The Aluminum Audi A8 was the safest car when it came out. >From http://www.sae.org/automag/metals/10.htm
It would be almost impossible to not include the Audi A8 in a discussion about aluminum. Crafted around the Audi Space Frame (ASF), an aluminum spaceframe body technology created in partnership with Alcoa, Inc., the A8 is the first luxury car to earn the dual five-star safety rating for both the driver and front seat passenger under NHTSA's New Car Assessment Program. The ASF is a high-strength aluminum structure in which the large integral aluminum-sheet components also perform a load-bearing function. The actual spaceframe consists of extruded sections joined by vacuum-formed die cast nodes. Acting as a safety cell, the ASF's aluminum alloy structural members absorb energy better in relation to their weight than steel. Less mass also translates into lower kinetic energy levels, so a collision in an Audi A8 would in theory involve less deformation. Under collision loads, the long members in the front and rear are designed to crumple in accordion-like fashion, absorbing energy and sparing the remaining central structure. --- "Jon \"Sheer\" Pullen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > is, before you make negative comments about it. I wish that every > car out > there had the Insight's frame - a lot more of us would be walking > away from > high speed accidents if that were the case. Maybe high speed accidents with immoveable objects, but not high speed objects with other cars. Now add "I wish every car were as light as the Insight," and you'd be talking! ===== __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New DSL Internet Access from SBC & Yahoo! http://sbc.yahoo.com
