[teej]

We all know that safety is a big concern at SAAB.

I was just wondering what the result would be if a c900 was subjected to modern day 64kph offset-frontal and side-impact crash tests... my guess is that it probably wouldn't be to0 pretty, but that's just a guess.

Would a c900 going head to head (or offset head to head) vs. say a Honda Jazz/Fit win the battle?

For some reason I'm all about safety nowadays and am re-assessing my c900 as BKK traffic (and road conditions in Thailand in general) are beginning to get really scary.

Any informed input on the subject?

 

[aznsaab]

Check this out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0XPbydQPIo
I found this awhile ago while browing the internetz. It pretty much blew me away, my friend and I definantly placed bets on the old. After all it is a volvo and like saabs they are known for their extreme safty. They both do the moose test for gods sake! It makes me wonder, if saabs and volvos were the safest of the day, what was everything else like?

 

[nnamssorxela]

I know that saabs are solid cars, but modern cars are designed to crush everything in their way to keep their occupants safe, which makes up out of luck. I have seen saabs to be particularly strong when compared to other small cars on the road. I guess it depends on the collision. And worse comes to worse, if you don't feel safe with your car, you can ship it to me! :cheesy:

I think saabs are like the old volvos, very though, but the human bodies has it's limits.

 

[TheRedBaron]

Someone with a junk 900 should run a mock-up offset front end collision test in a field somewhere

 

[nnamssorxela]

I was actually thinking of doing a demolition derby to raise some money for I forgot what... It would be a great test... course I would weld all sorts of steel tubes and bars to my car before hand...

 

[Orca]

Check this out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0XPbydQPIo

I have to wonder how many front end collisions the Volvo has had for that to happen. I guess the Volvo was weak, just to prove a point.

I have had direct experience of a front end collision with a modern car in my last C900; a flat nose 900i. The other car was proper caved in in the front, radiator smashed in, air bags deployed, wheels looking like the no longer pointed in the same direction, front wings kinked into the tyres ... you get the picture. My car? No damage whatsover! I performed the perfect emergency stop in the front of another car ... handbrake on, out of gear, engine still running. I thought for sure that my car would be a write-off, but I got out and it seemed okay, so I reversed it away from the other car to the corner of the road to put the hazard lights on while we moved the other chap's car to the side of the road. It wasn't leaking anything and once we'd swapped details, agreed the scenario and established that there was no need for me to stay with him until the recovery truck arrived, I was on my way and the car drove fine. I was shaken and the stiffness came the following day, but kept moving and I was alright after another day.

I had my garage pop it up onto the ramp and we gave it a good look over, but nothing ... solid as a rock them old 900s. I can only guess the combined speed, since we were both pulling the same face (looking at each other, a little like looking into a mirror ... but not) and standing on the brakes as hard as we could :lol:

 

[TheRedBaron]

I have to wonder how many front end collisions the Volvo has had for that to happen. I guess the Volvo was weak, just to prove a point.

That's a good point - with a used car, you don't know what kind of work has been done to it.

 

[Gabby]

I have seen a 900 4 door sedan sitting in my local mechanic's yard after a 40-50% offset front collision. One side of the front end mashed back to the firewall, engine and drive train pushed down and the cabin and footwell intact. Windshield was not broken either.

I don't know how you could ask for much more.

Don't, of course, know the speed/circumstances surrounding the crash, but the result looked textbook perfect to me as far as protecting the occupants was concerned.

Mechanics said that they have seen that kind of performance many times in the past.

For a car of its size, strapped in I feel pretty well protected. Main defense tool, however, is between your ears.

As a post script, I had a demo derby guy come ask about one of my cadavers--engine out so he wasn't interested--but his assertion was that the little buggers are tough--the back end tougher than the front, which is tough enough!

 

[yfs87]

Out of experience:

Side Impact: was a passenger in my car - hit in passenger door by astrostar van doing 55. Result - walked away with no injury

Front Impact: Drunk driver hit me doing about 40. Result - Walked away no injury

Front Right impact to front left impact to double roll - hit a deer, airbag went off, went into ditch went airborn out of ditch, rolled twice. blew out all windows, ripped off the hatch and hood, bent the roof up about 3ft in the center. Result - 10 staples and 4 stitches, a concussion, pulled muscles in chest (from seatbelt), sore back...all in all pretty damn lucky


So yea, i think they are very safe...they have proved this to me a few times, and hopefully never will have to again.

 

[woywitka]

That is really surprising and then again it isn't.

The old Volvo 7s and 9s do not have much in the way of a crumple zones. This is critical for spreading the energy across as much playing field as possible to reduce pin point energy.

A Saab 900 was designed to crumple very very well and keep the main cabin area unaffected.

If I go to the wrecker I see the volvo all to often with massive crash damage and with doors that will not open. The c900 (even the convertible) you can walk right up and open the door. The engine/wheels/tranmission never seem to eneter the cabin area either, the Volvo often has a dash that is out of place.

the Saab 900 4-door was the safest car ever tested by the IIHS for 85-91. It had thelowest number of Injury rates and deaths, even better than the Volvo 240.

Without Airbags and modern crumple zone designs, there is no question that the C900 would be "average" in most collision testing today. One advantage the c900 will always have is a very narrow windscreen opening to prevent large animals from entering the cabin easily thus killing the driver, and a body cage that can sustain incredible forces upon flipping over ect.

So many people on here have crashed in old Saabs and simply walked away. Even when my buddy crashed his 4-door 900 t16 at 40km/h into the back of an SUV, he just opened the door and go out. The car still started! lol. That poor car, it was the nicest 900 I had ever seen. That car absorbed energy into the rear! You could see the crumple zone areas had just performed flawlessly.

I wonder if that Volvo tested had some structural issues too, like a possible crack in a weld or some rust damage. A frame could also fatigue you know from 300,000 miles. Worn out suspension and so on could affect the properties of a collision too I would think.

Top Gear did a simlilar test with different results:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=lbO-17UHyKw

 

[dasander]

The 900 is a solid car. Having said that, let me relate my personal experience. my wife was hit head on in her 1987 900s in early 1994. She was fine, however, the Saab (totaled) crashed in a way that left me puzzled. The hood came off (would you want a heavy metal wedge shaped object flying arround in an accident?), the driver's door jambed, the passenger door and the lift gate both opened, and the rear parcel shelf flew out.
As I said earlier, she was fine, as was the driver of the other car.
I was hit head on in a 2000 Subaru outback by an on comming car. I was going about 35, the other driver was going much faster, and lost control on a curve. After hitting the left front of the subaru, the other car spun arround, and the rear of the car hit the left side of my subaru. My subaru then spun off the road and overturned. I had my right foot on the brake and the force of the impact injured my right hip. However, given the extent of the accident (and the injuries of the occupents of the car that hit me) I am amazed the Subaru protected me as well as it did. No glass broke on my car and all four doors opened and closed perfectly, yet the entire front of the car was crushed. The engine shattered on impact. The transmission was pushed back into the fire wall. The left rear wheel was ripped off the car. There was only 18" from the bottom of the windshield to the front of the car, yet the entire passenger compartment was not damaged in any way.
I love my 900 turbo and drive it whenever I can.
I guess my point is that as safe as the 900 was, cars have come a long way and cars today are much safer.

 

[900t]

C900 is a very safe car. Modern crash tests have existed a long time! 40 % offset 40 mi/h into an immovable barrier was what they were doing in C900 days and C900 was one of the best. There are lots of crumple zones in the C900. If you look at an accidented C900, they always crash the same. The hood will pop up around the axle area, the crossmember under the rad with the front engine mount will travel upwards so the engine doesn't go rearward.

That said age does a lot - significant rust, this can change things in all kinds of unpredictable ways.

In the past 5 or 10 years cars have in general gotten much better at absorbing crash energies simply because of finite element analysis and other computing techniques.

 

[teej]

good info guys, thanks for the input.

seems like some of you have had more than your fair share of accidents, good to see you came out alive

I'd like to see some c900 offset crash videos, but youtube doesn't have anything i can find except a scary ng900 video.

That other link posted, I can't access for some reason, or at least it takes too long for me to load... I had a chuckle at some of the comments tho...

 

[TooMany2cvs]

In the past 5 or 10 years cars have in general gotten much better at absorbing crash energies simply because of finite element analysis and other computing techniques.

... but also because of the habit of just shoving steel into structural areas. That's why modern cars are often so damned heavy compared to previous generations.

The Volvo 740 had a reputation as an utter tank - but weighes about the same as that tiny little Renault Modus - 1250kg or so. The 940's a bit heavier - 1450kg - or around the same as a c900. Or a mid-spec current Golf.

Two ton isn't _that_ unusual for a big car these days - the VW Phaeton's nearly 2.5ton, yet the ally spaceframe'd Audi A8's "only" 1800kg. Yes, cars have got bigger - sit a Mk1 Golf (about 900kg) next to a current Golf and Polo, and it'll be MUCH closer to the Polo in size. Probably slightly smaller.

Notwithstanding that, it's easy to see where that weight goes when you sit in one - look at the windscreen pillars on a c900 - nice and slim, plenty of visibility. Now go and sit in something new with 5* EuroNCAP. The pillars are *HUGE* and block visibility badly. In the name of "safety"... <boggle>

 

[DanF.]

Saabs are safe. I walked away fine from this... well, actually I had to get out through the sunroof because the doors were pinched shut. People didnt even think it was me who was in the car. I had to tell the police to stop looking for their "missing" body.

 

[dasander]

O.M.G! That looks horrific! It really struck me, as it looks just like my black 87 900 turbo 3dr. The NH plates really hit home, as my car used to be my father in laws, and he lives in Lebanon, NH- The same (style) plates used to be on my car. Glad you are o.k. (but a little puzzled as to how that could be so...) Fortunately, you are alive and well to tell the story.

 

[Jim Mesthene]

Working in Dealers for years, I got to see a lot of crashed 900s. Never one with a fatality.
The worst was a collision with a concrete bridge abutment at 70 mph on the left-front corner after a tire blew. The driver wasn't wearing his belt. He suffered a broken leg (in a few places) and a few broken ribs.
The 4 doors are much stiffer than the 3 door described above.
Your 900 is, even by modern standards, a very safe box.

 

[Orca]

Saabs are safe. I walked away fine from this... well, actually I had to get out through the sunroof because the doors were pinched shut. People didnt even think it was me who was in the car. I had to tell the police to stop looking for their "missing" body.

Are you the (famous) "Sold for Life" guy? That is quite an amazing story.

One of my clients told me about her son who was in a Classic 900 involved in a multiple car pile-up on the motorway. He was submarined under the back of a truck and had another car pile up on the back of his car - he had to get out through the sunroof. Apparently he was very harrowed, being the only person to walk away - he had to give words of encouragement to people trapped and injured in their cars while the emergency services arrived. That part must have been awful - not to be able to help.

 

[DanF.]

I'm not that guy...

here's one from a different view, with some of Jim's old advice mixed in.

 

[SecondmessiaH]

saabs were certainly some of the safest cars of their day, they had crumple zones, collapsing steering columns, and many other features that saved lives, however, and car with 15 more years of technology in it is going ot be safer than an older car