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This has been a thing in the 4x4 world for a while. I've seen a few Toyota 4Runners like this, it's called "chopped": https://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachments

This has been a thing in the 4x4 world for a while. I've seen a few Toyota 4Runners like this, it's called "chopped": https://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachments/3rd-gen-t4rs/30898d1279167009-thinking-cutting-back-img_1014-jpg https://www.toyota-4runner.org/attachments/3rd-gen-t4rs/3089... I am worried that they did this to a unibody vehicle though. Most of the SUVs that people do this to are body-on-frame so the structural integrity comes from a frame that isn't being modified. In a unibody car, the structural integrity comes from the bodywork. Without pieces of the body, it loses the ability to stay intact. Like the article mentioned, they cut pieces out and the car started to buckle: every bit of body work they cut out was 100% required to maintain the structural integrity of the vehicle. I hope this does not become a trend. I've seen Jeep Cherokees like this, also unibody vehicles, and I've seen them buckle when hitting bumps. Simone and her team knows to reinforce them. I'm not sure most people do.

SiempreViernes 7y ago
As she discusses and show in the actual video, they put in quite a bit of reinforcement for structural integrity.
- tyingq 7y ago
  I doubt it was all done in a way that was as strong as the original, while also crumpling the right way to keep the passengers safe in a crash. It certainly has value as a design exercise, but it would be hard to say how safe it really is as a daily driver.
  - dsfyu404ed 7y ago
    Eh, this should be no big deal. The passenger cabin shouldn't be doing any crumpling so you're fairly free to throw metal at the problem. All the mods are in the rear and there's no airbags for rear impacts (most of the job of crumple zones is to buy time for the car to detect it's actually crashing and deploy airbags) so any difference is gonna be minimal. Maybe the roof structure is compromised but once again that should never crumple so you're free to throw metal at the problem. Obviously there's more details to it than that and there's more and less elegant ways to "throw metal at the problem" but that's more or less what real automotive engineers do when a cabin design needs beefing up. Sure the lack of complex simulation software for this build might have left it with some Achilles heel but plenty of cars leave the factory that way too.
    - tyingq 7y ago
      It looks to me like it puts a lot of new metal and glass right behind the driver's and passenger's heads.
    - freehunter 7y ago
      Properly reinforced, it's not a problem. Improperly reinforced, even if passenger safety is not compromised, everyone on the road is in danger if an improperly modified unibody vehicle folds in half on the freeway.
- freehunter 7y ago
  As I mentioned in my comment, >Simone and her team knows to reinforce them. I'm not sure most people do.

SiempreViernes 7y ago

As she discusses and show in the actual video, they put in quite a bit of reinforcement for structural integrity.

tyingq 7y ago
I doubt it was all done in a way that was as strong as the original, while also crumpling the right way to keep the passengers safe in a crash. It certainly has value as a design exercise, but it would be hard to say how safe it really is as a daily driver.
- dsfyu404ed 7y ago
  Eh, this should be no big deal. The passenger cabin shouldn't be doing any crumpling so you're fairly free to throw metal at the problem. All the mods are in the rear and there's no airbags for rear impacts (most of the job of crumple zones is to buy time for the car to detect it's actually crashing and deploy airbags) so any difference is gonna be minimal. Maybe the roof structure is compromised but once again that should never crumple so you're free to throw metal at the problem. Obviously there's more details to it than that and there's more and less elegant ways to "throw metal at the problem" but that's more or less what real automotive engineers do when a cabin design needs beefing up. Sure the lack of complex simulation software for this build might have left it with some Achilles heel but plenty of cars leave the factory that way too.
  - tyingq 7y ago
    It looks to me like it puts a lot of new metal and glass right behind the driver's and passenger's heads.
  - freehunter 7y ago
    Properly reinforced, it's not a problem. Improperly reinforced, even if passenger safety is not compromised, everyone on the road is in danger if an improperly modified unibody vehicle folds in half on the freeway.
freehunter 7y ago
As I mentioned in my comment, >Simone and her team knows to reinforce them. I'm not sure most people do.