F yo' benz you rich MFer!

[Maengelito]

a friend of mine works at the insurance institute for highway safety (IIHS) which is responsible for all those crash test ratings you hear on car ads. its located in ruckersville, which is about 10 min north of where i work and she invited jenn and i to watch a crash test awhile ago. we ended up goin yesterday to watch them do a side impact test on a 2007 mercedes benz e class. the little display area they have is really impressive with all the smashed up cars and crash test dummies. we got to hear about all the IIHS standards compared to govt standards and see how and why certain tests are performed. all in all, it was really cool to see how various cars performed against similar makes and models and it was really cool to see all the bent metal.


the dummies all had on regular clothes and shoes and the little dummies had on baby clothes. it was cute but creepy


offset head on collision. massive carnage


2006 suby tribeca took a pole to the face for being so ugly



2007 E-class pre-F'ed in the A




2007 E-class post-F'ed in the A. 30mph side impact


clown paint on the dummy to see where his head hit the side impact curtains



video!
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muLI5Iisn68">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muLI5Iisn68</a><!-- m -->

i'll see if i can get a group of MMer's out to watch a future test, but it might be difficult to get a larger group. all in all, it was really cool

[BLINGMW]

I WANT TO GO!!!!!!!!!!!!! PICK ME PICK ME!

Think we can get an MM shirt on a dummy?

[.RJ]

Or put an MM sticker on a dummy head.

[Ginger]

HOORAY MM trip! I'm down!

[Dragon]

I can think of a couple MMers that could just wear the t-shirt themselves and be a stand-in for the dummies.

[BLINGMW]

I can think of a couple MMers that could just wear the t-shirt themselves and be a stand-in for the dummies.

I'd sit in a benz for a 30MPH, sounds like fun! You can even paint my head.

[Maengelito]

now updated with video

[ScottyB]

whoa, pretty intense. that benz held up well.

[bassmangrammy]

And that's why I feel safe.

[Maengelito]

i'm gonna try to see if i can get a group of MMer's down for a crash test to check it out. i'm not sure if i'll be able to get a large group, but if there's interest, i'll push it. i think most of them are held around 11am on Tues/Thurs. the IIHS is in ruckersville which is about 10-15 min north of charlottesville and for those coming from JMU, its just off 33 east. here's the upcoming schedule. like i said, if there's enough interest, i'll see if i can get one of these dates:

Aug 29: Side ÔÇô 2007 Chevrolet Aveo
Aug 31: Side ÔÇô 2007 Hyundai Accent
Sep 7: Frontal ÔÇô 2007 Hyundai Accent
Sep 14: Frontal ÔÇô 2007 Toyota Yaris
Sep 19: Side ÔÇô 2007 Toyota Yaris w/ optional SAB (this is tentative)
Sep 21: Side ÔÇô 2007 Toyota Yaris w/o SAB
Oct 3: Side ÔÇô 2007 Scion xA w/ optional SAB (this is tentative)
Oct 11: Frontal ÔÇô 2007 Honda Fit
Oct 12: Frontal ÔÇô 2007 Scion xA
Oct 18: Frontal ÔÇô 2007 Nissan Versa
Oct 25: Side ÔÇô 2007 Honda Fit

[JohnC]

I'm in.

[REED]

IN - this sounds like a blast