Strong front damage C-zero. (3/4 front left crash)

[sventchik]

Hi to all,

So on our 2013 C-zero, i had a strong accident in a city, driving 50km/h, a woman drove on my way (also same speed)
The crash was terrible.

But finally, i can say the car is safe !!!
I just had some injury on the left knee, and troubles due to seatbelt.

In the other car (small Citroën c1), the woman had many internal injuries and blood, she died later on in hospital.


You can see the pictures in our french forum (first and third page) : http://www.vehiculeselectriques.fr/topic14937.html

 

[wmcbrine]

You can see the pictures in our french forum (first and third page) : http://www.vehiculeselectriques.fr/topic14937.html

They only show up as filenames, for me. I'm guessing one has to be logged in to see them.

 

[sventchik]

OK, so look ah the german one, should be without login :
https://www.goingelectric.de/forum/c-zero-i-miev-ion/unfall-vorne-3-4-links-zwischen-c-zero-und-c1-t21256.html

 

[PV1]

That's amazing that you didn't lose your left foot.

It goes to show how tight the dashboard fits in the car, as it broke near the passenger side vent and busted the radio in half.

That would've likely failed US crash tests for 25% offset, but for having almost no crumple zone, it performed well (at least better than the other car (sorry to hear she didn't make it). Glad you're okay.

 

[sventchik]

The car is really safe, i didn't imagine that safe.

When i compare pictures of my car and the crash-test vidéos of imiev, i see exactly the same results, inside and outside !
Foot area is safe, just a little collision between leg and the plastic cover... That's really nothing !

 

[phb10186]

Though it would appear that there is a fairly strong safety cell in the 'engine bay' in the front of the car, as has been said there isn't that much metal to the sides, hence the intrusion to the passenger foot-well, which is already pretty small. As has also been said, you are lucky you escaped without damage.

What I note is that there is no damage to the A-pilar, which means that the cell did perform and the car effectively did what it was designed to do. Thats pretty good for a car that was originally released 10 years ago, and likely designed about 12 years ago.

Personally, I would not have liked to be in the car at that point. Are you saying that you were both traveling at 30mph, as that would indicate a 60mph impact, and I would expect more damage than that?

That lump of expanded polystyrene that is exposed in the foot-well is also an interesting feature. I wonder if that's packing and noise suppressant, or if its designed to cushion any metal that might hurt you in a crash like that? Guess you were also saved by a 'defective' Takata air bag too.

Main thing is you're OK, the rest is just metal period. Though it's tragic for the other driver, who's car looks in better shape than yours actually.

 

[PV1]

Oddly enough, when you run the math for E=1/2M*V^2, a single vehicle moving at 60 MPH has twice as much energy than the total of two cars moving at 30 MPH, so maybe that's why the damage wasn't really bad.

The block of styrofoam is likely the false pedal/footrest.

 

[JoeS]

sventchik, glad you are (mostly) all right. Shocking, and sad the lady in the other car died.

For those non-fluent in German, you can copy the link and then go to Google Translate https://translate.google.com and paste the link to get a very reasonable translation.

https://www.goingelectric.de/forum/...-3-4-links-zwischen-c-zero-und-c1-t21256.html

 

[veimi]

Oddly enough, when you run the math for E=1/2M*V^2, a single vehicle moving at 60 MPH has twice as much energy than the total of two cars moving at 30 MPH, so maybe that's why the damage wasn't really bad.

From a conservation of energy and momentum point of view, two similar cars crashing head on at 30 MPH is the same as hitting a brick wall at 30MPH.

 

[sventchik]

But here, we have the C-zero with 1200kg and the C1 with 850kg.... :?

 

[veimi]

But here, we have the C-zero with 1200kg and the C1 with 850kg.... :?

Is there a possibility that the extra weight of the C-Zero's battery was an asset in this circumstance?