Friend of mine was involved in a front-end collision

[Howard]

And they need to drive 340km tomorrow.

The car is a 1992 Camry

The front bumper's OK, the grill was pushed in, the sheet metal of the frame behind the grill is moderately deformed, nothing leaks so far as I can tell, brake fluid level is OK, coolant is low (unsure if it leaked after the accident or if it was always low), hood is tented up, all lights work properly.

How to tell if it's safe to drive?

 

[Jumpem]

It's not safe to drive until a mechanic goes through it. They need to cancel their trip, or find another vehicle.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Check the headlights. When the brake lines went out in the gf's car and we had a low-speed impact things turned out pretty well but some of the plastic hangers connecting the front fascia and headlights were broken which put the headlights aiming mostly towards the ground and made no way to adjust them because the hangers were broken.

 

[JCH13]

It's not safe to drive until a mechanic goes through it. They need to cancel their trip, or find another vehicle.

This.

If the crumple zone has been messed up they might not fair too well in another impact.
The hood latch may be damaged and the hood could come loose and blind the driver or smash through the windshield.
There may be a very slow leak in the coolant system that won't manifest itself for another hundred or so miles of driving.
Parts of bodywork may look okay, but could be damaged and might fall off on the highway.

Too many things could go wrong, the car definitely needs to be checked out.

 

[Vette73]

Only thing that jumps out, based on what you said, is if the hood will stay closed. If you are 100% sure it will not open when driving, the lights work and are aimed right, and the fluids are topped and not leaking then it would be ok.

I would keep the speed down just to be safe as well.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Yeah, I'd mainly be concerned that the hood would not stay latched while driving at freeway speeds. It will just fly up creating a nice barrier that you cannot see through and bend it up worse than it already is. It will not smash through the windshield like someone else suggested.

 

[JCH13]

Yeah, I'd mainly be concerned that the hood would not stay latched while driving at freeway speeds. It will just fly up creating a nice barrier that you cannot see through and bend it up worse than it already is. It will not smash through the windshield like someone else suggested.

I don't think it's reasonable to say "will" or "will not" when no one has even seen picture of the car, let alone able to imagine likely circumstances in which it could fail.

 

[JulesMaximus]

I don't think it's reasonable to say "will" or "will not" when no one has even seen picture of the car, let alone able to imagine likely circumstances in which it could fail.

I've seen more than a few hoods fly up because they weren't latched properly. None of them ever detatched at the hinge side and went through the windshield. Even if it did detatch it would simply blow over the car, not slice through it.

 

[JCH13]

I've seen more than a few hoods fly up because they weren't latched properly. None of them ever detatched at the hinge side and went through the windshield. Even if it did detatch it would simply blow over the car, not slice through it.

Oh, I was imagining a crease in the hood that would protrude into the windshield if it were to flip up and remain attached to the hinges.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Oh, I was imagining a crease in the hood that would protrude into the windshield if it were to flip up and remain attached to the hinges.

It would have to be pretty far up the hood and pretty pronounced to intrude into the passenger compartment. The hood would crumple near the point of impact, not up near the windshield. Most likely it would just snap back and wrap over the roof of the car. It might crack the windshield when it hits it but it wouldn't go through it.

Modern windshields are made using a process were two layers of glass are laminated to a cellulose inner layer. This inner layer holds the glass together when it fractures.

Modern, glued-in windshields contribute to the vehicle's rigidity, but the main force for innovation has historically been the need to prevent injury from sharp glass fragments. Almost all nations now require windshields to stay in one piece even if broken, except if pierced locally by a strong force. Properly installed automobile windshields are also essential to safety; along with the roof of the car, they provide protection to the vehicle's occupants in the case of a roll-over accident.

No way a hood popping up would compromise these safety features.

 

[exdeath]

You'd have to be going pretty fast for the hood to crack the windshield. Toyotas of that generation used hydraulic hood struts, no hinges or springs or prop rods, so the limit of travel for the hood would be constrained by the maximum extension of the struts. It will still cause a lot of damage. If you can pull up on the hood as hard as you can (might as well if it's already damaged) without hitting the release lever first, and it doesn't open, it's not going to come loose while driving.

Windshields are made of laminated regular glass due to the fact that the tempered safety glass used everywhere else in the car would shatter and instantly obscure visibility through the entire windshield if hit by a rock on the freeway, not to mention if any of those millions of cubes come loose they would fly straight into your face and shotgun blast everyone in the passenger compartment. So they use regular non tempered non safety glass bonded with a very strong laminated plastic layer to keep it whole so you don't get impaled by free shards like in the 50s.

 

[FDF12389]

Only thing that jumps out, based on what you said, is if the hood will stay closed. If you are 100% sure it will not open when driving, the lights work and are aimed right, and the fluids are topped and not leaking then it would be ok.

I would keep the speed down just to be safe as well.

This