Modern cars & lucky escape on A19 this morning (daughter-in-law)

[rorywquin]

https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/live-updates-a19-closed-both-18674564

Daughter-in-law was in this accident this morning with my two grandsons. They were checked at the hospital and all three are fine. The elderly couple in the other car had to be cut out of their GTI but are apparently & thankfully also ok.

She was doing about 70mph when the other car pulled in-front of her (from one of those u-turn spots) on the A19 headed toward Middlesborough. She was able to brake and managed to hit them in the rear 1/4 / boot instead of the middle.

All airbags deployed, slight seatbelt scratch on grandson #1's arm but other than that, all good. Presumably the Q7 (2 years old) is a write-off. Happily they are all safe.

There are those on some of the forums who believe that the older MBs are safer than modern cars. I doubt that the outcome today would have been the same in one of those old MBs or Audis.

Plenty witnesses who say that there was nothing she could do and the cops have taken the dashcam.

Very relieved grandparents.

 

[Naraic]

Glad they're fine.

 

[LostKiwi]

Very lucky escape for all.
Whilst older cars are often more substantial in terms of panel thickness etc modern ones do have superior crash resistance in most cases due to the advanced computer modelling available now that puts weight where it's needed.

 

[rorywquin]

Very lucky escape for all.
Whilst older cars are often more substantial in terms of panel thickness etc modern ones do have superior crash resistance in most cases due to the advanced computer modelling available now that puts weight where it's needed.

Yep - that car was loaded with all the safety / driver aid features. Emergency assist & predictive braking, abs, seat belt tensioners would all have done their bit to reduce the speed and lessen the impact. The other thing is that they had really decent ISOFIX car seats for kids.

 

[Tony Dyson]

Glad they're all OK, I used to use that road regularly until I retired in 2018, and you have to have your wits about you at the best of times, peak hours and in darkness with intermittent street lighting was particularly hairy.

 

[SmartAmg]

Glad everyone's OK, Rory.

 

[EmilysDad]

Glad every one is OK

 

[Gazwould]

Good news considering , a U turn in front of you , I know how that feels .

 

[rorywquin]

Thanks folks.

My wife nearly T boned a car about 12 months ago. They were doing a U turn and (coming from Africa) she flashed them to say 'danger get out of my way'. They thought it was a flash to say 'go ahead'. I still wonder how we missed them. Fortunately no oncoming traffic. We had British expats in serious accidents in the ME. The Arabs flash their lights to say 'get out of my way' and the brits thing it means 'after you sir'.

I've learned to learn the 'road culture'.

 

[Frontstep]

A good news story, keep an eye on them sometimes things can crop up later.

All accidents are different and cars will behave differently depending on the circumstances of the crash.

I have walked away from a horrendous crash, yet profoundly affected by a simple shunt.

Sometimes it's just down to luck.

 

[AMGeed]

Good news your daughter in law and children escaped unharmed. The car did its job and can be replaced.

 

[LostKiwi]

Thanks folks.

My wife nearly T boned a car about 12 months ago. They were doing a U turn and (coming from Africa) she flashed them to say 'danger get out of my way'. They thought it was a flash to say 'go ahead'. I still wonder how we missed them. Fortunately no oncoming traffic. We had British expats in serious accidents in the ME. The Arabs flash their lights to say 'get out of my way' and the brits thing it means 'after you sir'.

I've learned to learn the 'road culture'.

I've learnt to make up my own mind and not trust other people's judgement.

 

[McDonald]

Sorry to read of this accident, just glad no one was hurt. The bent metal is covered by insurance, personal injuries are a whole different matter.

 

[rorywquin]

I've learnt to make up my own mind and not trust other people's judgement.

Sadly too many drivers not aware of road rules.

 

[rorywquin]

....................... The bent metal is covered by insurance, personal injuries are a whole different matter.

Agree, sadly we've heard that the lady in the passenger seat of the golf is in a serious state.

Daughter-in-law is a bit stiff and sore today, kids are oblivious - too small to realise what happened (1&3). She also had a call from popo saying that they had reviewed her dash cam footage and it fully exonerated her.

 

[daibevan]

I've learnt to make up my own mind and not trust other people's judgement.

As my dad told me when teaching me to drive. "Never mind their f@@king signals or flashing, just watch what they are f@@king doing."

 

[GeoffWestWales]

Glad they are all ok scary stuff indeed

 

[John Laidlaw]

Thank goodness all is OK Rory- very unpleasant experience

 

[00slk]

Glad to hear things are not as bad as could have been Rory. The pain and bruising will last a little while, then it'll be back to normal, well as normal as normal can be

 

[Craiglxviii]

Very lucky escape for all.
Whilst older cars are often more substantial in terms of panel thickness etc modern ones do have superior crash resistance in most cases due to the advanced computer modelling available now that puts weight where it's needed.

This is a really interesting point. As the car is a VAG platform it brings up something else- all main market VAG vehicles excepting Porsche have 3 standard crash structures: small, medium & large. Not design philosophies, the actual crash parts used in say a Tiguan (front & rear side members, crash cans, and almost always bumper beams) to make up its collision energy absorption & transmission system, are identical- same part numbers- as used in a Golf. And an A3. And an Octavia.
It’s all part of VAG’s common parts policy, started with the engine bay but now what they do is to totally optimise the design of a part or a system of parts, then deploy that across as many different vehicle platforms as possible. Massively cuts down on development time & thus cost, as they don’t need to redesign the same thing time & time again.

Now, because we can track part number history we can find when this design policy started. And it was first deployed on the Golf Mk.4 in 1999!

So, the high speed impact/ high energy crash structure in every modern VAG car on the road anywhere in the world dared back to the early noughties and hasn’t changed since!