OT: Car crash tests are pointless

[Commander Kinsey]

Why don't car crash tests take account of braking ability? Not crashing at all is better than doing well in a crash.

[Sam E]

So you have a car crash test without a crash. How is that a crash test?

Wouldn't it be a braking test then?

[Commander Kinsey]

The crash test is used to determine the Euro NCAP rating, which is supposed to be how safe the car is. But it's only half the story. It would be like saying your car is faster than mine because it has a bigger engine, and ignoring the fact that mine is half the weight.

[devnull]

Brake performance seldom matters.  Most people are busy texting so they never apply the brakes.

[Commander Kinsey]

But if you're selling a "safe" car it could have automatic brakes with radar.

[Commander Kinsey]

I drove at 90 with a broken arm while texting, multitasking is easy for humans. Which is already required for driving by the way - steering, braking, changing gear, indicating, .....

[Frank]

Mine does but I'm not prone to test it. Says it prevents 85% of head on collisions. But, if cars do crash it is good to know which are best for survival.

[Commander Kinsey]

85% is rather pitiful. People will end up trusting it and not bothering to brake, then being one of the 15%.

There are amusing videos of Volvo collision detection being tested on Youtube. Sometimes the car doesn't even attempt to slow down. In a few cases the engineer was run over.

It's best to get a full picture, this includes your collision detection, how good the brakes are, etc.

[Frank]

Zero is pitiful. Nobody in their right mind would test the system. Friend has it on his wife's car and said it worked for her.

[Grumpy Old White Guy]

How did you break your arm?  Fall down the stairs while texting?

FWIW, I suspect that the real fatalities are much higher since most would not admit they were texting while driving.

[Ed Pawlowski]

This is same as my car.

[micky]

They're pointless because they were invented by the same guy who invented the disease prevention mask.

[Brian Gaff (Sofa)]

I think they do, you just never see those as they are not as spectacular are they?

Was it not that American car with the rear engine which was exposed as a death trap many years ago due to poor symmetrical braking and hence most collisions ended in the engine flying through the passenger compartment with tragic results. Brian

[Sam E]

Adding a VERBAL task (like texting) really complicates things.

BTW, "verbal" means it involves words. Whether the words are spoken or not doesn't matter.

[Commander Kinsey]

You mean like having a conversation with your wife in the passenger seat? Or using a legal hands free phone?

[Commander Kinsey]

Surely the engine could have been bolted on better? An engine in the fr= ont of a car doesn't fly out and hit someone else does it?

And no, they don't include basic things like handling and braking. Only= collisions and safety assist functions like collision detection. If yo= u take two cars without any advanced features like that, they're only co= mpared by what happens if you crash, ignoring how likely a crash is in t= he first place:

"Euro NCAP introduced the overall safety rating in 2009, based on assess= ment in four important areas: Adult Occupant Protection (for the driver and passenger); Child Occupant Protection; Pedestrian Protection which has been expanded to include cyclists and is= now known as Vulnerable Road User (VRU) protection; and Safety Assist, which evaluated driver-assistance and crash-avoidance tec= hnologies. The overall star rating was introduced to add more flexibility to the pr= evious ratings=E2=80=99 scheme which had been in use since 1997."

[Commander Kinsey]

No, I punched a chair that I thought was going to give way but did not.

It says 6% of fatal crashes were caused by a distraction. That's a very low figure. Better to concentrate in the other 94%!

Just as only 4% of crashes involve someone driving too fast. So we should do away with speed limits. Clearly driving at the speed limit is dangerous, probably as you're distracted by trying to maintain the speed and work out what the limit is where you are!

ROTFPMSL! Read what you just wrote. If it's a fatality, you can't admit to anything. The stats will be from a phone found in the crash, and they check to see when a text was sent.

[Commander Kinsey]

85% is not better than 0%, as you come to rely on it.

[Commander Kinsey]

And I bet you've tried it, I certainly would.

[Frank]

I think mine could do that with cruise control on. It does have lane and space keeping ability.

Try to convince CK it is better than nothing.

Neither of us would try it but some day it may come in handy.