Ancient rules
Partly due to the arrival of more and more safety systems and electrified powertrains, cars are becoming increasingly heavier. So heavy, in fact, that the average car might weigh too much for the crash barriers we have in Europe.
This is the conclusion of the German Auto Motor und Sport on the basis of research by the German Gesamtverband der Versicherer, the German Association of Insurers. The guidelines that the crash barriers on the highways in Europe must meet date from the 1980s. You can already feel it coming: thirty to forty years ago the average car weighed less than a modern car.
According to the German Auto Motor und Sport, an average new car now weighs about 1,600 kilos, while the crash barriers have been tested with cars in three weight classes: 900, 1,300 and 1,500 kilos. Not only crash barriers, also concrete lane separators would not be designed for the higher weights of cars in the current fleet. Research by GCV would show that in about ten of the crashes in which the crash barrier is hit, a car goes under, over or even right through it. Although the impact of the collision is partly absorbed, it poses a danger to everything that takes place behind the crash barrier. Depending on the angle at which the guardrail is struck, the car would tip over in one in ten cases.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl