02
Jun 2008
Youtube video round-up: Best car safety test crashes
One of the more fascinating, if morbid, elements of modern vehicle safety testing is the wide availability of such safety test crash videos on the internet.
While there's a clear value to these road tests, their existence and popularity on the internet points to a more fundamental fascination with all things grisly.
With that in mind, this week's Youtube videos round-up takes a look at the most startling, and hopefully illuminating, car safety test crashes ever committed to celluloid.
Chinese Brilliance BS6 crash test
Brilliance was the latest Chinese car manufacturer on the block that was poised to break western markets with its low-price models.
That was until crash testers started to get their hands on Brilliance's cars and started whaling them into concrete walls and 30mph and awarding them one-star results (NCAP), at which point its chances of matching other Asian manufacturers disappeared down the drain faster than Clarkson's chances of fronting a Greenpeace campaign video.
Look out also for compatriots Chery and its own problems with pesky safety tests.
• Watch the Chinese Brilliance BS6 crash test
Volkswagen T3 crash test
This is not actually a Chinese truck, as is widely reported on the internet but actually a Volkswagen T3 van that's apparently smashed into a concrete barricade at around 60mph.
In this instance the van isn't being tested, the mechanism for slamming it into the wall is, so as a car safety test it's essentially meaningless.
While it may not mean much when it comes to the safety provisions of the T3, it serves as a grim reminder of just how dangerous driving can be.
• Watch the Volkswagen T3 crash test
Chery Amulet crash test
Another Chinese import, the improbably-named Amulet - in actuality based on the first-generation Seat Toldeo - is widely driven in China and has been exported to other countries by Chery - a company widely known for its enthusiastic admiration of western vehicles, and its own rather similar vehicles.
Chery has flirted with exporting its models - including the Amulet - abroad but has run into a number of problems, not least this safety test.
Reportedly conducted under NCAP-like conditions, the Chery received a grading that was supposedly comparable with a sub one-star Euro NCAP rating.
• Watch the Chery Amulet crash test
G-Wiz crash test
Notorious mainly for its amazingly ugly looks and this grisly test conducted by Top Gear, the G-Wiz is a small electric car with designs on London's alt-fuel crown.
In a time when fuel prices, Congestion Charging and rising road taxes are upon the beleaguered motorists, the G-Wiz could stake a claim to be a genuinely cheap drive - once you got past the steep asking price - but fell down in the safety testing area.
Since it's basically classified as a quadricycle, the G-Wiz is not required to undergo NCAP testing. With this in mind, Top Gear got hold of a Wiz and crashed it into a wall at 40mph, with the result that the little leccy vehicle is almost completely destroyed, bestowing 'serious or life-threatening injuries' on any passengers under such conditions.
At this point the G-Wiz went back to the drawing board, with the result that the electric car is now much safer.
• Watch the G-Wiz crash test
Holden Commodore crash test
Another crash test that's performed at 60mph, so not exactly representative of typical safety test. The unfortunate specimen here is a first-generation Holden Commodore - a car that was clearly built in a time when car safety features consisted of one wing mirror.
This Commodore appears to be made of the same material takeaway curries come in, almost completely folding down to about one half of its original size.
It's an impressive sight and, when compared to modern crash tests, shows just how far car safety has come in the days since.
• Watch the Holden commodore crash test
Nissan Navara crash test
The Nissan Navara originally horrified safety testers Euro NCAP so much that they demanded its recall, saying that the pick-up presented an 'unacceptably high risk of life-threating injury' and rewarding the Japanese truck with a one-star score.
Problems with airbags not deploying properly, seatblets not restraining passengers and problems with the monocoque body of the Navara were judged so serious that Nissan actually recalled a number of vehicles.
A hasty and highly-publicised re-fit on the Navara was subsequently conducted, to NCAP's eventual satisfaction, resulting in a still-not-particularly-impressive three-star rating.
• Watch the Nissan Navara crash test
Smart fortwo crash test
Smarts have long been thought of as especially unsafe cars, for reasons no-one has ever seemed sure of.
Indeed, the relaunched Smart has been advertised with a demolition ball slamming into it, to highlight improvements in safety to the city car.
Fifth Gear got their hands on a first-generation Smart and, in classic TV car magazine style, smashed it into a concrete block at 70mph and then smashed a Vauxhall Corsa into the same barrier.
The results may surprise, but the sober truth is that few cars are likely to protect their inhabitants at such a speed.
• Watch the Smart car crash test
MPV versus 4x4 crash test
A common reason given by SUV drivers is the supposed safety benefits of driving a large off-roader, presumably on the basis that it's safer to be in a car that poses more danger to your fellow road-goers than anyone else.
This test, again from TV's Fifth Gear, seems to suggest otherwise, as an ageing Land Rover Discovery is smashed into a more recent Renault Espace MPV at 40mph.
While the Disco is undoubtedly larger, the MPV's more modern safety technology is clearly the more valuable.
• Watch the MPV versus 4x4 crash test
Audi Q7 versus FIat 500 crash test
Jeremy Clarkson once referred to the Audi Q7 SUV as a 'hippo in a vice'. If that's the case then the Fiat 500 is comparable to an unfortunate bunny rabbit that's strayed into the path of the angry Q7.
This video was filmed for the German ADAC car club and shows what happens when you smash a five-star supermini into a four-star SUV. While, on the face of it, you may believe the Fiat will come off best due to its superior rating - the video should provide food-for-thought.
• Watch the Audi Q7 versus Fiat 500 crash test