Driver Passes Away When M5 Hits Pole

[M5Rlz]

Originally Posted by stealth.pilot

Definitely an M5. I recognize the 343M wheels and the Competition Package exhaust.

The accident looks very extreme - the entire passenger compartment has been compressed.

BMW should get hold of this car and analyze it.

@avlnch have a look at this.

Are we looking at the back door or the front where the back should be? He would have had to hit it at 80+ is my bet to do that kind of damage...

[stealth.pilot]

Originally Posted by 335iRlz

Are we looking at the back door or the front where the back should be? He would have had to hit it at 80+ is my bet to do that kind of damage...

What we are seeing is the A pillar followed by the C pillar. The cabin has basically been compressed so the C pillar is forward of where the B pillar should be. The driver would likely have been crushed to death.

[Aapparition90]

Rip was doing some research on the m5 when I came across this , was it a side impact onto the drivers side ? the frontal structure looks fairly intact which is where a lot of the crumple zones usually are to absorb the impact. Looks like high speed and the worst possible angle to hit something like a pole which does not absorb any of the impact.

[stealth.pilot]

Originally Posted by 328ihp

Rip was doing some research on the m5 when I came across this , was it a side impact onto the drivers side ? the frontal structure looks fairly intact which is where a lot of the crumple zones usually are to absorb the impact. Looks like high speed and the worst possible angle to hit something like a pole which does not absorb any of the impact.

Yes it looks like a side impact. He probably hit the car just around where the B pillar is and pushed the middle of the car in. Driver was probably killed on impact.

[M5KRZI]

wow. very sad. RIP

a

[gsc]

Definetly not a place to be driving that fast. RIP!

[soooma]

Again
Don't let the ///M drive you but rather you drive the ///M

[Maddict3]

that is an eye opener. Prayers for his family.

[Mscarpa]

Very sad. RIP. Be smart out there when having fun guys.

[Grover432]

Originally Posted by stealth.pilot

Definitely an M5. I recognize the 343M wheels and the Competition Package exhaust.

The accident looks very extreme - the entire passenger compartment has been compressed.

BMW should get hold of this car and analyze it.

@avlnch have a look at this.

What is to analyze? When you put the car sideways into a pole, the result is predictable and unavoidable.

[///M ARMY]

Prayers go out to his family. Sad to see anyone die.

[Boss330]

Originally Posted by Grover432

What is to analyze? When you put the car sideways into a pole, the result is predictable and unavoidable.

Eeehhh...

Manufacturers use accident data to improve the crash structure and design of their cars. Volvo has their own investigation team(s) that attend every serious accident with a Volvo in Sweden. The information they get from this is used to improve on the new models they design.

Would you rather crash in a 1974 Ford Pinto, or a 2014 Ford Fusion?

[M6-Coupe]

Originally Posted by Boss330

Eeehhh...

Manufacturers use accident data to improve the crash structure and design of their cars. Volvo has their own investigation team(s) that attend every serious accident with a Volvo in Sweden. The information they get from this is used to improve on the new models they design.

Would you rather crash in a 1974 Ford Pinto, or a 2014 Ford Fusion?

Yes they have, but it's about the specific condition including the speed of impact! They usually have report for speeds like 40-60 mph and not 100+ mph! at that speed even steel will be damaged!
I have no intention to support BMW team for their design, but as you know the doors and pillars are made with aluminum and not steel. If they use steel to make car safe for most of accidents, then people complain about weight. If they make with Aluminum or Plastic (fenders and trunk lid) people complain about safety issue... so what the hell they have to do to make people happy ????

[Boss330]

Originally Posted by M6-Coupe

Yes they have, but it's about the specific condition including the speed of impact! They usually have report for speeds like 40-60 mph and not 100+ mph! at that speed even steel will be damaged!
I'm not gonna support BMW team for their design, but as you know the doors and pillars are made with aluminum and not steel. If they use steel to make car safe for most of accidents, then people complain about weight. If they make with Aluminum or Plastic (fenders and trunk lid) people complain about safety issue... so what the hell they have to do to make people happy ????

You would be surprised how many different accidents they gather data from. As you quite correctly say, at 100MPH the car will be severely damaged. But it all depends on what, and how, you hit the object you crash into.

I have been part of a accident investigation team since around 2001. We investigate every fatal accident and we have had the Volvo team involved in one accident where the damage and energy was at a much larger scale than what we see from the photos in this accident. They still wanted to analyze and learn from it. Because there is always some piece of information that can be useful in every accident.

For instance, we once had a head on collision where the drivers throat was badly injured by the plastic piece on the A-pillar. When the A-pillar got crushed, the plastic piece covering the A-pillar didn't crush or disintegrate. It came undone at the top and pierced through the throat and neck area of the driver, like a spear. The driver might have been killed because of other injuries, but the manufacturer was very interested in looking into how they could change the design of that piece of the interior. Because this could potentially be fatal in a different accident at lower speed but with a damage to the A-pillar (here the driver was killed of other factors).

BTW. Aluminium and other materials can do quite well in accidents. It all depends on the design and construction

But there is no aluminium on the monocoque of the F10:

http://www.autozine.org/Archive/BMW/new/5er_F10.html

However, the new car is not necessarily more costly to build than the old one. You might remember, the E60 was renowned for lightness and perfect static balance thanks to its aluminium front chassis structure – from firewall forward the whole structure was basically made of aluminum. However, that structure was costly to build and even more costly to repair after crash damage. Therefore the F10 has abandoned this structure and reverted to conventional steel monocoque. It is made of multigrade steel, high-strength steel and hot-stamped ultra-high-strength steel. As before, some outer body panels are made of aluminum, such as bonnet and front fenders. Some internal parts like front subframe, most suspension components and brake calipers are also aluminum. In addition to existing weight saving measures, the doors of F10 are also converted to aluminum, saving another 23 kg.

It's only exterior panels and the doors that are made out of aluminium. The basic crash structure is steel.

[M6-Coupe]

Originally Posted by Boss330

Would you rather crash in a 1974 Ford Pinto, or a 2014 Ford Fusion?

And this is exactly what will happen to a Ford when crashes at 120 mph!
As he says, car wants to de-accelerate from 120 mph to 0 in 68 ms. It means -400g to transfer a hug amount of Energy! (E= 1/2 m V^2)

[Dionysus]

Originally Posted by M6-Coupe

but as you know the doors and pillars are made with aluminum and not steel. If they use steel to make car safe for most of accidents, then people complain about weight. If they make with Aluminum or Plastic (fenders and trunk lid) people complain about safety issue... so what the hell they have to do to make people happy ????

I'll second Boss330's comments + modern car doors contain internal structures that dissipate energy into the more ridged passenger safety cell.

Heavy cars don't necessarily equate to safe cars; modern day F1 cars are an extreme example of light weight/high strength.

Although momentum plays a factor, an older heavier/larger car will not necessarily protect it's passengers better than a lighter/smaller modern car, even if it looks as though, on the surface, the latter has sustained more damage in similar circumstances.

I agree that basic laws a physics will rule when the speeds are high enough and I also agree that the layman's perception is that heavy/solid equates to strength/safety in automobiles. But then you only have to compare a solid rod with a same material tube to know different.

Volvo's objective is that "By 2020 no one should be killed or even moderately injured in a Volvo" - obviously this will be via a combination of crashworthiness (which relates to the a-pillar trim example above) & active safety systems which aim to prevent collisions in the first place.

[M6-Coupe]

Originally Posted by Dionysus

I'll second Boss330's comments + modern car doors contain internal structures that dissipate energy into more ridged passenger safety cell.

Heavy cars don't necessarily equate to safe cars - just think of modern day F1 cars as an extreme example and the forces they have to deal with.

I do agree that the modern cars are safer than old cars regarding to new technology. My point is that with new technology, if a car is made with more steel (frame, body, structure) it should be safer (in crash) than if it is made with aluminum or plastic. Make sense?
And with the video I posted, I intended to say that even steel would be damaged at that speed!

[Dionysus]

Originally Posted by M6-Coupe

My point is that with new technology, if a car is made with more steel (frame, body, structure) it should be safer (in crash) than if it is made with aluminum or plastic. Make sense?

If high strength steel were the only answer, the like of Audi A8, R8, BMW i3, etc. would not be feasible.

I will agree that design has a risk analysis element involved in determining load bearing components. Pareto's Principle will apply in technical decisions.

Modern day road car design also extends to more than simply protecting the occupants (plastic exterior panels, etc.)