Very interesting crash test.
http://www.bridger.us/2002/12/16Cras...operVsFordF150

 

That's true if you both hit a wall. If an F150 and a Mini crashed head on, I think I would rather be in the truck!

 

Dah... I agree but since most accidents involve hitting stationary objects, I'll take the Mini.
BTW, I screwed up on first post. Correct link is:
http://www.bridger.us/2002/12/16/Cra...operVsFordF150

 

>>That's true if you both hit a wall. If an F150 and a Mini crashed head on, I think I would rather be in the truck!

Although the truck is heavy and larger the design of it is very flawed-if you were to have an accident and struck ANY vehicle (the MINI is still 2800 pounds loaded) you would risk significant injury to limbs and your head. In a nutshell I would not want to be in it at the time of crash with anything. This is because instead of absorbing the energy of the impact it will allow you the passenger or driver to be injured.

The MINI is designed for the complete opposite-in a crash you are very likely to do well with little or no injuries even with a collision against a larger vehicle. The wonders of safety engineering. This assumes that the speed of the collision is reasonable like 30-35 mph or less type stuff not 70 mph.

So drive carefully-especially if you are in an SUV or Ford F-150.

 

This is only true for the old F150, currently sold as F150 Heritage till end of the 2004. However, the newly designed F150 has earned "Best Pick" in its class. My question is why not discontinue the old one if the new one is so much safer?

 

>>This is only true for the old F150, currently sold as F150 Heritage till end of the 2004. However, the newly designed F150 has earned "Best Pick" in its class. My question is why not discontinue the old one if the new one is so much safer?

If that is true then that is good news. The F-150 is the best selling truck in the US I think and also not the safest in the past. Any improvement with crash testing would be a welcome thing. You know if people get injured it costs the insurance companies money which is passed along as cost of doing business to the rest of us. Having safer cars and trucks on the road is in the interest of all americans.

Why sell the old one? Because it takes time and money to switch over and the F-150 sells great as is-there is no financial reason to speed up the process. Ford probably makes more profit delaying the new model than to just build the old design for another year. They have already made the investment in making the current model and consumers are eager to buy the truck -safe or not.

 

Take a look at this.

It might have come up before, but I ran across it this morning and thought it worthy of posting.

Just more evidence that the supposed safety of trucks and SUVs is illusory, and the MINI is a safe car despite its size.

 

That's of double interest to me since I own both of those vehicles

A 2001 Ford F150 SuperCrew and a 2002 MCS

Those tests show how good the MINI's design really is

But besides the MINI's crash "worthiness", I give it 5 stars for crash "avoidance"

 

Yep, thanks Gabe for the ever vigilant reporting.

Dec 10, 2002

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...amp;topic=3802

Then, six days later he followed up on his site.

Gabe always gets the scoop!

 

what's with the SASE??

 

If you were reading Off Topic like you're supposed to be, you'd know, Kool!

 

^^^^^^sorry, the heavy work load thing is interfering with my goofing off time :smile:

 

This topic has been discussed before but it is always nice to see the pictures again.
The well designed but lightweight and small MINI

The best selling Ford F-150 truck with big size and great weight


Look at Gabe's article about the number of driver fatalities per million cars for each of the different cars and trucks listed. It could be that some trucks cannot easily avoid accidents or when driven fast cannot be controlled as easily, hence they tend to get into accidents with more speed and lead to greater injury. So not only is the design of a car working against you (doesn't protect it's occupants) but the car/truck itself is easy to drive fast (lots of power) but not as easy to controll to avoid accidents (high center of gravity, easy to set off balance).

Those who drive Ford F-150s need to be extra careful about driving defensively. Even with using a seatbelt and having an airbag it would seem that with 40 mph crashes offset the likelihood of serious injury is very great.

The other consideration is speed. I'm sure that in a low speed collision the F-150 would do better with some damage and some injury. The larger size and mass would work in it's favor up to a point. The MINI under low speed collision would absorb the energy of the accident and get quite a bit of damage with virtually no injury to the passengers. I'd expect a higher repair cost of the MINI than the truck in that circumstance.

Given these things and the fatality statistics I think it should make us really think long and hard about how we each drive and for the safety of ourselves, our passengers, and others who drive/live around us. Be careful out there, especially in inclement weather.

Another bit of data that might be interesting is to see how many of the deaths occurred in urban vs rural settings.
I doubt many Toyota Avalons are crashing into things on rural roads as much as pickup trucks might be. Higher speeds are more common on long stretches and it seems even a 40 mph crass is deadly with the right vehicle.

 

We just bought a used Tundra because the old f150s did so poorly. The 2004 f150s are much better. See http://www.hwysafety.org for more info.

 

I read the New Yorker article as well a few weeks ago... it also discusses research about why consumers choose SUV's for safety despite the poor safety ratings. Boils down to people "believe" they are safer when they are higher off the ground... harkens back to when we lived in trees... and for some reason people fear most often on the highway the rarest of occurences: a semi trailer sliding at them sideways at high speed - rigid frame platforms like the earlier model F-150s are the worst for these situations because so much energy is transmitted to the occupants (not enough "crumple-ability" built in... Mercedes started the crumple technology, I've heard) during impact.

Article does a nice job at pointing out what Europeans have know all along - that accident avoidance (or lack thereof) is the key to the majority of fatal crashes. Hence the Mini's safety is so high like the Carrera mentioned in the article. Avoidance and crumple - MINI has it all baby.

 

One more reason to

 

Remember that safety ratings are made to compare vehicles of like size.

As safe is the MINI is, if there were a head on with an F150 at 40 mph, I'd bet the MINI comes out worse for the wear. The F150 (new model) is 5100 lbs. That's nearly twice what the MINI is. Physics isn't kind in collisions when an object with twice the mass hits another.

 

>>Remember that safety ratings are made to compare vehicles of like size.
>>
>>As safe is the MINI is, if there were a head on with an F150 at 40 mph, I'd bet the MINI comes out worse for the wear. The F150 (new model) is 5100 lbs. That's nearly twice what the MINI is. Physics isn't kind in collisions when an object with twice the mass hits another.
>>
Unless?
Force = mass x velocity so
If the MINI were going twice the speed of the F-150 then...
Still a bad collision
Don't even think of it. :???:
And if you have an SUV or F-150 be careful what you run into especially if it is stationary.

 

I think its bad when I hit bugs on the highway

 

>>We just bought a used Tundra because the old f150s did so poorly.

Smart move!

 

http://www.bridger.us/2002/12/16/Cra...perVsFordF150/

Sorry if already posted...interesting results

 

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...highlight=f150

:smile:

 

My mom really hated the idea of me in this "small" car. She said it would not hold up in a crash. I sent her these pics and now she thinks its great. "don't get the F150" she said.

 

I heard that there was some question about small cars involved in crashes,no mention on MINI's.So I did a search of MINI's and crashing,seems those of us motoring in MINI's are pretty safe,and I'm some what pi$$ed that our cars are not included in the group of cars that came out of the study.And the cars that rated high,were those that side bags were an option,and no talk of head bags.I think this was GM pushing their new sporty model.Can't even remember what it is called,and don't much care

 

the MINI and Civic will be tested for side crash worthiness later in the year according to the site