The girder SUV is named after the chassis with a girder structure. Generally speaking, this is what we often call a non-load-bearing body SUV. Decades ago, in the days when SUVs were still called off-road vehicles, almost all SUVs had a beam structure to meet off-road needs, and even some sedan models at the same time used a beam structure.
The girder structure is originally designed to reduce the stress and torque of the vehicle on undulating roads, so it mainly takes rigidity into account . Decades ago, there was a hard girder, which could represent the safety of the car (after all, the concept of energy absorption by collapse was not yet popular at that time, and the materials for making cars did not allow such a design), compared to those The outer bumper of the steel pipe is much more bullish, but over the past few decades, with the continuous improvement of road conditions, coupled with the increasingly stringent emission regulations and the development of material engineering, many SUVs have already canceled the beam structure, and even some SUVs that tend to off-road , and no longer blindly pursue the girder structure.
Compared with the SUVs with girders that have been built for more than ten years, are these load-bearing urban SUV models less safe? The master will tell you today:
Having a beam does not mean that the occupants in the car will be safer
Due to the structure of the girder, the design of the crumple zone is relatively difficult. In addition, the girder is heavy, so the results of the crash test are generally poor, and the small angle crash test is basically terrible. The master originally wanted to quote the crash results of the IIHS, but it turned out that there are very few Land Cruisers and Prados in the United States, and Suzuki’s sales are also very bleak, resulting in the Jimny not being tested, and Mitsubishi’s SUVs are all load-bearing bodies, so let’s just let it go. Interested fans can search for the results of the non-load-bearing JEEP car series by themselves.
The vehicle is heavier, and in the event of a head-on collision, the girder SUV may not suffer
If the collision occurs between vehicles, the beam SUV is theoretically more advantageous. Take smart as an example. Although the car has no crumple zone structure, the passenger compartment is made hard enough. In the collision test with the Mercedes-Benz S-class, smart used the opponent’s crumple zone to absorb energy for itself, thus Keep yourself safe. In the same way, a stiffer and more inertial beam SUV will theoretically have an advantage in such a situation.
The collision position is high, which is more advantageous than the car
Another place worth mentioning is the anti- collision beam design . It should be known that although the anti-collision beam is under the banner of “anti-collision”, its actual function is to share the force of the collision in the accident, so that the collapse area can absorb energy more fully. But because the chassis of the SUV model is higher than that of the car, the gap between the anti-collision beam of the SUV and the anti-collision beam of the car is even more obvious! Therefore, in the event of a collision, it often occurs that the anti-collision beam of the car cannot be used, and thus suffers a disadvantage.
But the owners of the large beam SUV should not be too happy. After all, a mountain is higher than a mountain. When encountering pickup trucks and large trucks, the large beam SUV will also crash and lose. There is nothing to do with them. Therefore, developing safe driving habits is the most important thing.
Structure plays a vital role in safety
In addition, the more important thing should be the structure. Due to the continuous update of car-making materials and the continuous improvement of structural engineering, generally speaking, the safety factor of new models is much better than that of old models. , and it is really impossible to tell who is more “taking advantage”.
The beam body also has a fatal flaw
The most criticized part of the girder SUV is probably the handling brought about by the high center of gravity + high vehicle weight + softer suspension design. It doesn’t matter if the handling is not good in daily driving. When driving at high speed, the probability of rollover of a girder SUV is many times higher than that of a car! What, you say you’ll be fine if you drive carefully? Who can guarantee that there won’t be a flat tire on the highway…
Source of text and pictures: Original article by SUV Master, author Chen Yimin.
