Contest Winners
Of all entries received, Mike G. from Washington state and Randy E. from Connecticut came closest to guessing what that little bracket does. Mike gets the shirt off my back -– thanks Mike. Randy scores with his very own, brand new XC60 (model). My brother Tom had an interesting answer — something about it being a beer can opener — but he’s my brother, so two strikes against him for just sending an e-mail. Sorry bro.
The bracket in question works something like this: imagine holding a wet bar of soap between your two hands. In certain types of accidents, car doors become wet bars of soap. Door hinges are for holding up a door and have limited effectiveness when loaded with impacting energy. Those brackets help the door bite into the “A” pillar to help the door stay in position during certain types of accidents, mainly frontal.
In our domestic Volvo classic car stash, we have a 1927 PV4 (Passenger Vehicle -– closed roof), one of only six left. Our 1927 OV4 (Open Vehicle – yes, our first Swedish car was a convertible) has a two-stop door lock, like those that are used in today’s cars. Meaning if you don’t close the door completely, it would “hang” on the first small detent. I don’t know if that was common in those days, but it’s nice to think that Swedes considered safety way back when we started.
Here’s another neat idea. Some years back (certainly before the 850′s in 1992) we saw in real-world accidents that the front wheel could be pushed back into the foot well –- where your feet rest while driving. What came about was a strong metal plate that would help deflect the intruding wheel away from the passenger compartment.
Here’s an 850 V70 where the wheel is moved out. Now for a proper disclaimer, I know nothing of this accident or if in fact the wheel did this as planned, or was pushed out by something else. This is just to show how it might work:
Today we use the same concept, but allow the wheel to deflect towards the door sill plate (that panel placed under the doors) to help transfer impacting energy along the lower body structure. Clever Swedes.
Thanks Mike and Randy.
You all have a good week.
Dan
1 Comment
Mark McCord (Hemmings Motor News)…thanks. Good to know I’ve a fact checker over my shoulder. “The silver station wagon that has been horrifically mangled in that photo is a 1998 V70, not an 855, and we can tell that it’s a 70 series by the unique shape of the front spoiler and by the body colored door handles and rub strips, which would have been that charcoal-black on the 850. The black Volvo fender tag that is barely visible near the ground dates the car to 1998, because if memory serves (and it often doesn’t correctly), 1999 and 2000 models had Euro-style side marker lamps.” And I though I knew it all.