What’s a Crumple Zone?

Crumple zones are useful safety features on vehicles. Without crumple zones, more traffic fatalities and injuries would occur. We look at what crumple zones are, how they work, and why they are useful in car accidents.

What Are Crumple Zones?

Crumple zones are also known as crush zones. These zones are structural features for vehicle safety. The zones are vehicle areas designed to break down and crumple upon impact. Crumple zones are usually at the vehicle’s front and rear. The materials in crumple zones were originally metal pistons placed between the front of the frame and the bumper back. Crumple zones are now made by placing foam between bumpers and frames.

Bumpers are attached to fenders instead of frames. A crush zone design usually includes frame segments designed to collapse or bend during collisions. Some crumple zones feature steering columns designed to collapse. Depending on the vehicle model, some crumple zone designs use different metals and other materials to absorb kinetic energy during a crash, per a Materials study published by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

High-performance vehicles sometimes use honeycomb designs. Honeycomb crumple zone designs offer stiffness under normal driving conditions but collapse and crumple during collisions.

How Do Crumple Zones Work?

Crumple zones work in several ways to protect vehicle occupants. These zones use crash energy management, deceleration management, and preventing the vehicle body from intruding into the occupied cab.

Managing Crash Energy

Moving objects, including moving vehicles, have kinetic energy. Kinetic energy is an object’s energy, the energy an object has because it’s moving. During a crash, the kinetic energy in a vehicle needs to go somewhere. Because of the force during a collision, the car, with its kinetic energy hitting another vehicle or object, crumples. Crumple zones absorb this energy, making the car crumpling less severe.

Deceleration

Crumple zones increase the time over which vehicle deceleration occurs. When a vehicle’s crumple zone makes contact with an object during a collision, the vehicle begins decelerating. Decelerating means slowing down. A crumple zone provides a pre-impact for the main vehicle body to extend, slowing down the car by a few tenths of a second. With decelerating, the vehicle has less energy to crush the vehicle.

Preventing Deformation and Intrusion

Crumple zones control the deformation of the passenger cabin. The rear or front of the vehicle deforms in a controlled manner so the impact and energy of a collision do not reach the driver and passenger compartments.

Why Crumple Zones Are Important

Crumple zones are essential to preventing injuries and fatalities to drivers and passengers. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, motor vehicle crashes kill over 100 people every day. Death from crashes is also costly financially. For example, deaths from crashes in 2020 resulted in over $430 billion in total costs, including medical costs and cost estimates for lives lost. Crumple zones are critical to prevent these tragedies.

Want information about crumple zones and preventing vehicle accidents? At Thomas Law Offices, we are here to provide information and help. Contact us today.