HEAD-ON COLLISION

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4811, 17 July 1939, Page 6

HEAD-ON COLLISION

DRASTIC TESTING. STAGE MANAGED ACCIDENT. EFFECTS ON MOTOR CARS. A well-known English manufacturer recently staged a head-bn collision between two cars of different construction in order to determine which was the best from the point of view of safety. The cars were controlled by electrical means from the side of the road. One was the latest type in which chassis and body are combined in one steel structure, and the other was an older type with an ordinary chassis and a composite wood and steel body. This car weighed 23cwt, but the new type only 19cwt, so in order to compensate for the difference in weight, the new car was run at 35 m.p.h. and the older type at 32 m.p.h. When they met head-on, the older type of car turned over, and suffered very extensive damage, but the new jnodel, although its front axle was pushed right back, and its radiator was badly damaged, stayed on its wheels, while all the windows and the screen stayed unbroken. Each door

could be opened, and the conclusion was reached that had there been any occupants, they would have escaped with a severe shaking. .

Neither car was written off in the stage managed accident, and the new type was repaired for under £SO. An estimate for repairing the older type vehicle placed the cost at nearer £IOO. The test seemed to prove that not the least advantage of the newest steel constructions is its safety in spite of the lighter weight by comparison with the older body and chassis building methods.