Front end collision survivability?

[Darkspeed]

This may be a morbid question but what has the survivability success rate been for front end collisions in older buses?

I am starting work on the front of my 4106 and the OEM reinforcement is a 1/4 aluminum doubler plate behind the skin.

I dont see how any impact would be a walk away event in this bus... am I wrong?

I am planning on doing some significant reinforcing in the front so it will be capable of taking a hit and I wanted to see what works and what does not work.

Thank you!

[lostagain]

Some reinforcement would help... a little. No matter what, a head on will hurt. The best defense is good defensive driving, and some luck.


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[Darkspeed]

Well I have been in ( not caused ) a number of accidents, one that involved being upside down and on fire.
I know from experience I would much rather be behind a reinforcement with a multi point harness in a seat that is properly mounted, than have an air bag go off in my face and knock me out.

[jackhanow]

surviving the frontal impact is like rolling dice, mostly depends on speed and how high and solid the object. i drove long steel for a while and there the problem was more " is the steel gonna stay  put." what happened? he hit the pylon but thats not what did it. well, what was it then? plate came out of the cupboard. and of course you should wear a seat belt.

[siberyd]

For starters, what are you wanting to protect yourself from truck or car? If its a car, I would look at reinforcing the spare tire compartment. Cars go under buses, for something bigger reinforce the area of your bumper and bumper mounts.

I have investigated over 250 bus vs other vehicle accidents. Only a couple head-ons and the bus always won.

Siberyd

[Darkspeed]

For starters, what are you wanting to protect yourself from truck or car? If its a car, I would look at reinforcing the spare tire compartment. Cars go under buses, for something bigger reinforce the area of your bumper and bumper mounts.

I have investigated over 250 bus vs other vehicle accidents. Only a couple head-ons and the bus always won.

Siberyd

A car would loose the mass game , I was thinking of larger objects like a Semi or a large immovable object.

[siberyd]

I investigated a catastrophic bus accident on 4-5-91, 2 buses collided. First bus pulled out of the bus lane to join freeway traffic. The 2nd bus sped up to head into El Monte station (probably 60+), the first bus changed his mind and re-entered the busway (probably 30 mph). Bus 2 rearended bus 1 and 120 people went to the hospital. Bus driver 2 was pinned to his seat by the steering wheel. No other injuries to him. Driver 1 no injuries. Bus 1 totaled, bus 2 got a new steering wheel.

Siberyd

[siberyd]

Buses were and are built to take a hit and save their passengers. 3 years ago the school bus I was driving was t-boned by a semi truck. The kids at point of impact felt nothing. Front spindles and axle on truck snapped. Cue the tow truck, bus suffered broken glass and 35 feet of right side pushed in. I drove the bus back to the yard after another bus took the uninjured kids back to school.

Now a bus made of composites and fiberglass dont do well. They need a flatbed and a dumpster for clean up.

[luvrbus]

Transit and school buses fair better than a hiway coach in a accident,I saw 2 H-45 Prevost crash head on neither driver survived.

Sooner or later the bus manufactures are going to be forced to build a cage for the drivers rarely does one survive with any type front end wreck

Even the lowly S&S jobs manufactures are building cages for the drivers area I was impressed with the safety cage on a ForeTravel    

[TomC]

On my AMGeneral transit bus, I was originally going to cut the front bumper and create a generator drawer out the front. That is until I saw that huge rubber covered bumper with 4 big gussets supporting it. I left the bumper as is, and installed the generator through the front door. Good Luck, TomC

[Jeremy]

As it happens there's a story on the BBC website right now about this coach vs back-of truck accident that happened just yesterday:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-34162647

[siberyd]

Great article, thanks for posting it.

When you look past the cut "A" post, glass and removed front door, the coach front end did not suffer much.  Yes there is a major bend/dent in the front wall. But it did not crush in like most major automobile collisions.

[Tony LEE]

If the object you hit doesn't get you, all the stuff you have behind you that isn't secured properly will.

[Darkspeed]

Great article, thanks for posting it.

When you look past the cut "A" post, glass and removed front door, the coach front end did not suffer much.  Yes there is a major bend/dent in the front wall. But it did not crush in like most major automobile collisions.

Well that is exactly the kind of thing that worries me.. You can see that the passenger side folded up because of the door opening creating a weak point.

I had even thought of putting the passenger seat base on a stout hinge with rated break away bolts in front so a front impact with intrusion would allow the passenger seat to roll backwards  on the hinge rather than crush the passenger.

[belfert]

The reason cars crush is to absorb energy.  If you build a solid steel cage that can't break at the front of a bus the energy will be transmitted to the driver and passengers.  It isn't that the fronts of buses couldn't be improved, but just adding massive amounts of steel is not necessarily the way to go.

Anyone remember the crash test of the 1959 Bel Air vs the 2009 Malibu?  Most people assume the Bel Air would win due to sheer mass, but the Malibu protected its passengers better.  See http://www.iihs.org/iihs/about-us/milestones/50th-anniversary