Hi guys


Not that im planing on flipping, or crashing, but i would like to know how a thirdgen with a cage in it holds up in a crash, street or track.

Note, did anybody ever get sideswiped? And how did the door bar hold up. Did it prevent the door from collapsing to far in?

My buddies 5.0 was slamed in at a red light by a freaking minivan.
His door and bar caved in about 2 inchs. The van hit him pretty fast on the passenger side. Thank *** nobody was on that side, and he wasn't hurt. But the cars were not a pretty sight.

Pics much appreciated.

 

there's a point where it doesn't matter. It's good that the cage held up and nobody was hurt. But a cage can't stop everything, ask my buddy who's parents were broadsided by an amtrak at an unmarked low visibility railroad crossing in their 2001 Avalanche on their way to his HS graduation. He saw the truck after their funerals, the frame is a hell of alot stronger than a cage, and there wasn't a part of the frame of that truck that wasn't mangled...

 

sad story

 

 

Not to argue your point, but frame rails aren't very strong at all. In fact they are quite weak...that is why most people install roll cages...not only to portect them selves, but alot of it has to do with sturdying up the weak frames..gives the vehicle more strength under pressure, and make the vehicle more rigid....Mind you any full frame car are stronger then a unibody, but other then that most frames are around a 1/4" thick maybe a bit more, and can be bent and twisted with ease.

 

*sigh*

i hate to say it, but i have some pretty good experiance with this-

i was tboned at about a 75* angle by a ford explorer traveling at about 45mph. he hit me in the drives side right at the firewall, and contiued down the side of the car.

i was not injured seriously, but i did sustain 2 concusions, and several severly bruised ribs...

here's some pics-

http://www.geocities.com/soares711/i...88fbafter2.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/soares711/i...fbflatbed1.jpg


all in all, after totalling the explorer, the car took the damage and protected me the driver....

i think they are decently safe cars, a cage will of course only help.

Steve

 

nm

 

nm

 

maybe try this- yahoo is ghey

http://www.geocities.com/soares711/88birdpics1.htm

 

glad to hear your ok, that looks like a horrible accident...

 

Roll cages are designed to prevent the roof from collapsing. They are not installed to add crashworthiness in frontal or side impacts. Take a look at the "a-pillars" & the thickness of the roof sheetmetal and you'll quickly realize that there's no way for it to support the weight of a ~3500 pound car without collapsing. That's where the cage comes into play.

 

au contrair... the cage is designed to protect the driver and stiffen the chassis. Case closed. The cage DOES help in impacts, both on the roof, from the side or whatnot. Most cages put in cars like ours do NOT make use of a full roof loop, since most caged cars do not have 12 point roll cages. My friend rolled over his first firebird, t-tops, and it was fine. if he hit a tree with the roof, then that would have been another thing, but the roof did not collapse as much as you might think.

Steve

 

That's just it though..It all depends on the cage... A 4 to 6 point cage will only give you limited protection and is more for stiffining the chasis...Now a 10 to 12 point cage is there more for protection, then, it is there for a more rigid chasis, it all depends. Some are more cosmetic and will help a little bit..and some are fully functional and will save your life almost 98%of the time, but we have to remember...Accidents happen.

 

A stiffer chassis does not mean that vehicle occupants will escape with fewer injuries in all collsion scenarios. Remember that cars are designed crumple & crush so that you escape with fewer injuries. For instance: cars in the 1950's had very stiff frames, but people in modern cars are walking away from accidents that would have been fatal 50 years ago.

Roll cages also intrude significantly into the passenger compartment meaning that you've got less space for packages and passengers. Rollbars in themselves can cause slip & fall injuries when you attempt to manuever around them getting in/out of the car, and your body may also hit them during a collision.

The previous poster that mentioned walking away from a rollover accident in a t-top f-body should consider himself very fortunate. It does not take very much force to collapse a car's roof.

For more info on the roof crush issue during rollover accidents, visit:

http://www.autosafety.org/videoall.php?scid=78

 

i've been to a lot of accidents, and done my fair share of pulling people from vehicles in the firedepartment here in town, and i'm gonna tell ya, i've never pulled a dead body from a flipped or rolled over vehicle.

these cars roofs are plenty strong enough to support the car.. An impact? def not.

if you've ever watch someone get extricated from a vehicle, just remeber the kind of power we have int he extrication tools to cut through the a, b and c osts of a vehicle. they them selves are like roll bars really.

anyways, your correct in saying a stiffer chassis does not prevent injury, and that there are crumple zones for a reason. it all really depends on the cage. You also mention the cage can go into the drivers area and casue injury- this is why when you install a cage with side bars, you do not keep the stock seat, you get a seat with at minimum extra side boltering to help keep you in place.

anyways, safe driving to everyone, lots of good points made here!