byggyns
Registered Member
Yeah, I think mine with just a 4" lift & 33's would have resulted in a lot more upper passenger area damage for that Impala than we see in this case.
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.
blazer most fragile SUV ever...
- Thread starter Jean
- Start date
Yeah, I think mine with just a 4" lift & 33's would have resulted in a lot more upper passenger area damage for that Impala than we see in this case.
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2000
- Posts
- 9,123
- Reaction score
- 7,077
Time for the original poster to take a physics class.
1. The impact is off center, the center area of the front end of the impala collided with the left front corner of the Suburban.
2. Suburban going far slower, brakes applied, swerving to the right. Front of suburban lowers down with brakes applied momentum moving forward, allowing front of impala to get above the bumper.
3. The momentum from the impala speeding, not a light car, not slowing, means that although the suburban weighs more the car had more momentum (energy) into the suburban places on a small area in square inches. Compare the left front corner of the suburban to the full flat front end of the impala. That much energy placed on a small area causes the metal to fold, buckle, and bend.
4. The action of the suburban swerving to the right and slowing amplifies the damage by assisting in the buckling process evident in the damage to the A-pillar area of the suburban.
5. The angle of the impact puts the continued energy of the entire impala, engine and rest of the vehicle through the suburban from left front toward right rear.
6. You can see the frame damage under the suburban which caused the rear axle to be moved. The frame of the vehicle is stopped at some point during the collision but the body keeps moving until its movement is stopped by the body mounts and structure of the vehicle or the mounts break.
7. The design of vehicles has changed over the years. Early vehicles the structure of the vehicle was all fairly strong, no crumple or crush zones, no airbags, foot well bags, side curtain airbags, airbags coming out of the sides of the seats, etc. Unfortunately the early vehicles transferred the energy of the crash through the vehicle and often to the occupants. In this case the front left of the suburban is pushed sideways and dramatically slowed by the impact, the driver continues to move in the direction he was going prior to the impact until acted upon by an outside force, (the seatbelt or colliding with the structure of the vehicle as it bends inward).
8. Newer vehicle has crush zones that minimize and lessen the energy from the crash by absorbing it until that energy gets to the main structure, (passenger compartment of the vehicle.
To summarize learn physics. No a Blazer or Suburban is not for you, move along.
1. The impact is off center, the center area of the front end of the impala collided with the left front corner of the Suburban.
2. Suburban going far slower, brakes applied, swerving to the right. Front of suburban lowers down with brakes applied momentum moving forward, allowing front of impala to get above the bumper.
3. The momentum from the impala speeding, not a light car, not slowing, means that although the suburban weighs more the car had more momentum (energy) into the suburban places on a small area in square inches. Compare the left front corner of the suburban to the full flat front end of the impala. That much energy placed on a small area causes the metal to fold, buckle, and bend.
4. The action of the suburban swerving to the right and slowing amplifies the damage by assisting in the buckling process evident in the damage to the A-pillar area of the suburban.
5. The angle of the impact puts the continued energy of the entire impala, engine and rest of the vehicle through the suburban from left front toward right rear.
6. You can see the frame damage under the suburban which caused the rear axle to be moved. The frame of the vehicle is stopped at some point during the collision but the body keeps moving until its movement is stopped by the body mounts and structure of the vehicle or the mounts break.
7. The design of vehicles has changed over the years. Early vehicles the structure of the vehicle was all fairly strong, no crumple or crush zones, no airbags, foot well bags, side curtain airbags, airbags coming out of the sides of the seats, etc. Unfortunately the early vehicles transferred the energy of the crash through the vehicle and often to the occupants. In this case the front left of the suburban is pushed sideways and dramatically slowed by the impact, the driver continues to move in the direction he was going prior to the impact until acted upon by an outside force, (the seatbelt or colliding with the structure of the vehicle as it bends inward).
8. Newer vehicle has crush zones that minimize and lessen the energy from the crash by absorbing it until that energy gets to the main structure, (passenger compartment of the vehicle.
To summarize learn physics. No a Blazer or Suburban is not for you, move along.
For all you haters out there, first hold your words... I haven't insulted any of you so you should be little more respectful..! Passion does not excuse everything.. Second, just to put things in persepective, I love those trucks as much as you do... I have owned a couple of antic US cars, Z28, half a dozen transam, Cadillac, Full size Bronco and a "fall guy" chevy truck replica that took me over a year to build.. That to say that I'm not a Newbie on the scene I have a bit of knowledge in car crashes as well. Thank you to our courteous fellow friend 86454K30 who noted that the frame separated from the body and I would also suspect here a rusted car more then any crash angle speed etc..., true but not enough to explain such heavy damage to the Suburban " comparing the damage to the SUV to a collision with a train. " And the guy has probably some experience and here... Can't find that other picture of a lifted Blazer that sustained very well a crash with an Escalade.
that's what I figured..
it just seems to me that crash survivability of this vehicle ranks about #42 on the priority list when getting into one...
4xcrazy
3/4 ton status
I saw a news thing several years back while living in Arizona, a family was travelling up the I-17 somewhere, lost control, over or through the guard rail, rolled down a ravine something in the range of 100-150 ft or so, the Suburban they were all riding in rolled bunch all the way down. Everyone was seatbelted in and everyone, although banged up, bruised and cut from glass, survived.
They showed the truck and although it was a mess, it was still structurally in-tact. I'm guessing something to do with the integrated roll bar type setup they have built into the top framing of these things. It never crushed down flat on them or seriously encroached into the cabin area of the passengers, it was a bit rounded now, but still the people were able to get out through the now broken window openings.
I was rear-ended once on the freeway while there too, not a high speed deal, was in rush hour traffic, I thought it was kind of funny really though. I heard tires screeching, then this weird bump, like I'd hit a speed bump, then I hear all sorts of crashing and a car hitting the wall.
I look in my mirror beside me up against the wall all smashed, I think to myself, "did this guy just hit me?"
I stopped, got out, (traffic was hardly at a crawl at this time) and sure enough, he had. his car was MESSED up. He had apparently driven UNDER the back of my truck to the right, then went over and hit the wall. But from the scrapes on his hood, he drove all the way under and even took his drivers side mirror off on the way, then trashed his right side fender when he hit the wall. I hardly felt a thing, was weird.
I dunno, every vehicle is going to act differently with different crash scenarios, and positions of the impacts, the one posted could have easily been any other vehicle, it was obviously a high speed crash, anything at high speeds is a toss up for survivability in my opinion.
They showed the truck and although it was a mess, it was still structurally in-tact. I'm guessing something to do with the integrated roll bar type setup they have built into the top framing of these things. It never crushed down flat on them or seriously encroached into the cabin area of the passengers, it was a bit rounded now, but still the people were able to get out through the now broken window openings.
I was rear-ended once on the freeway while there too, not a high speed deal, was in rush hour traffic, I thought it was kind of funny really though. I heard tires screeching, then this weird bump, like I'd hit a speed bump, then I hear all sorts of crashing and a car hitting the wall.
I look in my mirror beside me up against the wall all smashed, I think to myself, "did this guy just hit me?"
I stopped, got out, (traffic was hardly at a crawl at this time) and sure enough, he had. his car was MESSED up. He had apparently driven UNDER the back of my truck to the right, then went over and hit the wall. But from the scrapes on his hood, he drove all the way under and even took his drivers side mirror off on the way, then trashed his right side fender when he hit the wall. I hardly felt a thing, was weird.
I dunno, every vehicle is going to act differently with different crash scenarios, and positions of the impacts, the one posted could have easily been any other vehicle, it was obviously a high speed crash, anything at high speeds is a toss up for survivability in my opinion.
Burbdood 74
Giver of not a single damn...
I had an offset head-on collision with a tree when I was 17 going 50mph in a 1975 Ford Maverick and walked away bruised and battered while a fellow classmate rear ended a parked city truck a few months later one rainy night in his 2wd 84 Ford F-150 and was killed. His truck had a full frame, my car was unibody. It's not always about the size of the vehicle or the safety features in it. Sometimes it just comes down to plain old dumb luck and if your number is up that determines if you survive.
Judging from the pics of that Suburban, NOBODY could or would ever walk away from an impact that heavy unless they were in an M1 Abrams MBT. To come here and suggest that a Blazer, or Suburban, is "the most fragile SUV ever" just goes to show that you wanted to stir the pot because anybody with any common sense would have looked at that picture and realized it would be a fatal hit no matter how many safety features were designed into that Sub.
Be gone Inspector Clueless....
Judging from the pics of that Suburban, NOBODY could or would ever walk away from an impact that heavy unless they were in an M1 Abrams MBT. To come here and suggest that a Blazer, or Suburban, is "the most fragile SUV ever" just goes to show that you wanted to stir the pot because anybody with any common sense would have looked at that picture and realized it would be a fatal hit no matter how many safety features were designed into that Sub.
Be gone Inspector Clueless....
That crash was much softer than the impala/suburban one.
Cinder block wall gave way pretty easily, and the truck then proceeded directly into a nice soft dirt berm.....absorbed lots of energy and distributed it across a large frontal area of the landcruiser. It's no wonder that the crash was less severe.....
Personally, I'd choose that type of crash over a high speed, offset frontal crash every time.
-G
it just seems to me that crash survivability of this vehicle ranks about #42 on the priority list when getting into one...
Bingo, well said. How many threads on here involve "adding airbags and frame gussets to survive 55mph head on collision?" There's an assumed risk when you decide to drive an older vehicle that hasn't benefited from years of required vehicle safety upgrades.
Understanding that, why not run over to the nearest F150 board and discuss that truck's 2001 crash tests? Or yell Ebola on a crowded subway in NYC about right now?
Moral of the story? Trolls gonna troll and head-on collisions rarely end well.
Last edited:
