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The whole thing about laminated glass is interesting. Historically speaking, side and rear windows were made from tempered glass that would explode into many s
by NovemberWhiskey 3y ago
The whole thing about laminated glass is interesting.
Historically speaking, side and rear windows were made from tempered glass that would explode into many small, not-so-sharp fragments when damaged. Laminated glass does not do this; it breaks, but the inner layer(s) between the glass layers holds the window together. If you want to get through a car windshield, this is why you end up needing a saw rather than a hammer.
Due to new regulation that aims to reduce the number of drivers ejected from vehicles during crashes, some manufacturers have been switching to use laminated glass for side and rear windows.
This may be entirely rational if the number of casualties avoided in those cases exceeds the number of cases where escape is hindered (which is almost certainly the case as being ejected from the vehicle is very strongly correlated with serious injury or death, and drowning deaths represent basically half of one percent of deaths in road traffic accidents), but many people don't like to hear about good risk tradeoffs and want impossible global improvements.
- AlexandrB 3y ago> Due to new regulation that aims to reduce the number of drivers ejected from vehicles during crashes, some manufacturers have been switching to use laminated glass for side and rear windows. I'm surprised that getting ejected from the side or rear window is common enough to warrant such a change. There seems to be a lot of downsides - any emergency where a person (or pet) needs to be freed from a locked car quickly comes to mind. I actually assumed that the laminated glass in the Tesla story was a security feature.
- sebazzz 3y agoTesla applies laminated glass for sound proofing, no?
- HeyLaughingBoy 3y agoAnecdotal, but the only person I know who was killed in a car accident was ejected due to not wearing a seat belt. For a long time, it was my go-to rebuttal for the idiots who claimed that they'd rather be "thrown clear" in an accident: "I knew someone who was thrown clear. Then the car flipped over on top of him."
- HarryHirsch 3y agoejected from vehicles during crashes A substantial number of people still are not wearing seatbelts? For those of us who are wearing seatbelts the risk of ending up in a pond or canal is immeasurably higher than the risk of ejection.
- NovemberWhiskey 3y agoTotal ejection does almost always occur due to not wearing seatbelts, but partial ejection (often due to a rollover) does occur frequently even for people wearing seatbelts. And, yes, a substantial number of people are still not wearing seatbelts.
- Log_out_ 3y agoThe laminated glass is a structural component of the car?