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To what degree is a Car's crash worthiness dependent on max speed? If a car could only reach a max speed of 45 mph, would it require less protective measures than your average car that goes 60+ easily? I am interested particularly in the US and the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations.

Dale
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    It seems to me that the other car could be going any speed. – Dave Tweed Dec 22 '15 at 02:49
  • It would be the max combined speeds. If you're a grandma going 30 down a road and drunk in the other lane crosses the middle going 70 the force would be approximately the same (different trajectory?) between the two vehicles. If I remember correctly that example may also be the same as one vehicle hitting an immovable wall at 100. – Dopeybob435 Dec 22 '15 at 13:24
  • @DaveTweed I was primarily interested in the possibility of a cheaper, lighter, more fuel efficient car that would need certain driving restrictions to make certain the combined speeds did not exceed 2x max speed. Whether this is practical is another question entirely. – Dale Dec 22 '15 at 20:09
  • Similar to a motorcycle? – Dopeybob435 Dec 25 '15 at 02:39
  • @Dopeybob435 More like a car version of a moped. I know there are mopeds with fairings, but I was thinking more of crash safety. I believe there is a company trying to do something similar called elio motors. – Dale Dec 26 '15 at 01:37

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You might look up NCAP and ASIL-related documentation.

However, in general, all vehicles of a given class are required to meet safety standards at a given speed. It's rather doubtful that any vehicle will be approved as a personal passenger vehicle if it cannot attain highway speeds; similarly it's unlikely that anyone would bother to require crashworthiness at impact speeds of, say 250 km/h . (for one thing, it's essentially impossible to keep g-forces below lethal levels in the kind of stopping distances involved)

Carl Witthoft
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