4wheelkillr

I work with an insurance company (currently as an appraiser) and have the opportunity to see every single make and model after an accident. (haven't seen a Ferrari or Lotus yet though)

Just got an '06 Mustang GT that was a hard T-bone.

What do I mean by hard t-bone?...Entire right side inner and outer had to be replaced: Quarter (inner and outer), wheelhouse, rocker (inner and outer) including rocker reinforcement, door, a-pillar (inner and outer) it even broke the dash board and dash beam it got hit so hard.

What's special about this car once they start taking it apart? The sheet metal is so sturdy and reinforced from the 1/4 dogleg thru the entire rocker that it had to be cut off with a plasma torch...usually they can be cut off with a sheet metal nibbler and the metal slices like butter.

What does this mean? Well most cars (lets not even talk about Audi's and BMW-those things crinkle and ripple thru the entire unibody) show damage effects all over the car. A hard t-bone will usually force a "banana-shaped" unibody so the gaps on the opposite side of the car will all be opened up. Even though the mustang got hit very hard the chasis remained rigid.

Bottom line: the car is built very very rigidly-that rigidity is at the expense of a few hundred pounds.

Now the critics out there will always say the uni-body is supposed to collapse around the occupants to keep them safe, and if the unibody doesn't collapse and buckle than that force is being transferred to the occupants. Blah blah blah......i've seen literally hundreds and hundres of high impact collisions. Full-frame vehicles like trucks and most SUVs fair far better off.

There's absoulutely no question that I would rather be in this mustang than any Audi or VW or Toyota or Honda etc etc.

I'll try to post up some pics (but given privacy issues need to get the owners permission first).

See ya.

Cowtown

Interesting stuff. I was actually rather pleased when I saw the rated crash worthiness of the new stang. It's one of the best cars of any type I've ever owned as far as crash ratings go.

GTlust

I wouldn't mind seeing those pics.

SPARTAN VI

I believe you. I was talking to the owner of a collision center and he said these new stangs are tough as hell. He has at least 3 stangs in his shop at a time and seen some pretty bad wrecks. He said "if I were to ever get in an accident, I hope I'm in a Ford."

rmays06

Hey wheelkiller, at what speed did the accident happen, how much intrusion was there and how long did they estimate the extrication for the driver? Oh how hurt was the driver?
Nice to hear though!

Nadelle

click on "Watch crash test" to see how the mustang stands up.

looks to pretty good to me.

http://www.allfordmustangs.com/artma...icle_503.shtml

chrisc

safety factor was how i convinced my parents to buy this car lol
when you close the doors on this baby, you can feel that you are safe!

05CLASSIC

Thanks for the info. Makes me feel alot better knowing that these cars are built well, when all you hear about is how poorly built new cars are.

MikeHawke

they are strong. This car is stronger than the previous generation and they were still pretty darn good. Once when I was driving my '03 GT, I got t-boned in the passenger side by a kid in an S10 Blazer who ran a light.

It was a REALLY hard hit and totally destroyed the passenger side of the car but it was rebuilt and the chassis was still straight....I'm glad I did not have a passenger but they would have had a chance.

4wheelkillr

The accident was probably 40-45mph into the GT's right side. There was not driver extraction because he wasn't injured-he just got out and walked away. There was no passenger in the GT but the right door did not protrude very much into the passenger compartment.

i'm trying to get some pics to upload here.