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How Fast Was He Going
paulbeyer - 1/10/08 at 08:34 PM

My Lad stuffed his car in the College car park yesterday and wrote off a mates car in the process. My Sons car is/was a 2003 Corsa SXi and he has managed to set off both passenger and drivers air bags and both seat belt tensioners as well as untold body work damage. So the question I put to the jury is, how fast do you think he was going. Of course he claims he was driving slower that a super glued snail at the time but I beg to differ. So as a bit of fun what are your estimates?

chris_smith - 1/10/08 at 08:39 PM

piccies would be good to give a proper estimate

big_wasa - 1/10/08 at 08:41 PM

I say getting on for 40mph Thats why the insurance is so high.

MikeR - 1/10/08 at 08:43 PM

Naaah, i'd say he was going really slow, his mate coming hte other way was doing 40mph

Seriously, I'd guess maybe 20mph, Mark Allinson will be able to give an idea based on the stuff he's seen through work, perhaps he should be the judge.

CRAIGR - 1/10/08 at 08:47 PM

Slightly less than the speed he'd be running if he hit and wrote off my car in a car park

graememk - 1/10/08 at 08:49 PM

body work photos first

Howlor - 1/10/08 at 08:55 PM

Fast enough to impress the girlies?

blakep82 - 1/10/08 at 08:58 PM

ah, now whats the right answer, what you think he was doing, or what he says he was doing? bearing in mind he was there, you weren't, he may under estimate it, you may over estimate it

20mph

hillbillyracer - 1/10/08 at 09:19 PM

How fast he was going when the impact happened is one thing, more importantly how fast was he going when he found out it was too fast?
12 years ago when I was less responsible I had a E28 5 series BMW, I took the front axle from a tractor having come round a bend too fast & not being on the ball, I just locked it up & slid right into it. Everyone had an opinion on how fast I was going when I hit it with estimates from 50mph upward. Once the radiator & front panel were pulled of the front of the engine the car drove (although you could'nt get 2nd or 4th due to the gearstick hitting the back of the hole in the tunnel!), speed of impact could'nt have been over 20-25mph. I could have been doing near 60 when I hit the brakes though...

jollygreengiant - 1/10/08 at 09:23 PM

Theory says that the air bags should not deploy at less than 30mph (speed sensor off of speedo drive), however, if he was wheel spinning it at the time then speed sensor would activate the system so the impact speed could be anywhere from about 15mph upwards for the G shock sensors to (at least 2 off which have to activate) trigger the system. At which time ALL airbags and seat belt tensioners would deploy.

The only other way off judging speed would be from photo's.

I would suggest that he is probably due for a good job within the civil service due to being a little 'economical' with the truth.

Liam - 1/10/08 at 09:27 PM

I'd be asking what the hell he was doing rather than how fast! It certainly wasn't parking, was it? Unless there was only one space left 4 inches longer than his car and he thought 'well if Russ Swift can do it, so can I'

MikeR - 1/10/08 at 09:34 PM

if the airbags only deploy above a certain speed and you lock the front wheels (where the speed sensors usually are) they'd never deploy, also if someone hit you whilst you're doing 5mph and they're doing 30 they'd also never deploy. I'd have thought once activated the airbags deploy irrespective of speed and entirely on 'g'.

smart51 - 1/10/08 at 09:41 PM

I was once hit by a car when I was stationary. The car hit my front wing forwards of the front wheel hard enough to spin my car through 45°. It set the airbag off. It's hard to judge impact speed purely from the airbag going off.

the_fbi - 1/10/08 at 09:54 PM

I'm guessing the speedo isn't stuck at a speed (other than 0) as that would be a bit of a give away.

Being FI, there should also be an inertia based fuel injection pump cutoff? If you knew what that was set off at (which would be purely inertia based rather than the airbag sensors which would be ECU controlled) you'd have a good idea once you know which areas of the cars collided.

paulbeyer - 1/10/08 at 10:23 PM

quote:
Originally posted by jollygreengiant
I would suggest that he is probably due for a good job within the civil service due to being a little 'economical' with the truth.


That's spooky, the reason he got the car was because he started an apprenticeship with the MOD, so yes, he is a Civil Servant.

Body work wise he has stuffed the bonnet enough to break the windscreen, done the front bumper radiator and headlights. He drove into the side of his mates car and wrote that off too. My guess is that they were both racing to beat each other out of the car park after College and had a coming together at speed. He has just taken out a loan for the car and an expensive insurance policy (3 weeks ago) and will now be paying for it for the next 3 years. Then we all pay for it in increased premiums to cover the young twats that can't drive.

Hellfire - 1/10/08 at 10:36 PM

Too fast!

Serves them right - glad no-one was hurt though - Pride is a big thing in your teens - hopefully this will slow him down/grow him up a bit

Steve

speedyxjs - 2/10/08 at 06:43 AM

Problem nowadays is this thing they call crumple zones
Doesnt take much speed to do alot of damage and set off the airbags.
I dont really see what reason he has to lie about his speed though. If it was clearly his fault, lieing about the speed isnt going to make any difference at all.

Ivan - 2/10/08 at 06:48 AM

I think every young driver should have an accident like this where the only real damge is to the wallet and pride - for most it makes them realise that they really don't know everything about driving and that being reckless has consequences.

In the over protective and blameless environment that most kids grow up in now days learning a lesson like this could save them and others a lot of pain and suffering.

nib1980 - 2/10/08 at 06:57 AM

depends on a number of things, the normal threshold is en energy pulse through the sensor ontop of the rad core upper, if the other car was stationary the airbags may have gone off as low as 18-20mph, but if it was adifferent criteria it may be as high as 30mph.

I can give a better estimate with bodywork pictures as it is designed to collapse in stages.

(P.S. I design crash systems in cars)

jollygreengiant - 2/10/08 at 07:05 AM

quote:
Originally posted by paulbeyer
quote:
Originally posted by jollygreengiant
I would suggest that he is probably due for a good job within the civil service due to being a little 'economical' with the truth.


That's spooky, the reason he got the car was because he started an apprenticeship with the MOD, so yes, he is a Civil Servant.

Body work wise he has stuffed the bonnet enough to break the windscreen, done the front bumper radiator and headlights. He drove into the side of his mates car and wrote that off too. My guess is that they were both racing to beat each other out of the car park after College and had a coming together at speed. He has just taken out a loan for the car and an expensive insurance policy (3 weeks ago) and will now be paying for it for the next 3 years. Then we all pay for it in increased premiums to cover the young twats that can't drive.


Now then young man their is a line in your above statement that I would find as little worrying from an insurance claim point of view. My guess is that they were both racing to beat each other out of the car park The worrying part is 'car park'. Knowing insurance companies and the old nugget 'you are insured until you make a claim' car parks can be deemed to be private property and possibly the insurance might not cover him there. You will have to wait and see what they say. I hope that I am wrong.

iank - 2/10/08 at 07:56 AM

I was also worried about the 'car park' bit having had a, far more minor, bump in a car park and finding that the insurance company wasn't interested at all (that was a Tesco car park 20 years ago). I suspect an college car part is even more likely to be judged a private area if they can get away without paying. Time for a detailed read of the small print.

[Edited on 2/10/08 by iank]

dan__wright - 2/10/08 at 07:59 AM

i was caught in the middle of a 4 car shunt on a dual carriageway in a 02 corsa, the megane (old style) and saxo behind me were both right offs and the front of the saxo (which went into me) was gone and my airbags didnt go off, probably going quite fast to set them off.

iank - 2/10/08 at 08:09 AM

quote:
Originally posted by dan__wright
i was caught in the middle of a 4 car shunt on a dual carriageway in a 02 corsa, the megane (old style) and saxo behind me were both right offs and the front of the saxo (which went into me) was gone and my airbags didnt go off, probably going quite fast to set them off.


My understanding is the airbag sensor is directional, so a car hitting from behind won't set them off unless you hit something fairly solid. No point inflating if you're being pushed back into the seat by a rear ender.

I'm sure nib1980 can correct me if I'm wrong.

nib1980 - 2/10/08 at 08:21 AM

quote:
Originally posted by iank
quote:
Originally posted by dan__wright
i was caught in the middle of a 4 car shunt on a dual carriageway in a 02 corsa, the megane (old style) and saxo behind me were both right offs and the front of the saxo (which went into me) was gone and my airbags didnt go off, probably going quite fast to set them off.


My understanding is the airbag sensor is directional, so a car hitting from behind won't set them off unless you hit something fairly solid. No point inflating if you're being pushed back into the seat by a rear ender.

I'm sure nib1980 can correct me if I'm wrong.


Yep, thats the logic, sensors aare usuallually, single direction (you can get multi direction but usually in the states for roll over)

But i think what he was saying is he was shunted from the rear into the car in front, so then the sensor should set the bags off



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