Vehicle Passive Safety - I am a Wimp

[racer_d]

Originally Posted by JCL12

I am glad a boxster is unflippable unless you are on a slope because that rollbar looks like it has completely collapsed and killed the driver.

um.. no car is unflippable. Some cars simply resist flipping better than others in normal conditions. Hit a curb, bounce off a wall, truck, another large car, embankment, or simply drive off onto a soft shoulder and turn the wheel to sharply back onto the road and a flip/roll can occur.

The boxster may not (and likely isn't) is safe as a coupe. However, given its rollbar and general high rigidity, it likely fare's better than other "like" cars.

Physics is still physics and no car can defy them. All you can hope is the car does its job giving up its life, to protect the soft, fleshy people inside.

[J-RAD]

The rollbar in Peer's photo looks to have done it's job just fine. It is not collapsed at all. It's very much intact and, provided he/she wasn't ejected, I'm sure the driver and/or passenger are far from dead.

[JCL12]

Originally Posted by J-RAD

The rollbar in Peer's photo looks to have done it's job just fine. It is not collapsed at all. It's very much intact and, provided he/she wasn't ejected, I'm sure the driver and/or passenger are far from dead.

I hope you are right - but from my perspective, it looks like the bar was compressed too far. I hope I am wrong!

[racer_d]

Originally Posted by JCL12

I hope you are right - but from my perspective, it looks like the bar was compressed too far. I hope I am wrong!

While it is a fantastic picture, we know nothing about what happened to the car, do we? was it a 100mph collision? 30mph? Was the driver drunk? Exceeding road conditions? Was it a hit and run? There is too much unknown to speculate how any occupant faired.

JCL, I would encourage you to find a car that you would feel more comfortable driving if you can't find the info you want on the Boxster. I am sure M-B will be happy to tell you how wonderful their SLK is

[J-RAD]

Originally Posted by JCL12

I hope you are right - but from my perspective, it looks like the bar was compressed too far. I hope I am wrong!

You are. Are you sure you're not looking at the foam piece laying on the folded top? The rollbar is very much intact.

Same car from another angle:


Racer_D, I believe we do know the story on that one. From Wrecked Exotics:
http://www.wreckedexotics.com/boxster/boxster_121102_005.shtml
"Driver Comments: "These pitures were from my accident on July 4 2002 in my 2002 Porsche Boxster. My girlfriend and I were going to my parents house out in the country. As usual I was pushing the car to the limits. When going around a corner we lost control, spun out, went through the road, up an embankment and then kicked back out to the road upside down."

Injury Report:
No injuries "


There's also this one (different accident):
http://www.wreckedexotics.com/boxster/boxster_20050809_001.shtml
"Going around a sharp turn in the rain with loose gravel the car lost traction and flew about 50 feet into a 20 foot deep ravine. Broke through a small tree on the way, landed on the nose and flipped upside down. Luckily the driver and passenger came out with only minor scratches and bruises. "



Moral of the story? Don't buy a Midnight Blue Boxster. ...oh yeah, and don't drive like an a$$hat.

[rick3000]

A flying Boxster!
If a guy can smash his windshield "pushing it to the limits" (probably at 100mph) and come out with no injury and another can propel his Boxster 50 feet through the air and flip it with only minor injuries. This obviously means it is an exceptionally safe car.

[pteam]

Originally Posted by J-RAD

The rollbar in Peer's photo looks to have done it's job just fine. It is not collapsed at all. It's very much intact and, provided he/she wasn't ejected, I'm sure the driver and/or passenger are far from dead.

I have to agree here. It looks like the rollbar did its job and did not waiver or break.

[Dr. Kill]

I have also looked for, and not found, crash test results - however, I think these are very safe cars. Crash "test" results are good indicators of a car's safety, but an even better indicator are actual injury/ death rates. In this category, the Box has done very well:

http://www.crashtest.com/porsche/ie.htm

[Grizzly]

Originally Posted by racer_d

All you can hope is the car does its job giving up its life, to protect the soft, fleshy people inside.

Hey! Who you callin' soft and fleshy!

What's an a$$hat?