lmfao hahahahahaha

I was actually siding with you for awhile Alex, although this comment made me realise something about myself... if i didn't want to see the photo's then i wouldn't have clicked a topic which had the clear title of "wreaked polo's".

When I saw this, it was just above "Sexy Polos" on the list of recent threads. I assumed it would be full of badly modified ones, I wasn't expecting pictures of the aftermath of an accident.

For me, Guy has this thread nailed:

lol at people trying to disguise morbid curiosity as some kind of road safety drive

But that's up to you lot, I've preached far more than I intended to already. I don't think you learn much about how your car fares in an accident by looking at a few images with no explanation of what happened, it's nothing you can't figure out yourself. Again, all my humble opinion. Remember that Mk6 Golf GTI which was smashed up in Germany? Tore the car in half? I think people assume they're fine in anything with a five star Euro NCAP rating these days, but the reality is they're testing an accident at town speeds. If you're tanking it down a tree-lined road or lose control on a crowded motorway you're unlikely to walk away from it no matter what you're driving.

Sadly that also means more minor bumps these days can cause significant damage.

Yep. Especially in cars with active pedestrian safety systems. Far more likely to write a car off these days, not just due to the way they deform but through the high value of things like expensive moving HID headlamps, multiple airbags and such.

And to close, I do appreciate the irony of re-clicking on this thread.

this was my mates polo gt

shame it got shunted

Remember that Mk6 Golf GTI which was smashed up in Germany? Tore the car in half?

Dont remember that one, got any pictures?

My contribution

That above pic shows how strong rear head rests are!

I think people assume they're fine in anything with a five star Euro NCAP rating these days, but the reality is they're testing an accident at town speeds.

We went for small-series type approval on a vehicle at work, which required circa 35mph impacts. At face value you might consider this a 'town speed', but it's chosen as a close approximation to a higher speed shunt. Accidents where a car travelling at 70mph hits the rear of a stationary car without braking are fortunately very rare, generally some braking is done before impact. It's amazing what damage a 35mph impact does to an NCAP-rated vehicle - and it was one we'd made more crash-worthy due to the addition of HV batteries. I dread to think what an early Polo would've looked like after the same treatment.

Interestingly, NCAP are moving the goal posts over the coming years too. A 2012MY car rated NCAP 5* will soon only be NCAP 3* at best unless the manufacturer has added 'active safety' features, such as automatic emergency braking; pedestrian detection; lane departure warning etc. Automatic emergency braking is going to be a big one in the truck world, as instances where a truck doing 56mph stacks it into stationary traffic are too common thanks to the Yorkie-muncher at the wheel nodding off. Interestingly a fair chunk of the technology involved is coming from missile guidance systems and the like, as they need high accuracy but use very clever processing and software with minimal cameras/sensors/radar etc. as the hardware's expensive and obviously not reusable once deployed!!

By "town speeds" I mean I've been told Euro NCAP is meant to simulate two cars hitting each other sort of head on, i.e. 30mph vs 30mph after both have slowed a bit. Obviously you shouldn't hit anything in town at 40mph, unless you fall asleep on a 50mph road and plough straight into it without touching the brakes. But I guess the same applies for motorway collisions, though. Trample on the brake pedal, steer off to one side to avoid the car in front but still have an offset collision.

If you're doing 100mph on the motorway, you're going to be going a good whack faster than Euro NCAP is my point.

Edited 17 January, 201313 yr by Alex

Problem with ncap crash tests are that the cars are crashed against their own weight... so where the new polo may have got 5 stars, people automatically assume its safer than for example a heavier saloon that only got 3 or 4 stars, when in reality, crash them into each other and you'd more than likely be better off in the 3/4 star heavier saloon... Though against solid objects (trees etc) you may still be better off in the polo as again, its against its own weight.

As much as i dont like seeing car crash photos that may have been severe, i still always find myself looking at them... i do like to see (and scare myself) how beautifully old polos crumple. Don't have any pictures, just this mk2 crash test on youtube

By "town speeds" I mean I've been told Euro NCAP is meant to simulate two cars hitting each other sort of head on, i.e. 30mph vs 30mph after both have slowed a bit.

Hitting a concrete wall at 30mph is the same as two cars of equal size/weight each doing 30mph hitting each other head on. There's quite a decent explanation on the NCAP site here:

http://www.euroncap.com/tests/frontimpact.aspx

I note that whilst we tested at 35mph, the speed's now been raised to 40mph for frontal impact testing which can only be a good thing!

Problem with ncap crash tests are that the cars are crashed against their own weight... so where the new polo may have got 5 stars, people automatically assume its safer than for example a heavier saloon that only got 3 or 4 stars, when in reality, crash them into each other and you'd more than likely be better off in the 3/4 star heavier saloon...

Yep, it's hard to cheat physics! In fairness to NCAP though; the data's reasonable for comparing between cars in the same size/weight class. Also worth being aware that NCAP rules are constantly changing, so a late '90s NCAP 4* may only achieve 2-3* ratings today. Originally it was all about crash worthiness, whereas now there's an increasing focus on protecting pedestrians too and trying to prevent a crash in the first place.

Don't mistake my last post as a correction Andy, I'm not claiming to know more than you do. Just saying, it's what I was told. I'm not an expert, and I was wrong. That's what I was saying.

Original point, though, is that regardless of how many stars your car has, if you're flat out and smash your car up then it's not going to end well.

Should've just bit my tongue at the start of this thread. Seems like every time I try to get a point across on this forum recent I come over as a condescending bastard. Not my intention. I'm just being succinct with the way I phrase things.

I agree with what your saying Alex!

You've made some pretty good points to be fair Alex.

Enough to have me sitting on the fence.

(p.s. you're still coming back into this thread! :p)

looks pretty fucked to me!

any chance you could unbolt that wheel?

spose i can add to this :(

my 1st polo mk3 breadvan (and my 1st vdub) before:

and after:

and my second one a mk2 coupe s

before:

and a week after purchase:

(yes you read that right it only lasted a week :(

poor mk2fs: they stand up well to most things, but not everything...

no one died in them believe it or not, but one chap needed pins in his legs for the one round the lamppost from what i remember - was lucky that was all.

Edited 19 January, 201313 yr by genesisGT

NCAP aside, speaking as someone who spends a fair bit of time on 2 wheels, even this week.

When it's your turn, it's your turn. When it isn't it isn't.

My doner car i got, think he said a motobike went in to him

Mine.

Before

After

ahh, this one looks like it were beautiful.

Some shockers above!

daymmm that looks as though it was proper nice aswell :(

Far too much writing and seriousness in this thread! Clean it up? :)

If you don't wanna see, don't click the thread lol!