CRASH TESTS: Festiva Frontal Crash Test Results

[Rich Norman]

Q: What are the results for frontal crash tests for the Ford Festiva ?

A: Frontal crash tests (29.5 mph barrier) of the Festiva to comply with FMVSS 208:



Date of Test : 06/18/91
Velocity : 29.5 mph
Dummy Type : H2
Head Injury Criteria : 341-Driver, 222-Passenger
(Higher the number, more severe the head trauma- 1000 is considered the maximum allowed)
Chest Deflection : No info
Chest Deceleration : 43 g-Driver, 35 g-Passenger
(Higher G force, the worse for the occupant!)
Driver Femur Force (L and R) : 975lbs-Left,1473lbs-Right
Passenger Femur Force ( L and R ) : 1204 lbs-Left, 1027 lbs- Right
Report Number : HS-629461

I am no expert in interpreting crash data, but I will try and do my best.

First, note that this is related to a frontal head on crash into a fixed barrier. Some degree of safety can be derived from the data, but I stress caution trying to determine a rating for other possible scenarios, such as a roll-over or angled impact. Completely different situation with the likely outcome being much elevated HIC.

Having reviewed many vehicles frontal crash data, I find the Head Injury Criteria (HIC) for the Festiva above to be quite good for a small car. I believe HIC is influenced on the tendency for the occupant's head to strike nearby structure of the vehicles body or components when "rearranged" by the forces of an impact. The Hyundai Scoupe (91) actually failed this criteria miserably (HIC of 1661 and 1604 for driver/passenger). Volvo 240 had HIC of 180 and 198 (a very good rating).

Chest deceleration was to me average across the car lines, I'm not quite clear as to what significance this implies. The Ford Escort for example had rather low deceleration figures, yet still ended up in the top ten highest death rate.

Femur force for the front occupants in the Festiva was fairly good for a small car, though disturbing somewhat is the variation between the left and right. I would suspect this was due to the occupant's legs impacting with some of the interior structure ( steering column, instrument panel, etc ).

One thing I gathered, rear passengers in a Festiva would have it rough!

The Geo Metro rear occupants rear femur forces measured put to be around 235-350. Compare that to the Festiva occupants.

2/02/02

[Safety Guy]

Rich asked me to repost my previous reply on the old board, so here it is, followed by some other comments:

********
Interesting stuff.

Somewhere on the web I read of questions regarding the Festiva's front seat bracket integrity. There was at least one lawsuit saying that Ford did not ensure that the front seats would stay put when rear-ended. Not sure how that might affect a frontal impact femur-damage measurement. It could be that the front seats came loose and whacked rear seat passenger knees on the rebound? I doubt it.

Still, I like the good numbers regarding the front seat occupants' injury scores.

If you really want to improve cranial protection, wear a helmet!

********

New comments:

Looking at the driver's chest and femur scores, it is higher than the front passenger's for the chest, but lower for the femur (thigh bone). Unless this is simply some anomaly, I surmise that the steering wheel may have impacted the driver's chest, causing the higher force score, and also reduced the femur force score (in other words, the chest hit took away a lot from the knees hitting the underdash area). The front passenger didn't have a steering wheel to hit, so their knees hit harder under the dash. (Remember, not only are the crash dummies moving forward at impact, but the dash and steering wheel may be pushed back at them as well.)

The front crush area looks pretty good to me. I can't tell if or how much the dash and steering wheel have moved back though.

Also remember this is a '91 with the government mandated "half passive" motorized belt system. It also has the rear seat shoulder belts. Thus, these results probably do not apply to the older model front three-point unibelts and rear lap-only belts.

When I drive my '89L, I put on my belts and then I tighten the lap/shoulder harness and "tug" it tight. I am thus locked in, with the only movement in an accident being the stretching of the belt (they're designed to do this, which is why you should replace them after an accident of any serious force, and it's not a good idea to use "junkyard belts").

FYI, seatbelts should be worn low over the hip bones and the driver's shoulder belt should cross over your left collarbone. Do NOT tuck an uncomfortable shoulder belt under your arm! Any crash will do nasty things to your ribs in that case. :shock:

In general, the snugger your belts are in a crash, the better off you will be. That's one reason for modern pretensioning devices.

As a further aside, many of the officer "saves" documented by Second Chance ballistic vests (ie. "bulletproof vests") were in car accidents. The thick Kevlar fabric reduced chest trauma to the officers hitting their steering wheels on the old non-airbag equipped cars. (Many of those officers were not wearing their seat belts.)

If you can stand it, a Kevlar vest and a bike helmet WOULD be good ideas in a small car like a Festiva!

Karl

[fordaspiregv]

As a survivor of 2 Festiva crashes, I can attest to how safe they are, as long as you don't get hit with a F150 or something. My car did a good job against a Grand Am and a Honda Accord.

[bheilman07]

i know someone who almost totaled his aspire hitting a snow drift.
SNOW!!

[rotinaj13]

hmmm head on with a guard rail at 50-55 and i am still around, that was my festiva. I got a 45 mph rear end from a parts delivery van in my festiva while sitting still. the van did more damage to me then the aspire did..... both were driveable after..... only thing is the aspire really had its problems... such as the bumper being held on by one corner and the core sliding on the ground a broke core support and a rad wrapped around the exhaust. The corner marker got rammed 8 inches into the fender and inner fender.. the battery shorted against the hood and the hook on the hood touched the head shield on the exhaust.