Impact of SUVs in a crash

[MassiveCars]

Recently there was a terrible accident involving a 2 ton car
What stood out was the mention of the weight of the vehicle
So I did a couple of calcs
An SUV of 1972kg doing 30mph has the same Kinetic Energy of a small car of 1221kg doing 38mph
A larger SUV of 2598kg has the same Kinetic Energy of a small car of 1221kg doing 44mph
All these large SUVs doing 30mph create the same damage as a smaller car doing 38mph to 44mph
There must be enough maths & physics teachers on here to check this out
I did think of mentioning the small car and the big car types ?

But large SUVs (=large weight) are a much more serious danger to kids at 30mph than your small cars at 30mph

There is great emphasis on 30mph, perhaps we should enforce slower speeds for heavier vehicles if safety is the objective

Great, I've now realised I am both taller and heavier than the average man. 😕

I guess when I say SUV I’m talking about a specific shape, generally higher than a saloon car, usually 4 wheel drive (or has 4 wheel drive versions) something that looks a similar shape to a range rover. It’s one of those, you’ll know it when you see it. For me more than anything it’s the height of these cars for the reasons I set out in my previous post.

Yes I agree with the keep cars till the drop= the best environmentally. Well actually walking/public transport is but that’s not as good for the economy.

This exactly. Far more passengers are involved in car accidents than pedestrians and at much higher speeds so it makes sense to opt for the vehicle that is safer for the passengers. Stronger barriers between the road and open spaces where pedestrians are likely to be makes more sense.

<deploy sarcasm mode>. We should all drive around in Fiat 500s. 😎 That way no one can go fast, and will feel so unsafe they will pay extra attention. It will also discourage people having two homes as the thought of a 500 mile round trip will become too horrendous to imagine.

This thread has to be one of the most ridiculous i have seen in a good while!

There's a huge amount of myth and misinformation when it comes to EV's.

My BMW i3 has a lower mass than most similarly sized hatchbacks (1300kg).
A Tesla model 3 is similar to a similarly sized BMW 3 series.
A Nissan Leaf is 1500kg-1800kg. A lot of modern hatchbacks are the same nowadays.

It's true that larger EV's are heavy but a Hyundai IONIQ 5 is about 2200kg. Similar to a Range Rover or similar sized SUV.

Regards to your OP, I've not done the calcs to validate but as an engineer I'd imagine you're not far off and in theory, you're spot on. It's precisely why I buy small, low mass cars.

This could happen to anyone, but had she been in a smart car, the damage would not have been so great. That’s the point. It’s not the individual (heartbreaking) case, it’s the standard for dangerous vehicles becoming standard but being held to outdated laws/regulations which don’t account for their size.

They don't drive them because they are worse in every measurable way, compared to regular cars.

In every measurable way? Ground clearance. Load capacity. I could go on.

So a Range Rover Evoque at 1787kg is lighter than a 1800kg Nissan Leaf! Size and weight are not always as obvious it seems

Oh I used to love doing long journeys in my little Fiat 500, it was so lovely to drive and I'd just pootle along taking it fairly slow. That was before I had a family though, I don't think it would have been the same with passengers!

My dad bought a large MPV - a Sharan- because it was the only car he could get in, in his final years of life. He wasn't large at all but had poor mobility and a blue badge, and needed a high up seat and plenty of room to get in.

He passed away a few years ago and it's now my car. And fantastic because we can get five of us in, our big dog and cases.

We have another little car which we nip about in and DD1 drives.

But if people only have one car, there is little point them buying a tiny one that all the family plus cases don't fit into when you go on holiday, even if it's infrequent that you all get in it at once.

That said, I have only ever rarely driven any car at all in London. Would do almost anything else to avoid it!

But lots of other places have shit public transport. The trains are good where I live but we have no scheduled bus services at all, and the council tried to cut about 2/3 of school buses recently - it was only because parents were up in arms about it that the bus routes were kept on.

Cars are huge these days, whether SUV or not. They don't really fit into UK car park spaces any more, save for perhaps Costco. I drive a very small car and I am the only person on our street who parks inside their garage, the rest simply do not fit. But when these houses were built back in the 70s, average cars did fit in.
I'm very much in favour of a 20 mph speed limit in residential areas and around schools etc; whilst I rarely get out of second gear in our cul de sac, some treat our road like Brands Hatch. Slower speeds make a huge difference to the outcome in accidents no matter what the car size, but especially for the monsters people drive these days. And don't get me started on the terrible state of the roads - the heavier vehicles cannot be helping there, can they?

Had the fencing between the road and school been stronger it could never have happened whatever the size of the vehicle. How about we look at improving ways of keeping pedestrians and vehicles apart, whatever their size?

Not really. There's a huge range of cars that are more sensible and offer a diverse choice, none of which pose an irrational amount of extra risk for everyone else.

I guess we should all still smoke in pubs, restaurants and the workplace? Or allow people with dangerous jobs to drink at lunchtimes like we used to?

Rules/laws are introduced to protect people and improve safety. SUVs have been proven to kill more people and are a hazard. As an engineer they go against everything that I've been trained to do and what my job entails. It's precisely why I don't work in automotive as there's zero point spending a career on safety, for it all to be undone by packaging it up in an SUV body. It's the ultimate in insanity.

Not to mention that cars are generally designed for “reference man” who is 70kg and 170cm.

Fifth percentile women are also considered. So are 95th percentile men. The end result is usually something that suits neither perfectly.

I'd cry, I can't even fit in one 😂

My DHs SUV is ten times more efficient than my little coupe. Unfortunately his car is also way more comfortable and practical where we live, we'd never be able to both fit in a fiat500 or drive one more than a mile.

Maybe we should only allow selling cars by height?! Or weight? Or some other wild factor.

I actually understand why people who are quite safe drivers would like a massive car, because there are a lot of dangerous dicks on the road.

when I passed my test in the 80s I was quite happy to drive a Nissan Micra. But there were no monster cars on the road then. These days I feel safer in a medium sized car (A3).

SUVs are also a bloody nuisance in older MSCPs which are simply not designed for vehicles that size.

not sure if this has already been mentioned but EVs/hybrids also weigh loads more because of the batteries... not that I am against EVS just something to consider. I recently had to drive a volvo xc40 as a replacement for my vw polo (nothing else was available) and the difference in mass really struck me. braking distances are much longer and you really feel it when you have to brake suddenly.

My dh is 6f8 and he can drive a vw up but it makes it a 3 seater as no one with legs can sit behind him

Now pick me another scenario where the 1500kg Leaf is lighter than the heaviest 2157kg variant. If you actually compare like for like, the Evoque is consistently ~300kg heavier. That's basically 4 passengers.

Selective use of figures isn't a great look is it?

Besides, an Evoque is a useless handbag of a vehicle. Boot space is 591 litres with the rear seats up, and 1,383 litres with them down. The Leaf is 435 litres and 1,176 litres. So you can't even say that it's usefully bigger, considering the difference in vehicle class. You're talking one large suitcase.

because there are a lot of dangerous dicks on the road.

Yes. Yesterday a car came out of nowhere at speed, tried to undertake me as I was indicating and beginning to move left to exit the roundabout, sounded his horn at me, then went off at the same exit, weaving in and out of cars in front.

Well, the discovery is about twice the size!! Mini's are certainly not mini anymore, but still a lot smaller than a Discovery!

My 6ft2 23 stone brother comfortably drives his daughters Fiat 500!

MPV's with lower bumper are much more sensible an option than suv's. But the car industry insists we all want SUV's!

@justteanbiscuits

I think height and weight are an important way to see if people fit, but wont work for everyone. I'm many stone lighter than your brother and it won't fit me, and my DH is quite a few inches taller than your brother and it won't fit him either 😊

I've tried (many times) on different models, I have a very long legs short body situation, so my legs can't fit into under the wheels safely, as the seats don't drop far enough down. Annoying as I thought it would be the perfect town car for going into the cities!

I assume you mean it rates really well in crashes for the occupants 🤦

What about the people you crash into?

It's not so much about weight, more about bonnet height, which is far more dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists. SUVs are vastly more dangerous to others than a normal car is.