http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/01/auto...ex.htm?cnn=yes

Love how they pick on Benz versus Nissan or any of the other ones. You can't tell me people like CNN or Consumer Reports aren't biased

 

Iwatchedthose tests. The Benz appeared to be slightly lower profiled than the other cars, and when the bumper hit the block, it went under the block, so the block smashed the grille. The test didn't test the bumper; it tested the grille at 6mph. It was a faulty test, where the car with the bumper closest to the same height as their fixed test block wins. If the Benz had hit the block even-height with the bumper it would have been fine.

The test does bring up a whole set of testing and design questions. I think everyone in the industry knows that you can basically pick the winner based on the placement of the test block. Set it high, one car will win; set it low, another.Toyotas for exampleare very good at absorbing straight on impacts, and less effective at a slight angle. So each car has its strong and weak points. How does a test engineer decide how to set the block, and is the decisioninfluenced in any way.

Secondly, the test block is rigid and mounted to a concrete wall, which effects the impact quite differentlythan hitting another vehicle. People at the factory and some of my friends have always said that they should crash the cars into each other, as in a real traffic collision. Of course, I think we have a pretty good idea of which car would come out ahead. The insurance companies should stick with their real accident statistics in determining damages. Hitting other cars and hitting concrete walls are two different scenarios.I hope my rate is not based on me hitting a concrete wall, because I don't do that very often. In fact it is the other vehicle's crumple zone/crush zone/ or .010 sheet metal that typically absorbs the impact.

The test didhighlight an importantissue for the automotive industry in regards to bumper height.Should they all be exactly the same height? Can one company improve its rating over other cars by edging the bumper height up slightly? Should the manufacturers build their cars to perform against a standardized test block? Personally, my car has been lowered significantly, so if I everhit a Lamborghini, I'll be fine.

blue

 

Well look at it this way what about an ICCbumper on a tractor trailer? hit one of them they are not going to give and they are set rather high and what about the bumper on a SUV still rather high compaired to a car. As far as the concrete wall at 5 or six mpha car should be able to hit it and cause little to no damage say less than 1000K total minus paint.

 

The Saab didn't take much damage.

 

Agreed. I hit our address pole going about 6mph at the base of the bumper and all it did was leave a small gash. It definately wasn't several thousands of dollars to repair.What that test fails to recognize besides having a lower profile is that the whole front of the car is designed to crumple like that. Mercedes invented the crumple zone; any damage like that is meant to cushion the impact and save the occupants lives.

Also, how can athis suggest a certain dollar amount is equal to a poor bumper design? If there was 10k in damage, but little damage done, it would be ranked as the worst car according to their rankings, but still be the best in the bumper test.

 

nice [:@]

 

Now when they was doing bumper and crash test for the W126 were they testing to see how the car crashed or testing to see if the wall would stand up?

But really though, as said, those wall test are biased. Some of those cars that do well on the wall don't fare too well in the real world. Not many people run into a wall staright on. Usually it's at an angle when they was tryign to swerve and avoid the crash.
Plus 6 miles per hour? That's like me jogging into a wall. No broken bones here but it did sting. And it shouldn't cause too much damage to the bumper. But of course, if teh wall edge is too high or the car bumper too low or low profile, and the wall hit the grill, of course the grill will probably break, ecpecially the alloy or plastic ones. And the hood may bend a little because it's nothing more than a thin sheet design basically to bend in a crash.
Things that I hit and hit my BMW bumper at around 5 mph left nothing on my car.
And damage dollar amoung depends on the car, bumper design and such. Many cars these days such as teh 300C have bumpers that is built into the rest of the front so a nick here or anywhere in that area and because of the material, causes the the whole front facia to have to be replaced regardless or small the damage is. Which is a few thousand or more.

And small cars, they usually are safe against things of similar size but laws of physics will always prevail. I've seen an Expedition get taken out head on by a semi. of course the SUV was totaled but the occupants had minor injuries. Now take a Corolla or Aveo and the semi probably would of ended on top of the car turning the car flat and grease spot in the road. not many people walk away like that. Yet, I've seen a corrola drive through a brick house and everyone was fine. Bricks and cars are different. A wall is usually not moving aka zero mph. Now compared to another F350 doing 65-70 and I think it will hit alot harder than that darn wall.Physics. Mass multiplied by speed or something and you get velocity which is something that many people forget to factor and can mean a difference between buffign a scratch out ya bumper and scrapping your car off the pavement with a shovel.

 

The idea of a bumper is to reduce damage to the vehicle ie keep the cost down the higher the cost of repair the worse the bumper is.

I personally like the idea of using a wall cause at anything over 5-10 mph the bumper is useless anyway and bumpers are for parking lots and poor drivers in those parking lots hitting parked cars, walls, poles, and people.

I guess i am old school on this bumpers should be able to bump and there should be no damage at all or very minor at most. That 66 dodge trucki have 1/4 think steel bumper i can wrap a chain around it and pull stuff with it and its stock not something added on. Same with the bumper on mom's 66 beelte cant pull stuff with it of course but besides damaging the chrome bump a wall and well very little damage!