Car accidents are a really devastating thing even for watching not to say for experiencing. Today’s cars are safer with more equipment, airbags and sensors. But all this things are helpful only in lower speed car crash, but what happens on high speed?
We bet you know, but you are disgusted even just to think on it. And to be honest it’s not a pleasant feeling at all to think of that.
Someone says that small cars are safer than the big ones, and someone claims the opposite, so who’s right? No one we’ll assure you in just few minutes. When the speed is high there is no place for survival!
Watch what will happen with the first generation Ford Focus on the video. Pulled by 16 Bugatti Veyrons with 15,000 lb-ft of torque directly to the concrete wall with speed of 120 mph. The slowing in the wall was instant from 0 to 120 mph in just 68ms, and yeah, this is serious crash.
Listen to what the guys from Fifth Gear have to say.
Safety precautions are always your priority when you own or drive a vehicle. An accident can happen in a split of a second which can lead to serious injuries. If you’ve been involved in a vehicular accident, or have been injured, seek immediate medical attention and contact your car accident lawyer in Cherry Hill NJ to handle your insurance claim and other legal processes which can be complex procedures that can cause stress. To ensure that you are legally protected and properly compensated for your injury, hiring an expert lawyer is an advantage for you.
Wouldn’t a 120 mph crash be equivalent to two cars having a head-on collision at 60mph each, approaching each other at 120mph? Two cars going 120mph (as mentioned in the video) would be approaching each other at 240mph. I’m sure there are some watching this who think, “I’ll never go that fast.” But most people do drive 60 mph and it should be clear that even at this speed, a head-on is devastating.
Unfortunately we have to see crash tests like this to actually become aware of the terrible consequences of driving above the speed limit. I agree with you Chuck, we should all be more careful.
Truly amazing. The speed limit is a real life saver, hey? George Orwell sure knew what he was talking about.
I’d say Heinrich. If it wasn’t for speed limit we would probably drive like crazy on the streets. We all want some speed you know 😉
Hi Chuck,
What they say is correct. If you imagine two cars at 120 mph, each has the same impact. This means, one force provokes an opposite force. The opposite force is the concrete block, or an other car at the same speed and with the same weight.
regards, Patrick
Thanks for the explanation Patrick.
Actually, Patrick, I heard the same thing Chuck did… I think if you play it back again, he says the test car is being sent @ 120mph and at another point he says it would be the equivalent of 2 cars hitting head on each travelling 120mph… if each modern family car is travelling 120mph the impact would be the equivalent of one car hitting a brick wall @ 240mph…regards, Ed
What Patrick said is correct. It would be a head on collision of two cars of equal mass, travelling at 120mph hitting eachother at centre of mass. This is due to the concrete block having no give. You have to take into consideration the compression of the second car. If you want one car to crush as this car did you would need a total of 240mph with twice the compression factor. Regards, Aaron
Just remember how the energy is redistributed. If a car made out of solid concrete hit then yes it would be accurate but there are allot of variables to this test which weren’t carried out nor mentioned.
Not quite. 120 mph into a brick wall (fixed object) would be the same as two cars (equal weight, of course) hitting head-on at 120 mph each as the vehicles are coming to a perfect stop in both scenarios. It’s all a matter of deceleration; in each scenario, the car is going from 120 mph to 0 in – essentially – the length of the car (in the case of the Focus, 172 inches). In a 60 mph head-on collision, the car is going from 60 to 0 in the same distance which generates significantly less force.
That being said, a head-on collision at 60 mph is indeed very devastating (speaking from experience as a firefighter trained in auto extrication).
Thanks a lot for explaining better Matt. I hope you don’t have to face with a lot of accidents in your daily work.
Look online for Mythbusters, they did episodes of car crashes and they will answer your question
That’s a great idea Chris. Thanks for your suggestion.
Actually this is incorrect. Assuming both cars weigh the same they would both go from 60mph to 0 in a head on (the same as hitting a wall going 60mph), whereas hitting a wall going 120mph takes you from 120mph to 0.
No, there are a lot of factors that reduce impact in a head on collision such as there are two cars taking the impact and most head on collisions aren’t directly head on. I’ve seen people survive head ons at 60. Never 120 into a wall
True but the 2 cars would also increase the crunch area of themselves. Rather than 4 ft you might have 8 ft for 2 Focus’s. It would still be a crash I would doubt anyone would walk away from.
Chuck, this Mythbusters episode explains and demonstratest this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8E5dUnLmh4
I can’t play the video for some reason, but the screenshot looks like head on into unmovable concrete? If it was two cars head on at 60mph they’d likely pivot against each other and spin out to the side allowing some of their momentum to carry on going forwards. So I’d guess not quite as bad, but it certainly wouldn’t be pretty!
I checked the video Matt and it works just fine. Maybe some issues with your browser?
a car going 120 mph would cause more damage hitting a solid object than hitting another car as the other car would “give” or move where this wall didn’t . I don’t want to be in the car that hits anything but give a choice i would have to pick a moving object rather than a solid object Having said this , ;it all goes out the window if the other moving object is a loaded 18 wheeler or train, something that is 3, 4 , or 5 times the weight.
Yeah Tom, it all depends on the other object and its weight.
An object in motion has kinetic energy which is 1/2 x mass x (velocity squared). This energy has to be dissipated in a collision – two cars of identical mass travelling at the same speed will have twice as much total kinetic energy. So this experiment is the same as 2 vehicles colliding at 60mph. The fact that the energy is proportional to the square of the velocity is the reason that hitting a pedestrian at 40mph causes a lot more damage than at 30mph.
You have to remember both cars can absorb that energy. The test is just like two cars travling at 120mph each. You also have to remember double the speed and you have 4x the energy. Think of it this way, two cars travling at 120mph about to hit each other and you put a thick steel plate inbetween the two cars ,when they hit the steel plate wont move as both cars have the same energy and absorb the same energy. If the steel plate was to move towards one car then that car would have more energy to absorb. A steel plate between two cars or a concrete block as per video is exactly the same.
With all the Rocket Science Jibber Jabber going on, lets just make it short and simple. If both cars hit each other doing 120 miles an hour, its like hitting a concrete wall at 240 mph.
Well I sure wouldn’t want to see that happening Phil. That’s terrible.
All physics and science aside, the point is – whatever the speed, be it 60mph or 120mph, the damage would be such that any chance of surviving an accident at this speed would be minimal. If one was to survive, then the injuries would be horrific and “normal” life would be unthinkable.
Well said Peter. We all need to be careful when driving. Life is too precious to mess around.
Anyone plz make this confusion clear, whether crash between two cars at 120mph is equal with crash between a fix wall and a car with 120mph
Watch the episode of Myth Busters concerning impacts it is fascinating, two objects hitting at 120 mph has the same result as one impact with a stationary object I.e both doing 120 mph does NOT combine to make an 240 mph impact !
Mythbusters have proved a 65MPH crash into a barrier is like that of a 130MPH crash. At 65MPH occupants of a car would survive but needed to be cut out by the jaws of life. At 130MPH occupants would be killed as not only impact with the barrier but as the car would collapse around them. A normal car is over 12 feet in length as impact with the barrier at 130mph collapses the car into a chunk of twisted metal not exceeding 6 feet.
Damn Daniel, that’s awful. I hope people will learn from that demonstration to drive more safely.
At any speeds mentioned most probability is your dead! Unless your in a multimillion Formula 1 racing car cage.
Haha that’s for sure Bob. That’s why we all must be very careful on the streets.
Haha, Waht’s wrong with you people, This is a total con, check out the wheels on the car when it takes off at 3 mins 17 seconds, they are all multispoke front and rear, yet this picture has multispoke on the rear and star shaped on the front. I guess that you can’t trust Fifth Gear.
Good noticing JT. You’re right. I guess they have some explaining to do.
If you have eyes that work, you can see that the car that’s actually rigged to hit the wall has the mismatched wheels. You can see those wheels when they’re rigging it, and you can see those wheels in the slomo as it hits the wall.
But oh no! One single insert shot shows a car with matching front and rear wheels! The WHOLE THING must be a TOTAL CON!
Er, no.
The car you see them rigging is the same car that hits the wall at 120mph. That’s hopefully obvious to anyone, as I said, with eyes that work. They really did slam that car into the wall, so it’s not in any way a “total con”.
The likely explanation for that single insert shot is that they decided afterwards that they wanted an extra shot, closer up, of the car zooming past, purely to add visual interest. Or they always intended to get that shot, but they didn’t have enough cameras with them on the day to get it. So they found a Focus and filmed it for that one shot.
Since that doesn’t affect the outcome in any way whatsoever, how does that make the piece “a total con”?
Look at 2:3 7ish when they place the gear on the front wheel. It IS the same tire as what you see in the crash wreckage itself.
You’re right Brad. Maybe they should repeat this test.
The fastest? Tell and ask the mythbusters! ;D
Thanks for your suggestion Loki 😉
This is actually from Fifth Gear
Yes it is. You can notice their logo at the start of the video.
not the fastest. Watch mythbusters put a rebadged astra on a rocket sled, 783mph into a wall, no car left at all.
We will definitely check it out Simon.