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> "The big problem there is if they really make the skin of the vehicle very stiff by using thick stainless steel, then when people hit their heads on it, it's

> "The big problem there is if they really make the skin of the vehicle very stiff by using thick stainless steel, then when people hit their heads on it, it's going to cause more damage to them," said Adrian Lund, the former president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), whose vehicle crash tests are an industry standard. Who is hitting their head (and on what) in this sentence? Clearly there are no such thing as soft cars when it comes to human skulls?

psychlops 3y ago
Pedestrians.
markerz 3y ago
There are plenty of collisions where a car collides with something at slow speeds like in a parking lot or at an intersection. In these collisions, it’s preferable for the car to “give” a little bit and not just crush someone’s kneecaps. It makes me wonder if there’s gonna be higher insurance costs associated with a car that is more likely to have higher liability claims.
lm28469 3y ago
> Clearly there are no such thing as soft cars when it comes to human skulls? There are degrees of hardness for sure, if I had to chose what I would be hit with I wouldn't go for a cyber truck https://youtu.be/X2Aw4eZoijk?si=-Pq-MBTzn3LLmM3x https://youtu.be/X2Aw4eZoijk?si=-Pq-MBTzn3LLmM3x
Klaus23 3y ago
When pedestrians hit the bonnet or windscreen of a car, the impact is relatively soft. The A-pillar or the engine (under the bonnet if there is not enough space between the two) are much more dangerous. Some cars have an active bonnet that can spring up to make room and give a softer landing.
- gorpy7 3y ago
  yeah, model 3 looks to be getting an active hood; https://www.torquenews.com/14335/tesla-creates-active-hood-safety-system-designed-protect-pedestrians-and-cyclist-head-trauma/amp https://www.torquenews.com/14335/tesla-creates-active-hood-s...
invalidator 3y ago
> Who is hitting their head (and on what) in this sentence? Clearly there are no such thing as soft cars when it comes to human skulls? Pedestrians, struck by the vehicle. A typical hard pedestrian strike hits the legs, and the person flips over and hits their head on the hood. Modern vehicles ensure there is a significant gap between the hood and the engine, so the hood has room to deform and absorb the impact. So yes, a large piece of thin sheet metal can be a relatively soft place for a skull to land.
amenhotep 3y ago
Not only is there such a thing as a distinction between relatively soft and particularly dangerous parts of a car for a human skull to hit, but there have in fact been some cars made (one example is this https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citro%C3%ABn_C6 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citro%C3%ABn_C6 ) where the bonnet is rigged to explode upwards in a pedestrian collision so that it meets the impact earlier and does a better job of keeping their skull away from the engine block.
phatskat 3y ago
My friend was biking across a parking lot exit and got slammed by a car, t-boning her. She faceplanted into the hood, really really bad. A while later, she saw the same car and they had not fixed the hood, and she could see the crumple of where her face slammed into it. Given that the metal of the hood deformed to her face, that’s a decent amount of impact energy. I would wager her outcome would’ve been even more gruesome had she carried that energy into a rigid, stainless steel hood.

psychlops 3y ago

Pedestrians.

markerz 3y ago

There are plenty of collisions where a car collides with something at slow speeds like in a parking lot or at an intersection. In these collisions, it’s preferable for the car to “give” a little bit and not just crush someone’s kneecaps. It makes me wonder if there’s gonna be higher insurance costs associated with a car that is more likely to have higher liability claims.

lm28469 3y ago

> Clearly there are no such thing as soft cars when it comes to human skulls? There are degrees of hardness for sure, if I had to chose what I would be hit with I wouldn't go for a cyber truck https://youtu.be/X2Aw4eZoijk?si=-Pq-MBTzn3LLmM3x https://youtu.be/X2Aw4eZoijk?si=-Pq-MBTzn3LLmM3x

Klaus23 3y ago

When pedestrians hit the bonnet or windscreen of a car, the impact is relatively soft. The A-pillar or the engine (under the bonnet if there is not enough space between the two) are much more dangerous. Some cars have an active bonnet that can spring up to make room and give a softer landing.

gorpy7 3y ago
yeah, model 3 looks to be getting an active hood; https://www.torquenews.com/14335/tesla-creates-active-hood-safety-system-designed-protect-pedestrians-and-cyclist-head-trauma/amp https://www.torquenews.com/14335/tesla-creates-active-hood-s...

invalidator 3y ago

> Who is hitting their head (and on what) in this sentence? Clearly there are no such thing as soft cars when it comes to human skulls? Pedestrians, struck by the vehicle. A typical hard pedestrian strike hits the legs, and the person flips over and hits their head on the hood. Modern vehicles ensure there is a significant gap between the hood and the engine, so the hood has room to deform and absorb the impact. So yes, a large piece of thin sheet metal can be a relatively soft place for a skull to land.

amenhotep 3y ago

Not only is there such a thing as a distinction between relatively soft and particularly dangerous parts of a car for a human skull to hit, but there have in fact been some cars made (one example is this https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citro%C3%ABn_C6 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citro%C3%ABn_C6 ) where the bonnet is rigged to explode upwards in a pedestrian collision so that it meets the impact earlier and does a better job of keeping their skull away from the engine block.

phatskat 3y ago

My friend was biking across a parking lot exit and got slammed by a car, t-boning her. She faceplanted into the hood, really really bad. A while later, she saw the same car and they had not fixed the hood, and she could see the crumple of where her face slammed into it. Given that the metal of the hood deformed to her face, that’s a decent amount of impact energy. I would wager her outcome would’ve been even more gruesome had she carried that energy into a rigid, stainless steel hood.