Rollover safety?
Discussion
Since rolling my Impreza last weekend, I've been considering the safety of open top cars. I did own a Griff 500 and never even thought about the possibility of rolling the car, but since my roof-headbutting excitement it's obviously become more concerning.
I see adverts for various rollover bars to be fitted to the Griff/Chim range and so I have to ask how safe are these cars without these devices fitted, and even if they are fitted, do they help in an open top car?
I walked away from my accident (more luck than anything) but it makes me very unlikely to own another open-top as I had considered the possibility of rolling only for race drivers/track day loonatics but it's obviously easier than that to do.
Thoughts?
I see adverts for various rollover bars to be fitted to the Griff/Chim range and so I have to ask how safe are these cars without these devices fitted, and even if they are fitted, do they help in an open top car?
I walked away from my accident (more luck than anything) but it makes me very unlikely to own another open-top as I had considered the possibility of rolling only for race drivers/track day loonatics but it's obviously easier than that to do.
Thoughts?
Andy
At work last night I was flicking through Redline (crappy Max Powerish mag) and got to the car crash pages. Quite amusing but they'll give you £400 or something if they print pictures of your smashed up car. I'd expect yours would get in no hassle. Worth a try I'd have thought.
Matt
At work last night I was flicking through Redline (crappy Max Powerish mag) and got to the car crash pages. Quite amusing but they'll give you £400 or something if they print pictures of your smashed up car. I'd expect yours would get in no hassle. Worth a try I'd have thought.
Matt
quote:
I thought both Tuscans and Cerberas had load-bearing windscreen surrounds? Could be wrong...
Cerbera's have a full roll cage built in I think, not sure on the Tuscans.
It is a concern with convertibles though, I having a roll bar fitted to my S next week for a bit more peace of mind.
Cheers,
JSG.
But this is my point. There was a photo of a griff on here a little while ago that had flipped, and the windscreen had completely crushed, leaving just the bodyshell upside down. Surely you're looking at an instant fatality in that situation, even at low speed?
Oh, and holding on to the steering wheel is great advice, but when you're airborne at 60 mph and being thrown around like the inside of a tumble drier, I defy anyone to keep a grip of anything!
Oh, and holding on to the steering wheel is great advice, but when you're airborne at 60 mph and being thrown around like the inside of a tumble drier, I defy anyone to keep a grip of anything!
Quote
The Tamora is the first TVR with a load-bearing windscreen surround so I guess they're thinking about this too.
Yea,... apparently the elan has a load bearing windscreen. You should see the pictures of Normas elan that she flipped. Flipped is an appropriate choice of words considering the pancake like nature of here car,... flat as a ... Fortunately she was ok but can balance a pint on the top of her head with ease.
The Tamora is the first TVR with a load-bearing windscreen surround so I guess they're thinking about this too.
Yea,... apparently the elan has a load bearing windscreen. You should see the pictures of Normas elan that she flipped. Flipped is an appropriate choice of words considering the pancake like nature of here car,... flat as a ... Fortunately she was ok but can balance a pint on the top of her head with ease.
tower view race services have a picture of a flipped griff on their website if anyone wants to look. Windscreen folded flat. Can't see how you could survive that unless you are a dwarf. I'm having a rollbar fitted tomorrow. Even with that in place, if you draw a line between it and the next highest solid bit of the car in front, my head will still poke out a bit which is nice. There's bugger all side impact protection too. Frightening really.
I assume ap smith launched himself into a field? Looks like the scooby dealt with the crash very well from the pictures. Chance of survivng that in an unmodified Chim? Probably bugger all. Add a rollbar and maybe its a bit better, but still not good.
I assume ap smith launched himself into a field? Looks like the scooby dealt with the crash very well from the pictures. Chance of survivng that in an unmodified Chim? Probably bugger all. Add a rollbar and maybe its a bit better, but still not good.
quote:Well, it was a verge, but yes I managed to collect alot of grass on the way. Suprised I didn't end up with a sheep in the back.
I assume ap smith launched himself into a field?
The real issue is I wouldn't have survived that crash in my previous Griff, and even with the new rollbars fitted there would have been plenty of ketchup around, mostly from my head probably.
If I do go back to TVR, it'd have to be a Cerbie/Tuscan as I was shocked how easy it is to flip a car once you're travelling at speed. The Subaru also impressed me with how well it dealt with the front impact, which was severe enough to shunt the whole engine back 6"!
Jesus... I'll be buying a Volvo next. NOOOOOOOoooooooo!
Sadly insurers probably wouldn't be concerned with that. They would look at the the risk involved when someone puts a roll bar in their car, i.e. is this type of driver more likely to have an accident. They do all sorts of risk modelling to look at these cases - but I think we've had these conversations before somewhere.
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