Old Mustanger

I was involved in several convertible car structural designs and top complex geometry (folding geometry) designs in the '80s on several cars while working for an aftermarket supplier.
A problem came up on the Chevy Beretta convertible that I thought would be of interest to some members, basically those who drive convertibles.

The rear spoiler on the Beretta was designed by a management wannabe instead of the design team. He specified SMC for his material. SMC is a high strength moldable fiberglass.

Long story short, in our first 35MPH barrier test the rear spoiler broke away from it's mounts and decapitated all the crash dummies in the car at a repair cost of $50k each. This was a first for the testing lab.

The car was also required to pass a 65mph barrier also, obviously that would have been a fail also.

Just thought that I would toss that out there.

IF you are driving a convertible, be vary careful about what kind of spoiler you buy & how you mount it. It should be light weight and mounted extremely well. The fasteners MUST be something that will not pull through the holes in the deck lid.
Something to think about.

Old Mustanger

No comments?

Torch_Vert

I can see your point where a heavy rear spoiler, poorly mounted could become a serious projectile hazard in a convertible involved in a frontal crash.

The Ford factory spoilers are very light and retained with 4 bolts backed up by incredibly tenacious acrylic foam adhesive so I don't think they're much of an issue. The Roush spoilers similarly use factory style light materials. A large heavy aftermarket fibreglass spoiler though, I agree about it being a potential cause for concern.

Maybe installing lightbars/styling bars in these cars does actually confer some crash benefit? Not going to do much in a rollover, but they'd at least absorb some of the force from a detached spoiler.

Old Mustanger

And only allow really short people (kids) to ride in the back.

The "designer" tried everything he could think of: Epoxy & Urethane adhesives, deeply threaded fasteners w/ backing plates on the inside of the deck lid, catch cables, and others. Nothing came close to capturing that behemoth of a spoiler.

I do not know if they ever succeeded or if GM gave them a waiver.

Torch_Vert

I know I eliminated one spoiler from my mod list because of the attachment issue. It was pretty large, and the manfacturer had designed it to install only with tape and two small screws (using none of the factory style studs/bolts)

I'll admit my worry was more about it detaching under normal driving, I hadn't even considered the crash worthiness angle.

Old Mustanger

If they are that irresponsible, I would certainly black-list that manufacturer. Having total disregard for your customer's safety should be criminal.