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Maybe that's what I was thinking of. The heavier the front end is the more damage you do to the other car you hit. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rich & Nicole (Daughter), Orange County, CA 70/71 SquareBack 1600 FI MT http://community.webshots.com/user/schlegelr ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -----Original Message----- From: Jim Adney [mailto:jadney@vwtype3.org] Sent: Tuesday, September 05, 2006 12:32 PM To: type3@vwtype3.org Subject: RE: [T3] Back in the saddle again! On 5 Sep 2006 at 7:08, Schlegel, Richard wrote: > It really amazes how much of a hit theses cars can take. I almost > wouldn't buy her a VW because I thought without the engine in front of > her to absorb some impact it wouldn't be as safe but now I don't worry > about her. It's a common misconception that a front engine helps to absorb energy in a crash. The problem is that an engine is pretty "incompressible" so that very little energy is absorbed there. Cars that spend a lot of time in crash testing usually design a front engine to get pushed UNDER the passenger compartment in a crash, allowing the front of the car to collapse, a process which DOES absorb energy. Putting the engine in the front DOES, however have the effect of putting your heavy bits in front of you, where they can do the max. damage to whatever you manage to hit. -- Jim Adney jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711-3054 USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~