You’d think that in a straight rear-end collision with another car, a new 10th gen Honda Civic would leave you invulnerable. Sadly, such is not the case.
New cars today are engineered well enough that the likelihood of a serious injury or fatality in a good number of typical crash scenarios is drastically reduced at normal speeds. As per CBC News reported on a one fatality rear-end collision crash earlier this week (Oct. 3, 2018) interestingly enough, two newer model 10th gen Honda Civic’s crashed into each other in what looks like a straightforward rear-end collision. This particular crash both got my attention and is picking up discussion steam on CivicX.com because this rear-end collision resulted in one fatality despite both cars being newer Honda Civics.
Aftermath video of fatal collision in Oshawa. Driver of grey Honda Civic dead. Driver of black Honda in custody, alcohol possible factor. Black car has Uber sticker. @CBCToronto pic.twitter.com/vbBHHqtNeS
— Natalie Nanowski (@Natalie_SKi) October 3, 2018
Rumors of Honda skimping on rear end safety on CivicX irked me enough to take a look at this crash a little more closely because it’s asinine, in my opinion, to think that Honda purposely skipped on safety, arguably one of the most important attributes to engineer into a car.
Kieklak Law Firm reports that in comparing front and rear-end collisions, you’re more likely to suffer a fatal injury in a front end collision as opposed to a car slamming into you from the rear. This adds to that bit of doubt that, then, “Why did the driver in the rear-ended Honda Civic end up dying?
According to the initial police report, the deceased young man was a 24-year old foreign student. It’s safe to say that, although no specifics on health and weight were given, when you’re 24, you’re at the peak of your physical ability and more likely to survive a crash than say a baby or elderly person. But, looking at the crash photos, it’s easy to see that, despite Honda’s best engineering, there’s little they could’ve done.
The NHTSA awarded the Civic with five out of five stars for safety. As far as passive safety is concerned, although with its new ACE body structure, there’s a whopping six airbags standard.
And as far as rear-end collisions go, look at this crash test linked below, the rear end is completely demolished at 50 MPH, directing all that energy away from a driver and/or passenger.
However, looking at rear end collision photos of this Civic, the offending driver that rear-ended the other newer Civic surely was going twice the speed limit. Noteworthy was that he was on drugs, driving impaired. The entire rear passenger cell is also crunched in, indicating massive speed and resulting forces involved.
That Civic did what it was supposed to do, crunch and redirect energy as best it could.
Police are investigating this crash even further and should come up with speed estimates, which I’m keen to find out.
But to say Honda skimped on safety is disingenuous to Honda and is what prompted me to write something.
Bookmark this story as I’ll surely update you on what police found.
