‘Built-in fragility’ of cars

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32553, 12 March 1971, Page 9

‘Built-in fragility’ of cars

(N.Z. Press Assn. —Copyright;

WASHINGTON, March 11. Tests of 1971 cars showed that they sustained greater damage in low-speed crashes than did 1970 models, a Senate committee was told yesterday. “The base line of lowspeed crash damage reflected in estimated repair costs generated in our 1971 model tests . . . appears to have worsened,” said Dr William Haddon, jun., president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. He testified before the Senate Commerce Committee, which is considering legislation that would authorise the Secretary of Transportation to set property-loss reduction standards for cars. Dr Haddon accused car manufacturers of ignoring available techniques for making cars more damage proof because, he said, they found

it more profitable to replace parts that had built-in fragility. Dr Haddon showed films of staged crashes which resulted in the following estimated repair costs:— Front-end crash into a test barrier at five miles per hour, $331.69 for 1971 models, compared with $215.65 for 1970 models. Rear-end - crash into the barrier at five miles per hour, $329.28 for 1971 models, compared with $218.66 for 1970 models. All of the five-mile-an-hour crashes should have resulted in zero damage, Dr Haddon said.

By doing away with cosmetic fringes, protruding nose cones and snout configurations, “which perform all of the functions of battering rams,” and using the space for energy-absorbing features, he said, “manufacturers could reduce the initial price of the vehicle, or at worst, maintain it at its present level.”