safety concerns with converting US>EU front bumper?

you're kind of conflating two impacts - low speed with no safety implication and high speed - this is a 40 yr old car so an SUV will win at high speed - at low speed the difference between 3 & 5 mph is negligible in terms of impact difference between the two bumpers and anyway will probably also be compromised by the design changes in the last 40 years in the car you hit

 

I believe whether you have NA or Euro spec bumpers means very little if you have an impact at speed. And it's best not to think about side impacts with those fuel tanks protected only by thin sheet metal. My thoughts are that a 308 is, by modern standards, not a very safe car in the way we think about "passive" safety these days. I prefer to think a la Colin Chapman who was a proponent of "active" safety: superior handling, brakes, and acceleration, i.e. pay attention, drive well and defensively, and avoid the accident in the first place. Lotus actually promoted that concept in their ads back in the day, which makes sense if you are selling tiny plastic cars with no crash protection whatsoever. (I've owned 8 Lotii, still have two, so say that with true reverence and affection)

 

The US car has 5mph bumpers, so really the only benefit was at parking lot speeds, and really only to prevent minor damage. I think the requirement was for the damage to be below a certain dollar threshold, in past dollars, so by today's inflated $$ standards it probably won't help much anyhow.

At high speed, it won't matter. These cars are deathtraps in almost every way imaginable, especially with heavier/safer/larger modern cars sharing the road with you.

 

I try not to think about it and drive defensively. Also, there are no side impact bars in Euro car doors like the US cars.
I have had many cars pull out directly in front of me while I was traveling 35-45mph and in clear view. I am always on the lookout for it. It has happened enough times that I assume they look over/past me or don't notice a small RED car.
Drive like you're riding a motorcycle.

 

Does any one have a pic of these side impact door beams?

My car '79 doesn't have any.

Doug

 

While I certainly agree that the 308 – Euro or US specification – is not a safe car by modern standards, I disagree that the US-spec is not meaningfully different than the Euro-spec.

The US-spec car has substantial reinforcement added as mandated by the US Federal Government. This included the heavy steel bumpers, the side impact protection, reinforcement of the B and C pillars, different latching for the front hood, etc. This is diagrammatically shown in Ferrari brochure 267-83 (“Safety Plus Safety - Main Variants on U.S. Version Cars for Still Improved Safety”). We usually moan and groan about the weight that these federally-mandated changes added, but they do improve impact performance.

Regarding the US bumpers, in an impact, they will distribute the force across the front of the car and engage both front quarter panels in the crumpling the front of the car. There would probably be a substantial difference in performance when hitting a tree in the center of the car with a US car versus a Euro car.

As for the 5 mph shock absorbers supporting the US-spec bumpers, they are a failed experiment. Their intention was to protect “safety equipment” (i.e., lights) from shopping lot parking bumps. In a higher speed impact, they are useless; they would immediately compress and the bumper would just act in a conventional way. I’ve just pushed mine in.

 

I've actually accidentally rolled my car into a tree directly in front of me in a parking spot. With the USA bumpers I got a little bit of cracking of the finish of the bumper. If I had the Euro fiberglass bumpers I'm sure it would have resulted in a little bit of metal deformation and paint damage.

Even with that experience I want to change out my bumpers for the lightweight Euro version.

 

Just a note, I converted one for a client and found the body was not centered on the frame. I had to move the bumper over 10mm with modified brackets to get the bumper to tuck in and fit properly. We just laughed about it. It was never crashed, just hand build I guess.

 

Seems strange. I know the front clip was hand fitted, but if it was that far off was the original bumper also off set? Could it have been the euro bumper mounting points were off?

 

I looked closely and didn't see evidence of damage repair. The client owned it for many years. We just put it on as hand built and went on. It looked great when we were done.