by Paul Oranika

Created on: December 27, 2008   Last Updated: January 07, 2009

The first order of business here is to briefly explain the concept of "Crashworthiness" so as to enhance clarity and understanding of this article. Every car or vehicle manufactured have inbuilt crash resistance capabilities aimed at the safety of its occupants. Crashworthiness of a vehicle deals with the central question of safety of the vehicles occupants during an accident. Some vehicles do better than others in terms of safety of its occupants, one must therefore understand that to some degree, their chances to survive an accident is somewhat related to that vehicle's ruggedness and safety mechanisms geared towards withstanding crashes. These days with the skyrocketing oil prices, (although oil prices have come down from the $150 per barrel seen few months ago to about $40 today), one can expect that as the global economies recover from the current slump, oil prices will undoubtedly move back up. The question that may be on your mind is how does oil prices relate to the issue of "crashworthiness".

There is a strong relationship between the two issues. As fuel prices grew, so also was the need for auto makers to produce fuel efficient vehicles, this is partly the battle going on in Washington DC, between US Law makers and US auto manufacturers seeking for government bailout money. The law makers are saying that it is no longer business as usual for Detroit anymore, arguing that the US automakers must come up with new fuel efficient cars not only for competitive purposes, but also as a measure aimed at reducing US energy needs. The truth nevertheless is that you look around at available fuel efficient cars in the market today, one feature immediately strikes your mind-these cars are very small, and were built more along the compact lines than anything else.

This reality brings us to another issue more pertinent to our discussion and that is the question of "Crashworthiness". Smaller and compact cars are not generally as strong or for that matter as safe as bigger cars. Part of the problem is related to the vehicle's body mass. Smaller vehicles tend to be much lighter than bigger cars, part of the reason stems from lighter materials often used in constructing fuel efficient vehicles, since the emphasis is now focused on more efficient fuel usage and consumption. It is therefore correct for anyone to assume that as automakers place emphasis on lighter weight and fuel-efficient cars, at the same time automakers, may be unconsciously compromising crashworthiness.

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