And you think any one will walk away in a new Charger after hitting a wall at 100 mph? Just stupid! That and 100 mph into a solid non moving object is no different than two moving objects hitting head on at 50 mph. I just love listening to the stupidity of the drive slow be safe crowd.

 

[Photon440]

And you think any one will walk away in a new Charger after hitting a wall at 100 mph? Just stupid! That and 100 mph into a solid non moving object is no different than two moving objects hitting head on at 50 mph. I just love listening to the stupidity of the drive slow be safe crowd.

I would have thought that a car that instantly stops from 100 mph would involve higher g/force than two head ons that instantly stop from 50 mph.

 

[Kern Dog]

That and 100 mph into a solid non moving object is no different than two moving objects hitting head on at 50 mph.

The math was disproven on this.

 

[Slap Stick]

Two cars head on-both cars crush absorbing impact. One hitting a wall all energy transfers to the one car.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Two cars head on-both cars crush absorbing impact. One hitting a wall all energy transfers to the one car.

What are you, a professor?

 

[JB400]

The wall transfers energy as well, but energy follows the path of least resistance, aka the car.

For ever action is an equal and opposite reaction

 

[chargervert]

Not that long ago two guys were test driving a new Challenger at over 100 mph,and t boned an 80s Mercury Sable,that had a mother and her daughter in the car,they both died from their injuries, the guys in the Challenger walked away. Crash safety has come a long way since 1969. New Challengers have a five star front and side impact rating, and a four star roll over rating. Our b bodies offer very little crash protection, especially in a side impact crash. There is no comparison at all to today's vehicles.

 

[biomedtechguy]

Our b bodies offer very little crash protection

That's one of the benefits of a well engineered roll bar/cage.

 

[biomedtechguy]

Oh, the humanity!