New crash testing from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has revealed a weakness in the designs of many automobiles.
The testing is based in real-world crashes and involves a specific type of front-end collision called a “small overlap” collision. As reported by NBC, some rather distressing facts have been revealed from this testing.
Cars are continually improved and government standards continually tightened to make sure that they are as resilient as possible in crashes. Where head-on collisions are concerned, improved body designs, improved glass, air bags and other technological advances all make many of today’s vehicles much safer than were the vehicles of the past. These improvements, however, are largely designed to reinforce the vehicle in a situation where it collides head-on with another vehicle.
Overlap crash – partial contact.
A small overlap crash is a crash where only about 25% of the front end of the vehicle actually makes contact with another vehicle or a fixed object. The testing revealed that many vehicles are not well-reinforced to protect against an accident of this sort and that the driver or passenger on the side who was struck may be in serious danger.
The force of the impact, when the car is hit at one of these offset angles, bypasses the improvements made to protect in head-on collisions. It’s easy to see how small overlap crashes occur. A driver who has time to react will generally try to steer away from a crash and may end up getting hit on a smaller portion of their front end.
Some of the vehicles that were named as performing very poorly are from among the most expensive luxury vehicle lines on the market, so make or model is immune from having this particular problem.
Auto wrecks and injuries.
Even a small flaw in a vehicle can end up causing serious injuries during a crash. A part of the frame that gets bent inward can crush or impale; glass from a front or side impact collision can cause serious and even deadly lacerations.
If you’re injured in a car accident and you believe that the other driver was negligent, a Dallas car wreck attorney may be able to help. Cars are improved all the time to make them safer but drivers are not. There are plenty of negligent, reckless drivers out there who end up causing collision that are sometimes fatal and that sometimes leave people financial devastated.