Item Info

Media Type: Photographic Prints
Source: Automobile Reference Collection
Notes:

Information from back of photograph:

Crash Tes from behind: Simulate Rear Collision on NSU Ro 80
Occasionally overlooked: Certain risks may also arise from behind

It is quite common knowledge today that the driver and front seat passenger are imperiled in most car accidents because in a frontal collision forces are released which propel the body forward. The "death seat" has become the occasional subject of "sick" humor. The fact that the rear seat passengers do not fare more better if the collision impact should come from the rear - as is frequently enough the case - is all too often overlooked. But the continuously rising number of rear collision accidents speak volumes: if, for any reason, a vehicle should collide heavily with the tail of the car in front, the destructive forces at a comparable relative speed are not any less, so that the zone of collapse behind the passenger compartment of a motor car must perform exactly the same function as its counterpart, the front end.

It is fully expected that rear collision protective measures will be incorporated in American safety regulations next year or the year after. The discussion centers around an approximate rear collision speed of 30 km/h. This involves a weight of 1800 kg being set into motion as a ram with a projecting steel plate being propelled on a mobile chassis against the test vehicle (standing in a open space with handbrake applied). The industry is taking the matter seriously and proof has already been produced that NSU shall fulfill the future requirements: the NSU tests have been operated at an excessive level of around 50 km/h. Thereby it was found that the interior passenger compartment of the Ro 80 is capable of withstanding even this hefty collision in its position as the sturdy centerpiece of the Ro 80 body. Even the fuel tank is placed outside the danger zone, in its unconventional location behind the rear axle.

Our photograph: the dramatic highpoint. The mobile battering ram (technical term) has been triggered by the hot water rocket which accelerate it to the required velocity. At the moment of collision both the battering ram and the car rear up under the force of impact. The impact energy then thrusts the Ro 80 further forward while the battering ram is arrested by its integral braking system. Thick cables attached to the sides of the test vehicle are the "nerves" of the experiment for recording all measurements from inside the car to the test center at the edge of the testing site.  

Creation Year: 1969