Quote:
Originally Posted by BrianW
I feel a lot safer in my E-van SMB than I did in my 1988 VW Vanagon Westy at least :-) That was like death waiting to happen on a front-end accident!
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I'll second that! I missed a moose by that much >< in my 1965 VW easycamper conversion, in Yellowstone park in the 1980's. I was going 50mph, my bride and niece in the front seat with me, the thing came outta know where, crossed the road in front of me. I don't scare easily, but this got my attention. You don't realize how tall they are until you are eye to eye with one, then you look at the sheetmetal, 8" steel dash, and you. Very sobering.
I've done a fair amount of fab work under my e350, and have a pretty good idea of shapes and strengths. IMO those crumple zones on the frame rails are not going to move until they see a LOT of force, like a major catastrophic, hitting a concrete abutment at 50mph kind of event. My guess is Ford added them to 'check the box' that they did
something to absorb energy in what most automotive engineers consider and outdated body on frame design (still very strong, but not as safe as modern designs). In my view, the formed ripples in the frame rails are to be ignored when thinking about any towing, winching, attaching a snow plow, etc. "Your mileage may vary"