NCAP Crash Ratings

A piece of tv footage that has stood with me as an image for a long time was on TV this afternoon and it reminded me of it, and I thought I would mention it here.

It was a piece of footage on Fifth Gear. On here they had two Renault Espaces, one was brand new, the other was 9 years old. At an NCAP testing center they connected the two together to simulate a head on crash at 35mph. The purpose was to demonstrate how much safety standards in cars have improved over the years.

Off they went with crash test dummies inside, both going 35mph towards each other and the two ploughed in together (It wasn't dead head on but half and half). The result was clear that the new car was wrecked but everyone was ok, the older car was ruined with the crash test dummy driver being rated with no chance of survival.

Clearly this is not surprising, older car, less safe, newer car, more safe. But here is what struck me. It was not because the older car was less safe that the driver was killed, but because the newer car was stronger and firmer and just ripped apart the older car. For example, two bricks, one made of sandstone, the other made of redbrick. Smash the two together and the brick that is the brittler will break up - not because its week, but because the other is stronger.

Just a thought really - probably haven't explained it that well.