does ferrari do crash testing?

You can go to the NHTSA website (that would be nhtsa.gov or so) and look up the crash test ratings of the cars you're interested in. The government has already made sure that any car you buy here in the USA is safe to a certain extent. Your Porsche isn't as safe as a Volvo or an Excursion, either. Take your pick.

 

They are also done in Europe this is a mandatory requirement for type certifcate in every European Country.

 

"any concrete data available on crash testing or accident data on 360 modenas or the new 430's"

I seriously doubt anyone has any concrete data suggesting the 360 or 430 is unsafe, and I think you're asking the right question in seeking "concrete data."

I think it's ridiculous to draw any conclusions about Ferrari safety from anecdotes and pics here or on a supercar crash site - particularly when the anecdotes or pics relate to folks driving way over their heads on public streets or highways. I haven't seen any data suggesting the 360 is any more dangerous than any other sports car - in fact, I haven't seen any data at all about Ferrari 360 crashworthiness. All I've seen is casual, speculative slander about fires and structural integrity. Everybody loves getting all giggly and giddy about deadly auto defects - like, say, sudden acceleration - no one wants to admit that the problem isn't the car, or the road/track, or the conditions, or some other guy - it's the driver.

IMO it would be great if Ferrari could have every purchaser sign a legally binding waiver like the ones racers have to sign. If you want to race around public roads in a street car, without roll cage, harnesses, fire extinguisher, nomex, helmet and ambulance standing by at the next corner, then anything bad that happens is down to you.

 

Just did a quick search at NHTSA.gov & found no crash test results for any model Ferrari. To be fair, they don't have Porsche in the list of makes for crash results either.

Using their search feature, I only came up with lists of safety equipment on various Ferrari models & still no crash specs or ratings.

 

Ferrari crash test their vehicles just as extensively as any other high profile manufacturer, the photo below is one from the crash test facility at Ferrari.

 

how come there are 348's and 355's and Testarossa in the pic? kind of odd to have different model years pile up.

 

Great. from the pic it looks like Ferrari only test for multiple pile ups! That pic is from a UK car mag from a few years back. Hurts inside everytime I see that!

Seriously though Ferrari do crash tests, but I doubt their cars come top of their class. No high performance cars will though. They just are not designed for that. Scary thought though!

 

You have to realize that crash worthiness is based on government requirements. Every car built in the world has to be crash tested here in the USA. But what are the tests? Well remember the 30mph head on crash. Not off set. A lot of cars will pass that requirement. It does not mean the car is better or worse.

As an example, MB, Porsche, BMW, and yes Ferrari crash test their cars far further than is required. But what you are seeing in sites like wrechedexotics and supercarcrashes is people driving way beyond the speed of the road and conditions of the road added to that you are also seeing people who get in over their heads and can't or don't know how to save a car like a midengined sports car from spinning. Some one here has said it before. If you want to drive your sports car fast, and I don't care what car it is, learn how to handle it properly. Is it fun driving fast? YES. Do I do it? YES. But only under controled conditions. Not in crowded roads. Not weaving in and out of traffic. No that I don't do. I love driving sports cars whether I am going fast or slowly. I love the sound, the feel of the road, the power, the sheer sensation of driving a great road car like a Ferrari. There is nothing like it. But not to endanger myself or anyone else.

Anyway back to your question.

Also please realize it is harder to protect you when you are in a car that goes 196mph. 0-60 4.5 secs etc. So Yes the manufacturer's do spend a lot of money and time designing a sportscar to stand up to higher speed impacts. Your Ferrari (F430) will be as safe as your Porsche is. They already are. To find solid documents to back up what I am saying or writing here I will look and see if I can find some.

Please realize you are as safe in your Ferrari as you are in your Porsche.

Safe travels

Cheers

 

it seems to me that nhtsa is not providing consumers with accurate crash data. If i want to buy a ferrari or a P car and a government website won't display the data, why is this site still online? I know no one knows the answer..just my rant.

 

OK, would you rather die in a glorious high speed crunch in a 360, or after 10 years in diapers at the nursing home?

 

I believe every manufacturer has to do crash/safety tests.

 

lol!

get busy livin' or get busy dyin'

doody!

 

If you're worried about that kinda crap, perhaps you might wanna get a Lexus.

 

I am pretty sure you are right. All vehicles are crash tested in order to come stateside. I guess you should find out what the crash test ratings of the Ferrari are compared to other highline auto manufacturers.

 

I suggest you stay at home, because there will always be some risk of being crushed by a gargantuan H2 or Ford F350 or even a Triton. Then there's all those semis to worry about. Bussess... I forgot the busses!
At least in a Ferrari you will have the handling to avoid ome bad situations.

 

I suggest you stay at home, because there will always be some risk of being crushed by a gargantuan H2 or Ford F350 or even a Triton. Then there's all those semis to worry about. Bussess... I forgot the busses!
At least in a Ferrari you will have the handling to avoid some bad situations.

I'm pretty sure that if your 996 hit an F430 head-on at 50mph or more, the F430 would come out better, as it is a later model car and safety standards and requirements are constantly evolving.

 

>At least in a Ferrari you will have the handling to avoid some bad situations.

Alex, very true, as an example I was driving down the freeway a couple of years ago when a large wheelbarrow came out the back of a utility truck in front of me and I only had a split second to avoid it but it meant a HUGE yank on the steering wheel which slewed the car violently but it did miss the wheelbarrow. Now I know if I did that in a normal car it would have flipped or at best slid out of control but the Ferrari just swerved and went where I pointed, very impressive in that particular situation.

And I have never found a better handling car in the wet.

 

Did you see Bad Boys 2, where will smith missed all those flying cars i his ferrari(Plus his parnter sho into his dash!!)

But if was driving Landrover, he would have been dead!

I look at it when I rode motorbikes, Your the faster, best handling, braking. You feel your king on the road. But if you lose it, your gone. But the bike will get out of anything you come across.

 

I personally witnessed a high speed accident on a Spanish highway at around 180-200 kmh.

The Porsche 993 I was driving was directly behind another 993 being driven during the introduction of this model to worldwide Porsche dealers back in November 1993. I'll try and find a pic and post it.

The guy hit some standing water in a corner as he pulled out to pass another 993, and he flipped about 5-6 times end over end and when the car finally stopped it was resting on it's roof. The two occupants climbed out virtually unharmed and unmarked, except for the peculiar brown spotting on the back of their pants..........

I have seen many a photograph of Ferrari 355 and 360 coupes (a couple here in Calgary even) that had crashed at slower speeds where the car was torn in half and the passenger compartment was severly mangled. I personally know one of the guys who smacked up his car, and he was seriously injured and lucky to be alive.

My story is FWIW.........statistics can...and have been...manipulated. I put my trust in first hand accounts.....especially the ones that I have seen. I have no axe to grind with Ferrari....I love the cars.

Government crash standards are crap..........every manufacturer builds their cars to those same standards........and many stop when they get there. And I suspect Ferrari is one that does just that. But like someone so succintly pointed out in another post....."the cars are not brought here on the wings of angels wrapped in love".....but rather shipped like any other consumer product....I suspect this is another reality people will not want to face.

Low volume production......that is always sold out......cost of serious accident R&D somewhat prohibitive as a result of low volume.......you figure it out. All of the other issues that crop up in these cars lead back to that pattern.....why would not crash safety be one of them ?

 

Great point. Especially with crash saftey being strongly emphasised in F1, it makes sense that Ferrari should have the ability to apply these principles to its road cars.

 

Do you really think that know-how acquired on a CFRP F1 body under rules designed for track accidents has any relevance for GTs made out of aluminium ?

F1 crash test standards are probably quite easy to simulate in FEA given the way they are specified. Simulating an NCAP or NHTSA crash test procedure on a road car design is probably another story.
Getting good ratings seems to be achievable though, car brands which have a safety-based marketing message like Renault achieve 5 star ratings consistently with their new models. A matter of business focus I guess.

The point about F350s and Tritons is well taken, perhaps the first measure you could take is to move to a country where the odds of being killed on the road are lower than in the US ...

 

One thing I've noticed from the IIHS offset crash tests over the years is how many cars perform poorly on their initial crash test due to a previously undiscovered defect, even if they do quite well on the retest. Most recently the 2004 Toyota Sienna failed its first offset crash test because the fuel tank ruptured during the test. Toyota made some adjustments, resubmitted the Sienna, and it passed with flying colors the second time around. Take a look at the crash tests, and you will see a surprising number of such retests. As an engineer, this says two things to me. First, it's best to have a healthy degree of skepticism about a manufacturer's internal crash tests -- until a car is crash tested by an independent third party, a manufacturer's internal crash test results are simply not credible. Second, crash test outcomes are highly uncertain. No matter how comprehensively a manufacturer crash tests their cars internally, even small variations in the testing procedure can give rise to radically different outcomes. So favorable outcomes may not be repeatable.

Unfortunately no high end sports car (neither Porsche nor Ferrari) has been crash tested by the IIHS.

Bu its clear that some features make a huge difference in safety, such as high weight, long wheelbase, low center of gravity, energy absorbing body, proper head restraints, front airbags, side curtain airbags, and vehicle stability control. After reviewing the IIHS side impact crash tests, it would seem foolhardy to drive a car on a public road without side curtain airbags to protect each occupant's head in the event of side impact.