Not good to see a Kombi in a head on crash... hmmm

ah damn, I went out for dinner and missed it..

Yeah - saw the start of the prog but missed the end result - who/what was at fault ?

owner of the ford ka was at fault she crossed the white line .owner of kombie tried to hook to left but not enough time

Very nasty

im surprise how well the kombi held up actually given that ppls legs are the crumple zone

rooted the KA up pretty bad tho
goes to show airbags in motorised shopping trolleys dont do much

Driver of bay window Kombi had his right Leg amputated...

not good as he had a shed full of European old motor bikes...

I suppose he could get a side car to hook up to the bikes..

Lee

No air cooled VW would survive well in a high speed head on. Not a fair test, tiny car against a large van (imagine a beetle against an old Hiace etc).
The only thing saving the kombi occupants was the fact the ford shot underneath the kombi (see how far front beam was pushed back.

I love my old VW's, and particularly my kombi, they were safe compared to everything else 40 years ago, but cars are safer today.

andy???? hang on the KA driver died, the kombi driver lived, so what was safer??? the kombi was one of the safest cars in the 70's (according to crash tests) the KA??? small pocket rockets will always come off worse even against each other! a bigger vehicle offers more safety, always have always will, its the law of physics!
if any one would like to dissagree i'll pit a 1960 cadillac against any of todays crap cheap nasty mass produced tin foil boxes which pass for "safe" motor vehicles! i wok with cars all day every day and i see what happens when they meet, its not pretty but i do know that big cars always win!

vwjon, I think in that specific accident the kombi survived better due to height rather than weight, don't forget a stock empty kombi weights in ~1300kg. Not exactly a heavy car in today's world.
Yep, kombi's were safe 40 years ago! All T2 crash tests I have seen conducted had the impact hit the bumper to take the load.
If a kombi hit's anything with substantial weight above the bumper height, the front passengers have no chance. In today's world that's probably 1/2 the vehicles on the road (if you still run std hight).
In T3 kombi's, they maintained the same principle in the bumper and chassis behind it, but substantially increased bracing across the front above the bumper and moved the occupants back. I'm sure T4 and T5 kombi's are "safer" again.

As hotrodmatt said, the driver was in a pretty bad way with a long list of serious injuries.

i think we are missing the point. the "new" car driver died, the kombi driver lived, the "new" car has the huge advantage of technology and years of safety advancements.
hotrod mat, are the pics avaliable? what did the laser look like? i'll bet there wasnt much left.

Dont know that there is too much of a weight advantage in a kombi to make it the optimum choice in any collision. Even a smallish car like the mitsubishi lancer now weighs in at 1300kg. A 3 dr Yaris is over 1000kg. If they hit bumper to bumper the Yaris will be doing most of the absorbing because thats what is designed to do. Above the bumper theres not a heck of a lot of material to be doing any absorbing and not a lot of space to be absorbing into.

If I had to be in a head on, I'd pay big money to be in the head on collision between 2 Kas instead of the 2 kombis. A kombi vs a Ka is probably 55-45. Kombi vs Lancer i'd guess 48-52. No brainer that I would choose taxi over a kombi though.