BMW cuts minivan in half

[exdeath]

It has to do with the frame structure. Even a unibody has box frame rails running through the underside in various sections.

Would you rather be stabbed by a straw end on or be whipped by it from the side?

Thinking about how straws, lumber, and numerous other things work, it's not too difficult to imagine that in any high speed T bone like this, one car is going to be cut in half and the other is going to be relatively unscathed.

No matter if you tried to make the structure better, anything is going to be weaker along the longest dimension compared to the narrow dimension. Take two cars with a stronger frame made to resist T bones... T bone one of the cars with a stronger frame into the other. Same relative result.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: exdeath
It has to do with the frame structure. Even a unibody has box frame rails running through the underside in various sections.

Would you rather be stabbed by a straw end on or be whipped by it from the side?

Thinking about how straws, lumber, and numerous other things work, it's not too difficult to imagine that in any high speed T bone like this, one car is going to be cut in half and the other is going to be relatively unscathed. No matter if you tried to make the structure better, anything is going to be weaker along the longest dimension compared to the narrow dimension.

Not all the way front to back though. There is a front sub-frame and a rear sub-frame. They are both welded to the passenger compartment but they do not connect each other.

 

[exdeath]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus

Originally posted by: exdeath
It has to do with the frame structure. Even a unibody has box frame rails running through the underside in various sections.

Would you rather be stabbed by a straw end on or be whipped by it from the side?

Thinking about how straws, lumber, and numerous other things work, it's not too difficult to imagine that in any high speed T bone like this, one car is going to be cut in half and the other is going to be relatively unscathed. No matter if you tried to make the structure better, anything is going to be weaker along the longest dimension compared to the narrow dimension.

Not all the way front to back though. There is a front sub-frame and a rear sub-frame. They are both welded to the passenger compartment but they do not connect each other.

Depends on the design. Most have front and rear sub frames with box frames in the rocker panels in the middle for chassis rigidity and side impact strength.

Problem is no matter how strong you make it, take two of your stronger cars, turn one 90 deg and crash it into the other one, and you'll get the same results because the one doing the T boning is also stronger, and the relative weakness in the longer dimension remains the same.

A straw is nearly indestructible end on but bends easily from the side. You might say "make the car out of 10 straws" so it's stronger from the side. 10 straws bent from the side are still just as weak. To make matters worse now take another similar car and you have 10 straws coming end on into the side of the other one.

If you make the car weaker in the narrow dimension to absorb damage in T bone scenarios so as not to cut other cars in half, now the car doesn't stand up in head on or high speed collisions.

Perhaps if the frame of a car was designed like this |||||||| instead of ==== but then you can still shear sections apart.

Hmmm

=====
|||||||||
=====

But then you have a frame too rigid which transfers 100% of collision energy to the occupants instead of decelerating gradually.

Glad I'm not in that field of engineering...

 

[DVad3r]

Shit like this scares me, especially since I ride a motorcycle. Someone I know was riding their motorcycle on Finch near Martin Grove and got hit by a couple of street racers. They clipped him with their mirror, caused him to wipeout. Guy suffered several serious injuries and they didn't even stop to see if he was ok.

 

[SketchMaster]

Originally posted by: DVad3r
Shit like this scares me, especially since I ride a motorcycle. Someone I know was riding their motorcycle on Finch near Martin Grove and got hit by a couple of street racers. They clipped him with their mirror, caused him to wipeout. Guy suffered several serious injuries and they didn't even stop to see if he was ok.

If it makes you feel any better I once got to watch karma in action involving pricks like that.

I was on my way to a friend?s house late one evening and was stopped at a no right on red intersection, both I and the neon behind me wanted to turn right and the kid in the neon was obviosly very inconveanced with me waiting for the light to turn green because he commenced to rev his engine and make all sorts of amusing hand gestures at me. Once the light turned green I made my right turn and the Neon darted to the left lane around me into oncoming traffic to pass me, switching back into the right lane, took off doing double the limit, almost hit a car trying to merge onto the road before cresting a hill and vanished into the night. A while later and a few miles down the road I saw two cars with their hazards on and as I got closer I saw a lot of movement but wasn?t sure what was going on and thought I should stop and see if everything was ok. Once I was closer I realized the two cars were the Neon and a large SUV that the neon had rear ended while the SUV was trying to merge off a road that lead to an Air Force base.

And it was there, under the quiet cosmos that in that moment decided to teach someone a lesson, was the asshole driver of the neon getting the biggest ass whooping of his life by a very angry and very stout man.

Karma does exist, and sometimes it gives us a show if we are lucky enough to be passing by.