Top 5 Crash Tests - Fifth Gear

Fifth Gear has had some legendary Crash Tests over the years, so we've put together a selection of our favourites.

[DeathRum]

3:03 cabriolet
7:40 van vs. car
14:39 limo
21:16 smart vs. wall
27:25 focus vs. wall

[juanbaclavab]

now imagine a Bugatti hitting that wall at 430 km/h

[incorporeal]

I have a newfound respect for those emergency services who have to deal with such incidents. Imagine having to recover the remains from such an accident as the 120mph crash.

[motozest]

2:03
"Starts to understeer off"
Oversteers the car.

[bits]

Around 29:24 you can see the airbag inflate and then get compressed so quickly it bursts at the left of your screen. Chilling.

[sepulcrumsumus]

12:15
I really wasn't expecting that.

[dusterpl]

Poor 306 Cabrio. Looked like it's in a great shape, and I honestly seen only 2 of these in my life.

[glennoropeza]

That Smart did better than most people would believe! Still has it's limits! Not a bad little car!

[morphio]

Ladies and Gentlemen we gather here today thanks to the YouTube algorithm.

[ordinaryk]

The model he was using at 1:53 is a Chevy Corvair, which was the main topic in Ralph Nader's Unsafe at Any Speed because of its rollover-prone swing-axle rear suspension. Not sure how many Brits would have gotten that clever little reference.

[piceaabies]

how much for the rear tires and rims of the focus?

[KarlandKristy]

OK, I used to drive a cargo van for a local hospital. The hospital was delivering meals to a local nursing home. The drive to the nursing home was through the mountains and was a very arduous drive. As I came through the only straightaway on this particular drive I was able to accelerate to the speed limit which was 55 mph on that stretch. As I approached the end of that stretch there was a dump truck across both lanes. So I chose to take a gravel parking lot. When I hit the gravel the brakes locked up and I slid about 100 yards, and hit a fully loaded 60 foot long construction dumpster. All I remember was the windshield exploding and it looking like 1 billion stars. It exploded outwards. And then it came shooting back and raining in on me like 1000 bullets. After that it was dead silent. There was a little bit of steam coming from the radiator. The engine and transmission were sitting in the passenger seat. The van was totaled. And usually, as a matter fact every time other than this one, I had some rolling Cambro’s in the back, which I always had but I usually did not strap down. These are giant hot boxes to hold the food. On the return trip they are filled with the pans from the previous day. Every time I came down that mountain I did not strap those down. For whatever reason something told me that I needed to strap them that day. Had I not strapped them, those containers and the 500 pounds of pans would have went clean through me and out the front. I would say total it was about 2000 pounds of gear in the back. Like I said, I never strapped that shit down. That day I did and I survived through the grace of God. And also through the grace of God the dump truck driver accepted responsibility and I was able to keep my job and everything was taken care of by his insurance. Now I’m not saying I haven’t suffered consequences physically because of that over the years but I was young and I was able to bounce back quite well. But isn’t it interesting that that was the only time I ever strapped those down? Other than all the times I drove after that. Lol.

[justgamesxd]

5:03

dude: "these are called VANS"


me: "yes, I know what a freaking van is lol"

[tayyabnaveed]

they should put pieces of "modern art" like 29:00 in the middle of (small) roundabouts and at places where people are likely to be speeding, next to a sign saying something like "you could be next"

[LocoDice]

I wonder what was the reaction of the scrap yard owner when he saw the Focus...

[shivankmittal]

12:16 damn fifth gear really went all out and hired an escort service 😂😂

[jekker]

29:00 'it has almost turned into a piece of modern art'
contemporary art in a nutshell

[cesarcastillo]

I would have preferred to see a side impact to the limousine to see how the extension would have affected.

[rahulk]

400 G's of force is what they said for last test!
Perspectively, F1 drivers feels 5-6 G's when braking hard or accelerating !
So consider what 80 times of that force would be like for passengers !
Thanks Fifth Gear for these eye popping tests !!

[stevem]

I had a small business here in the US with some vans. One thing we found that must be considered is that when a vehicle, whether it's a van or not, is carrying a load, the braking performance is greatly affected. If you hit the brakes in an empty van, it stops pretty well (as long as everything's in good shape mechanically, of course). But if the van is heavily loaded -- even if the load is well secured -- the load's massive weight shift forward when you stomp on the brakes causes the stopping distance to increase dramatically. It's basic physics, but we didn't think much about it until one van got into a small accident precisely because of this factor.