When the Insurance Institute For Highway Safety crash tests a vehicle, it sends them at 40 miles per hour into a barrier. But what would happen if you more than tripled that speed to see what happens in a collision at 129 mph? This video has the answer, and the results are terrifying.
The video is not in English, but the visuals get the point across. Also, turning on YouTube's auto-generated subtitles provides a pretty good translation of what the hosts are saying.
The clip starts with a lengthy look at how speed affects braking distance. As you can probably guess, the faster you're going, the more road you need to come to a complete stop.
The crash test is the real highlight here, and preparations for it start at around 18 minutes into the video. The crew is using a post-refresh, second-generation Opel Omega. To do this safely, the vehicle has a remote control setup, so no one is in danger of being hurt in the crash.
This is real life:
On the long runway, a radar gun shows the saloon doing 129 mph before colliding into the side of a city bus. A drone and multiple cameras capture the carnage from every angle.
The damage to the Opel is tremendous. The front of the car is crushed and flattened. The rear passenger door is barely discernable, but the ones in front are now just mangled metal. For the most part, the trunk is the only portion that's still recognizable.
Judging by what's visible here, there's no way a person in the Opel would survive, even in the backseat.
The situation isn't much better for the bus. The collision breaks every pane of glass in the vehicle, including the windshield, despite hitting it near the back. The mannequins inside all over the place. One is even hanging from the roof. It's a terrible scene.
Source: Bri4ka. COM via YouTube