Accident - Frontal collision involving truck and car

01 Apr 2015 Examples of accidents & crash tests
Accident circumstances
A car was taking a long sweeping left-hand bend in a built-up area during the day in sunny weather. After the left-hand bend the vehicle was steered into the oncoming lane for unknown reasons where it crashed head on into an oncoming truck. Despite the truck driver‘s emergency braking, there was a collision with the front left of the car. The car careered under the truck and was then thrown back again roughly 25 m against the original driving direction.
Vehicles
VW Golf III, registration date 1992, (35 km/h), 1,155 kg mass
Truck MAN 17.232 (M06), registration date 1989, (45 km/h), 16,175 kg mass
Consequences of accident
Driver of the car killed (craniocerebral trauma and chest injuries), passenger seriously injured (head injuries and chest injuries).
Driver of the truck slightly injured (bruising to right knee).
Cause/problem
The cause for lane departure into oncoming traffic could not be identified. The cause may have been distraction or physical deficits. The car was inspected for technical faults that may have caused the accident. There were not any faults of this kind. As the Golf’s main chassis beam that is important for absorbing the energy could not find support in the truck’s structures, the crumple zone was ineffective. The car was pushed under the truck which led to massive deformation of the passenger cell.