Senior High School Resources for Social Program Media Pendidikan Fisika Media Fisika SMATeluk Kuantan-Riau

The quality of bumper design systems in cars these days has a direct effect of the severity of the occupants in rear and front end accidents. A high quality bumper system is designed to absorb the force of the impact by “compressing.” A low quality bumper system fails this test and the forces of the impact are passed through the vehicle to the occupants. Many cars on the road today have the lesser quality bumper.
Insurance companies who evaluate property damage and personal injury claims as a result of rear end collisions and front end collisions are adept at minimizing the extent of the presumed damage to occupants if minimal damage is visible on the bumpers following an accident. They have stables of “biomechanical engineers” ready to testify in court. The insurance company experts equate minimal visible damage to a bumper to little or no physical injury to the occupants of the car. It takes common sense, a basic knowledge of physics, and opposing expert testimony to defeat the insurance company experts in this regard.
Rear end car accidents are the most common type of car accidents in Pennsylvania. With the advent of cell phone use in cars and other devices that auto manufacturers continue to place in new models(for example, GPS devices) these type of car accidents will continue to rise.
Federal vehicle safety standards regarding bumpers go back to 1978. The standards were not intended to reduce potential injuries to occupants. Rather, the standards were designed to protect the vehicles. Lower speed impacts frequently result in minimal deformation of plastic/polyurethane bumper parts. However, this results in a greater proportion of force directed to the occupants of the vehicles.
Insurance companies rely on experts who supply reports which may contain the following type of language: “since the impact speed of the striking vehicle was extremely low almost no energy was transferred to the occupants of the vehicle which was struck.”