One of the very real negatives of modern car design is that even very minor impacts can cause major damage to the car.
Hit something in a late-model car at 10-20 MPH – a speed unlikely to result in serious physical injuries to the occupants – and you can expect to be replacing the entire front clip, hood and supporting structures underneath.These are of course designed to “crumple” – as you’ve probably heard. To this end, the front and rear “bumpers” of a modern car are typically just thin plastic covers, easily ripped/torn and ruined beyond fixing. Underneath these are structuresengineered to collapse.
Hoods are made of almost tissue-thin metal that a reasonably strong man could probably bend in half by hand.
[amazon asin=B0012ZEZ8A&template=*lrc ad (left)]Headlight “assemblies” are made of fragile plastic and often jut out from the car. They are very vulnerable to being damaged irreparably by such things as a runaway shopping cart – and can (and often do) cost a shocking amount to replace.
I’d rather have a car that can take a minor hit without incurring major damage.
Like my 1976 Pontiac.
It does have a plastic-covered nose. But underneath is a battering ram of a bumper designed not to “crumple.” Instead, it transmits the force of 4,000 pounds of Pontiac to objects in its path. A Civic would not fare well in an[amazon asin=B0009IQZFM&template=*lrc ad (right)] encounter with the TA. In a minor impact between the two, my car would probably not even have visible damage. But the damage to the Civic – or any of its modern kin – would likely be considerable. And not just Civics. My car would inflict thousands of dollars in cosmetic damage to an S-Class Benz, too. Its driver would not notice, of course – until he stepped out to swap insurance info. I would not be surprised to learn that the headlight assemblies for a 2014 S-Class cost $500 apiece.
Maybe more.
The doors in a car like my mid-70s Pontiac must weigh at least 100 pounds each. The hood is a massive slab of metal held up by a pair of industrial-gauge steel-coiled hinges.
Prop rods? Forget about it!
[amazon asin=B0009IQZH0&template=*lrc ad (left)]Now, granted, if I am ever in a major wreck in the Trans-Am, I am probably more likely to be more severely hurt than I would be if I had the same wreck while driving a modern, crumple-zoned car designed to take the hit in my stead. But most wrecks are not major. Mostly, they are of the fender-bender type. Only nowadays, more than just the fenders tend to get bent.
This one of the main reasons why insurance costs have skyrocketed – even as highway fatalities have decreased. Yes, cars are safer. But they also cost a helluva lot more to fix when damaged. And they are much more easily damaged, as a result of making them safer.
There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch. But, people forget.
Until, of course, they are presented with the bill.
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