MexicoBlueTurboS

A long time ago I bought a string of Mercedes S and SL class cars impressed by their safety as the stats showed at that time they were the least likely cars to get injured in. (But not the least likely to be killed in - Volvo led that category. But given that at the time, Mercs were driven at autobahn speeds and Volvos were driven by soccer moms 10mph below the speed limit, my conclusion was an S class was the safest car.

It was this photo on Wrecked Exotics of an SL500 that really sold me on the idea.


An SL with a completely destroyed front end, the engine broke off the mounts (as intended) and rolled underneath the car vs smashing the occupant compartment, the windshield was intact and both doors opened and were pristine. The car destroyed itself to protect the occupants.

There's no getting around physics, above certain speeds and hitting a fixed object will rip your heart from its arteries or other internal injuries that prove to be fatal.

Looking through the photos at Wrecked Exotics there are some accidents that because of luck will almost always be fatal - trees are really unforgiving. But this wreck only resulted in broken legs. Not bad considering the sacrifice the car took for the team.





Yep.... This is a 911. No info on occupants.




So here's the question - do you feel safe (safer) in a 911 compared to other sports cars ?

And does looking through these photos give you a greater respect for the hazards of high speeds ?

http://www.wreckedexotics.com/porsche

nick2413

Yeeesh, thanks for posting. I think it's extremely important for us all to remember that we're not invincible and neither are our cars, some of those photos made my stomach sink. Drive safe.

Carreralicious

I’ve been trying to find crash test videos of the 997 but haven’t seen any. They don’t test them?

Petza914

Every major car company has to test them. The only exceptions are small, boutique manufacturers. Porsche used to have that neat ad that showed all the workers hand assembling a 911, stitching the interior, etc and then at the end of the ad it was a car they had built for crash testing and you heard the crash test siren as they closed the door behind, them because they couldn't bear to watch them destroy their hard work. Must have a been a poignant ad as it stuck with me all these years.

I feel safe in my 997 and expect it would hold up well in a crash. The structure is quite strong as the chassis is so stiff, I lift a wheel pulling out of my driveway each day. I'm not sure I'd feel as safe in a cab than I do in the coupe with the metal roof structure, but my 928 is cab and doesn't have any sort of rollover protection, and I drive that one too.

TheBruce

Morbid. Nice way to start the week guys :-) Any car hitting a tree at 100mph is going to look like a ball of tinfoil.

I think the key safety factors of the 997 are its handling and its profile of drivers. I drive it pretty hard (but not stupid) and over 30k miles its never put my in an "oh ****" position.

I also think 997/911 drivers are more attentive, in general. Hence the low insurance rates on them.