![]() A 3 foot long car will be dramatically less safe. A 100 foot long car that can collapse 99 feet before coming to a complete stop will be exceptionally safe. The longer you can draw out the deceleration event, the less deceleration you will experience, and the more survivable it will be. You need to draw out the length of time over which the accident occurs. A 10,000 pound car that's rigid as hell will kill you in the exact same manner- the car will stop when you hit the wall (or worse, bounce back), and your body will either continue forward until it impacts the windshield or other hard object, or else you will snap your neck as the seatbelt holds you perfectly in place.Ĭrumple zones are key. A 50 pound car that is positively rigid as hell will kill you when you hit a brick wall. The human body, for a brief period, can withstand approximately 60G's of deceleration, or roughly 60m/s/s. Oh sure, it'll matter to the car that hits a brick wall and it'll matter to the brick wall itself, but it won't matter to the occupants.Īccidents don't kill people- the sudden stop at the end of the accident kills people. The mass of the car doesn't make a lick of difference one way or the other in terms of survivability. Personally, the threat is low enough for me to not concern myself with a rollbar, and if I did get one I would probably design and build a functional rollbar similar to the chromed ones like he mentioned in his original post, that curve behind the seat. While the Spyder's low center of gravity makes it almost impossible to flip, you have to remember that almost impossible is very different than impossible. My friend clipped a deer at the same speed in his Ford F150, and the insurance company totaled his truck. I have one scratch about 1" long, and two tiny pinpoint dents. I ended up only hitting one, but I nailed him dead center, which threw him up onto the hood, rolled him up the windshield and off the driver's side of the car. The last time, I drove through a herd of deer at 65mph. Out here in the country, I've hit 5 or 6 deer in tiny cars, always without major damage. ![]() Because of this principal, the old Pontiac Fiero's are (to my knowledge) the only cars to receive a full 5-star crash rating without having airbags. I've always loved tiny cars (before the spyder, I drove a pontiac fiero.stop laughing!!). The less mass you have, the less force your car will exert on the object you collided with, and the less force will be reciprocated onto your car. When you hit something, the damage is caused by the force of the impact, which is your speed multiplied times your mass. A lot of people tell me that they would be terrified to drive my car because if they wrecked, it would be gone. My Spyder protected me & I have more confidence than ever that this is a safe car.Ĭlick to expand.That's true. I feel that if I had been in another car (heavier) I would have been injured more severely. They were fine.Īs always, you cannot control the idiocy of others, as I found out last year. The posts held up! I was convinced that time that unless the Spyder stops upside down, you are very safe. The windshield/screen was damaged, the top ripped & there was minor body damage (cosmetic). Well, he tossed it on a ramp & went UNDER a cable guard rail BACKWARDS. It was lightly raining & unknown to him, the dealer sold him a car with different tires front to rear. I was heading to a meet with a friend that recently had purchased a used Spyder. I had the misfortune to observe the windshield/screen posts in action on a Spyder. The only real need for that is if you are going to track the Spyder.ģ. The result of that is the only rollover pic I have seen.Ģ.Ěs you see from the posts above, a true roll bar is going to be expensive & eat up some space. Maybe if you get off the pavement on grass & hit something. ![]() It is hard to flip this car as it handles so well. But I am not very concerned for several reasons:ġ. I had some trepidation about a convertible with no bar, as I am an old school sports car guy. From the roll over images I have seen (which are rare!) the posts hold up well. I think the windshield/screen posts do a pretty good job.
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