German Car Zone

Alwing · 01-02-2008, 06:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by coolraoul

Yeah I thought to a all-terrain van or a van with very high ground clearance.
But then, the roof would be undamaged and the A-pillar would not be broken like that (notice the chrome line that is broken).

And even with a very high ground clearance, the front would be damaged.

A ground clearance is max. 20/25 cms, an S-Class even braking hard is higher than that, so the front would crash, not only the hood.

Here everything is intact, you can see the bumper, place for headlights and grille, everything is here. It is like it had crashed something with more than 50cms ground clearance and very high. 50cms is what a Unimog has, so hardly a van.

And it still does not explain the A-pillar, broken but not deformed.

In the photo you can see that Mercedes grill and right headlights aren't there anymore. My guess is that the Mercedes hit the Dongfeng van in an angle of around 20 to 45 degrees.

The situation of having a van with a high ground clearance, the weightdifference, the speed the Mercedes was travelling while braking hard, it could have shoved the Dongfeng van right on the hood of the Mercedes.
Damaging the right headlight, the grille, the hood and eventually the rear of the van hitting the roof of the Mercedes.

I'll describe the situation of the accident step by step that I have in my mind:
1. Angle of 20-45 degrees, rearending the Dongfeng van.
2. Right headlight and grille damaged by the initial hit.
3. The Mercedes S-class is well build, it doesn't crumple that easily. The Dongfeng van got shoved up on the hood of the Mercedes due to the situation of speed under hard braking, high ground clearance and weightdifference.
4. The bottom of the Dongfeng van scraped the hood of the Mercedes, making the hood fold towards driver position.
5. The rearbumper/bottom/sparetire compartment underneath the car/towing hook of the Dongfeng van hits the front windows of the Mercedes.
6. The bottom of the Dongfeng van hits the right A-pillar and got shoved up on the car even further.
7. The rearbumper/bottom/sparetire compartment underneath the car/towing hook of the Dongfeng van eventually hits the roof, crumpling it.
8. The right rear tire of the Dongfeng van breaking the right mirror of the Mercedes.

It's hard to see in the photo but you have to know that the chrome surrounding the windows is just a chrome strip. It can come loose which not necessarily has to mean that the A-pillar of the frontdoor is broken.
It's hard to see in the photo but it's just a guess.

Mr. Wang Zhan couldn't have it better. A Mercedes S-class is one of the safest car you can buy at the moment with alot of safety equipment in the car like PreSafe.

cawimmer430 · 01-02-2008, 07:48 AM

Looking at the damage of the S-Class, I am left wondering if he didn't hit a truck instead of a van. As many have said, the bumpers aren't damaged heavily which may have caused the sensors not to register an impact.

Either way, I agree with Monster that this moron should be happy he's alive. And if he does drive a Chinese car, GOOD LUCK at staying alive. He'll need it.

S'Pimp · 01-02-2008, 07:49 AM

maybee the car was only a MB copy from China

bum-man · 01-02-2008, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by coolraoul

Usually, from what I know, the airbag sensor is on the hood lock. And another one further in the engine compartment. And you have decelerometers, too.

But here, I think the decelerating speed was not enough, the van was light I think, and has been propelled by the S-Class so the decelerating speed did not justify an airbag deployment.

Anyway, I agree with monster...How can you bitch a car that just saved your life, and saying you'll buy a Chinese car when you see what a crashtest do to them?

As you said these days cars are being equiped with decelerometers that determine whether the airbags should be deployed. Its kind of pointless to deploy the airbags if the crash is meager. Judging by the damage on the Merc the back of the van rose up over the S-class so the deceleration is far less than that if the van stayed on the ground. Anyways, the guy sounds like an idiot and the story sounds like Chinese government propaganda

coolraoul · 01-02-2008, 06:04 PM

^^ Couldn't agree more

Merc1 · 01-02-2008, 11:48 PM

When I saw this one on Autolies I knew it would wind up causing some hilarious responses here. This is just too funny.

M

Yannis · 01-03-2008, 03:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by coolraoul

This crash looks strange. The front of the cat is quite undamaged, only the hood is destroyed. Against a van it sounds strangeAgainst a van the front would be shortened, here it is only the hood that is deformed from what I see. Even the bumper is like new!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alwing

Judging by the photo it looks the like the DongFeng van went over the hood of the Mercedes S350 instead of getting rearended at its fullest.

I agree , it seems that the van hit the S class mainly in the windshield and not in the bumper.

This story is full of BS, it belongs to the Garbage Bin.

German Car Zone

Chinese man crashes Mercedes S350, vows to only drive Chinese-built cars