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How safe is the FC?

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Old Jun 25, 2007 | 03:49 PM
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How safe is the FC?

I asked google but nothing specific.

How would the FC hold up in a 40mph crash? I just recently watched the Crash Safety Video of the new Chinese Sedan and it killed both front occupants. 40mph isin't fast and this is a 2007 model. I love my FC but dying is not part of my plan.

Pictures would help.
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Old Jun 25, 2007 | 03:50 PM
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Interesting question.

Please post pics if you died.

kthnkx
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Old Jun 25, 2007 | 03:53 PM
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when i got hit, i t-boned a guy going 40, i probably hit him going 30. im just guessing. and i was ok.
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Old Jun 25, 2007 | 03:53 PM
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It's safe enough to where if you're wearing seatbelts, you'll be fine. I've seen worse crashes with an FC and the occupants got away with minor scratches.
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Old Jun 25, 2007 | 03:54 PM
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Know this: they don't make cars like they used to (read: before ~1995). You should be fine.
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Old Jun 25, 2007 | 03:58 PM
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Originally Posted by SpeedOfLife
Know this: they don't make cars like they used to (read: before ~1995). You should be fine.
It's true. My dads 77 car..forget what it was, anyway, he got t-boned with the guy going 40. The only damage to any of the two vehicles? The other one was busted to hell, and my dads just spun. Nothing wrong.
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Old Jun 25, 2007 | 03:59 PM
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cars are not made with steel anymore like they were (our fc's)

you should be fine.. but please dont go and test this!
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Old Jun 25, 2007 | 04:11 PM
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I was hit in my FC S4 going about 5-10mph, while the 7 attack was going at least a good 40mph at the speed of impact. Of course he did strike the front left corner and I was buckled up. Thus, no air bags deployed and I was perfectly fine...besides lossing my baby.

So from my expirence, the FC may save you, but these cars crumble like hell after a hard hit. It's the price you pay for driving a sports car.
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Old Jun 25, 2007 | 04:13 PM
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At an rx7 meeting I heard a story about an fc vs. a focus. The story goes the focus in front looked like he was going to turn left at an intersection with the fc behind him. But instead the focus went into the left lane and attempted to do a U turn so that he/she could easily grab the mail from the mailbox on the outside of the right lane. The FC going about 45ish (dont remember exactly) locked em up and slowed down only a little and hit the focus's front wheel well area. The focus split in half (the front clip of the car was separated from the rest of the car, and the FC had (if I remember correctly) to just fix the pumper and the broken headlight.

What car would you rather be in? haha. One where the car breaks away, or the car that stays together?
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Old Jun 25, 2007 | 04:15 PM
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yea man, all new cars are made of plastic, designed to shatter upon impact
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Old Jun 25, 2007 | 04:20 PM
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as safe as the safety standards for the 80's and 90's. what you're asking for but if you're trully concerned then I would sell the 7 and invest in a newer car with 20 airbags and reinforced doors and crap.

Think about it this way: DO WE import chinese cars? When was the last time you saw a chinese car on OUR streets? Why do you think we don't have Chinese cars?

quit worrying about how you're going to die because you'll spend your whole life avoiding death and not LIVING LIFE to the fullest. You're concerned about a head on collision, but tomorrow night at a club you might spill a drink on some ******* and he'll push you to the ground, you'll hit your head, and die instantly and your car never saved you.
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Old Jun 25, 2007 | 04:22 PM
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cars don't shatter, they crumble.
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Old Jun 25, 2007 | 05:36 PM
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Quite frankly, I'd be rather scared if a car retained most of it's overall shape after a decent crash... At an impact going that fast, you don't want it to retain it's shape and be drivable later on...you want the car to take the force of the impact and absorb the energy, rather than sending it through the passengers in the cabin. There's a long standing argument about which are safer...Vans or SUVs...you would think the SUV would be safer becuase they are generally larger and can carry more momentum, thus forcing stuff out of it's way..but the truth is, SUVs tend to be more stiff as a structure. This is because of their size. You don't want to go 'round a corner and hear the creak creak creak as the chassis flexes, do you? As a negative result, they cannot absorb as much of the impact as the smaller, less rigid van. All in all, you want the car to be toast and you to be okay. You want the car to absorb everything. Not you.

To directly answer the O.P.'s question though, the FC does crumple quite a bit in any aftermath I have seen. It isn't exactly a new car, but I feel safe in it...
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Old Jun 25, 2007 | 05:40 PM
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If anyone here has ever been to china... Its amazing how they drive. Think of playing grandtheft auto how you drive in that. Its like that in china only its every single car driving like that. When I was there I only saw one accident the whole time, and they just pay each other whos fault it was money and leave, they dont even get the cops involved haha. The crash I saw wasent that bad at all though. Like I said im surprised at how I didnt see any accidents except for that one.
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Old Jun 25, 2007 | 05:41 PM
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I'd say its pretty safe, my TII project was t-boned on the passenger front fender and everything is repairable
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Old Jun 25, 2007 | 05:41 PM
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I was riding in my friends FC with him when we got hit head on By a Ford F-150 at about 40mph and he had a couple of bruises and I broke my nose while the guy in the F-150 had to be taken away in a stretcher. The car was pretty much totaled but it crumpled in such a way that it absorbed most of the shock. I wouldn't have broken my nose either if I was sitting back in my seat right I don't think.
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Old Jun 25, 2007 | 06:35 PM
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Originally Posted by SpeedOfLife
Know this: they don't make cars like they used to (read: before ~1995). You should be fine.
I was rear ended by a 2003 Mazda 323\Protege doing 30mph while stopped in my friend's 86' Isuzu Trooper (this did not happen in the US). The Trooper had a busted bumper and the rear doors woulndt close but they were tied together and we drove it to the mechanic that night.

The Protege? See pic. Both airbags went off. I was only able to take a daylight picture of it because turns out he's my ex-GF's neighbor. I'm not a believer in such crumply cars - please stay together my seatbelt will take care of the rest.
Attached Thumbnails How safe is the FC?-crashedprotege.jpg  
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Old Jun 25, 2007 | 06:45 PM
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I survived a pretty bad wreck, and was able to pull the entire drivetrain and interrior and swap them onto a roller. I'm not sure how fast I was going, but it was enough to spin me and put me across the street.
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Old Jun 25, 2007 | 06:56 PM
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i was tboned in the driver side by a midsized sedan that was going around 40 mph, and i walked away unharmed...




much faster then that and im not sure if i woulda been so lucky though...
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Old Jun 25, 2007 | 07:21 PM
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the umpire said "safe".
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Old Jun 25, 2007 | 07:45 PM
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Originally Posted by Syncro
I asked google but nothing specific.

How would the FC hold up in a 40mph crash? I just recently watched the Crash Safety Video of the new Chinese Sedan and it killed both front occupants. 40mph isin't fast and this is a 2007 model. I love my FC but dying is not part of my plan.

Pictures would help.

what he didn't mention was that the car was made of tin foil
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Old Jun 25, 2007 | 07:50 PM
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WTF do you expect from a car w/ NO airbags?
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Old Jun 25, 2007 | 08:36 PM
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Originally Posted by Syncro
I was rear ended by a 2003 Mazda 323\Protege doing 30mph while stopped in my friend's 86' Isuzu Trooper (this did not happen in the US). The Trooper had a busted bumper and the rear doors woulndt close but they were tied together and we drove it to the mechanic that night.

The Protege? See pic. Both airbags went off. I was only able to take a daylight picture of it because turns out he's my ex-GF's neighbor. I'm not a believer in such crumply cars - please stay together my seatbelt will take care of the rest.
Oh wow same thing happened to my mom in her trooper(a early 90 model i think) same after market to the car(Some dipshit on college reading while he was driving, didnt even notice the light was red) and rear ended my mom, all the damage that was done to her trooper was the rear door to the back of the car wouldent close right. his car on the other hand was ohhhnttt.
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Old Jun 25, 2007 | 09:52 PM
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damn i've done one of those. I put my head halfway threw the windshield. Not too good. stiches and that's it though.
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Old Jun 26, 2007 | 01:08 AM
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Wow, I think people are all just blowing smoke.

I would think that newer crash safety standards would be higher than older ones. But I dunno. I do know back in the 80's the U.S. did have strict crash safety standards. Many European and Japanese cars could not be imported because of this, or had to be modified.

Yes, larger cars usually have worse crash safety than smaller cars, in spite of the myth.

On a bad corner on a slippery road I was going maybe 40mph in my old RX-7. It rolled 540 degrees, landing upside down. There was not a scratch on me. I didn't even get jerked around. After taking in the situation for a few seconds (while hanging upside down), I opened the door and climbed right out.
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