7 Craziest Car Crash Tests of All Time

New Volvos thrown from a height of 30 meters, smashed sports car for $ 2.1 million, a van with concrete beds rammed into a wall and other unusual crash tests

A number of independent organizations are engaged in regular crash tests of all kinds of new products in the automotive industry. The most famous of them are the European Euro NCAP, the Global NCAP association and the US National Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). However, in addition to them, similar tests are carried out by automakers themselves, journalists, and sometimes just enthusiasts. New cars do not always participate in such tests, but they do not become less effective from this. The most unusual and extreme crash tests of recent times.

Fall from a 30-meter height

One of the most extreme crash tests was carried out by Volvo. During the tests, the Swedes decided to drop ten of their own new cars from a 30-meter height at once. For this unusual crash test, Volvo had to rent a construction crane. The engineers explained that this approach helped to fully simulate the damage found in the most serious accidents, for example, a collision of a car with a truck at high speed or a strong impact from the side.

However, the main task of these tests was the training of rescuers, who were supposed to open the wrecked cars with the help of hydraulic tools and evacuate the conditional victims as soon as possible.

Lego sports car crash test

The British edition of AutoExpress conducted its own crash test of the Corvette ZR1 sports car. However, a copy of the car, assembled from the Lego set, took part in the tests. The tests involved hitting a barrier, which was a normal wall with 100 percent overlap. During testing, the toy Corvette ZR1 crashed three times at speeds of 4, 16 and over 16 km / h. During the last stage of the crash test, the sports car from the cubes was destroyed.

Very expensive crash test

The Croatian company Rimac has conducted a series of crash tests on the 1914-horsepower electric hypercar C Two, which has not yet entered mass production. During the tests, engineers broke two prototypes at once, the price of each of them is $ 2.1 million. The Croatians decided to push the first two-door sports car, the body of which is made of carbon fiber, with a deformable barrier with 40 percent overlap at a speed of 40 km / h. The second prototype crashed into the same obstacle at a speed of 56 km / h. As a result, both vehicles were seriously damaged. But the developers of the car were pleased with the result of the crash tests. The Rimac C_Two should go into serial production next year.

Old Ford Fiesta versus new

The Global NCAP organization, using an unusual crash test, decided to demonstrate the progress in automotive safety over the past 20 years. To do this, they push two Ford Fiesta hatchbacks – the sixth and fourth generations. During the tests, the cars crashed their heads into each other at a speed of 64 km / h. The results of the accident are clearly visible on the video: the driver and passengers of the old “Fiesta” have practically no chances to survive in such an accident. In a more modern hatchback, by contrast, the risk of serious injury is minimized.

Scooter Crash Test

Unlike cars, scooter crash tests are not officially conducted in the world. However, a video appeared on the network not so long ago, which demonstrates a head-on collision of a pizza delivery moped with an obstacle at a speed of 40 km / h. Who conducted this test is not indicated, but the consequences of the accident, even for a dummy on a short video, look very scary.

Broken van with concrete flower beds

The Swiss organization Dynamic Test Center AG (DTC), which is known for its non-standard approach to crash testing, this time chose the Mercedes-Benz Vito van for their tests. The car was loaded with concrete beds weighing 700 tons and directed against the wall at a speed of 50 km / h. As a result, even a van traveling at such a low speed received very severe damage. The dummy sitting in the Mercedes-Benz Vito also had a hard time.

Opel Omega versus the regular bus

In Bulgaria, local journalists decided to test the strength of two completely different vehicles. For their independent crash test, they chose a second generation Opel Omega and a regular shuttle bus. The runway became the scene of the unusual experiment. Mannequins were seated in vehicles, and cars were controlled remotely. As a result, the Opel Omega effectively rammed the back of the bus at a speed of 208 km / i and, not surprisingly, went to write-off. The same fate awaited the injured regular bus.