Bonus protection with sliders?

[Romanknight]

This is not about sliders, but I had a small er, "incident", when I rearended a Ford Escort with my Exploder. It had 3in lift, front brushguard, front receiver hitch and a step bumper that fits in that hitch. Results: his trunk hatch had to be replaced, and a rear light, almost 3 grand. I had a few scratches, didn't even bother to paint'em over. From a conservation of energy standpoint, the impact energy that goes into bending the metal, doesn't go into killing you

 

[Dusty]

i agree that crunch zones are a good thing-i just want them in the other guys car

 

[Pete483]

Sliders will probably protect the cruiser more than you. For minor collisions, they will certainly help to minimize your damage to chipped paint, but if you got all out t-boned by a vehicle moving at a decent clip, hard to say whether or not they'd hurt you or help you.

The two main things you have to worry about with a side impact are occupiable living space and crash force. Sliders probably will help with occupiable living space, keeping you from being crushed. However, given the cruisers height, a side impact that would crush the cruiser would probably have to be administered by a vehicle at least as large/tall as it since most passenger car bumpers are at about frame height on a stock or OME sprung cruiser. Any side impact from a 5,000+ lb vehicle is not going to be something you are likely to walk away from.

The human bodies G tolerances (crash force) vary based upon the axis it occurs on. Crashes in which the impact pushes you into your seat belts (head-on) become fatal if more that 27-40 g's are inflicted on your body. There have been instances where race car drivers have survived significantly higher crash forces, but they also have significantly more effectice restraints on.

The human body tolerates sideward acceleration the least. Impacts imparting greater than 9 g's can be fatal. These figures, by the way, are for short duration, high-magnitude accelerative/decelerative forces. To put this into perspective, pilots can regularly and safely experience downward and rearward sustained g-forces of 9 g's, while a sideward impact, imparting 9 g's for a mere millisecond could be fatal.

This is where the sliders contribution to your safety would be more dubious. Whether or not they would cause higher or lower g-forces to be imparted is tough to say and would probably vary depending on the impact.

I don't think it would make enough of a difference to preclude getting sliders for saftey reasons, but I wouldn't feel overly protected with them. I doubt their saftey contribution is as great as an ARB of Slee bumper.

PS-does anyone know how I can change my screen name. I really didn't pay attention to it and ended up typing the last part twice.

 

[NorCalDoug]

...Well, I checked mine. The outside of the Hannas side tube stick 5" out from the body at the same height. They are just about even widthwise with the flares. The bottom of the outside tube is about at the same height as the bottom of the rocker.

The slee step slider sticks out about 3" from the body.
The non-step slee that I have sticks out about 5" from the body.

 

[Nay]

I belive someone (Dusty Maybe) purposely made his step stick out a long ways just for the door ding protection. He talked about it in his build up thread it should be in the slider FAQ.

I can't believe that anybody who needs a set of $800 sliders for rock crawling protection is factoring in design elements for door dings. As a potential pivot point against a rock, maybe. What is next, slider crumple zones for latte anti-spill design?

Nay

 

[Brentbba]

What is next, slider crumple zones for latte anti-spill design?

Nay

This design feature would be very useful for Biff. Once on the market, I'm sure he'd sell his Hanna's for a pair of latte proof sliders. hehehe

 

[NorCalDoug]

I can't believe that anybody who needs a set of $800 sliders for rock crawling protection is factoring in design elements for door dings. As a potential pivot point against a rock, maybe. What is next, slider crumple zones for latte anti-spill design?

Nay

I think the door ding thing was a minor thread hijack.
The original question had to do with side impact -- assuming you get t-boned by someone.

as for anti-spill for my latte...that's what my in-dash cup holder is for

 

[FirstToy]

Sliders will probably protect the cruiser more than you. For minor collisions, they will certainly help to minimize your damage to chipped paint, but if you got all out t-boned by a vehicle moving at a decent clip, hard to say whether or not they'd hurt you or help you.

The two main things you have to worry about with a side impact are occupiable living space and crash force. Sliders probably will help with occupiable living space, keeping you from being crushed. However, given the cruisers height, a side impact that would crush the cruiser would probably have to be administered by a vehicle at least as large/tall as it since most passenger car bumpers are at about frame height on a stock or OME sprung cruiser. Any side impact from a 5,000+ lb vehicle is not going to be something you are likely to walk away from.

.

I disagree with your hypothetical b/c this is the way I see it:
The sliders are basically an extension of the frame. In a side impact, the force is being transferred to the frame not the occupants.
I believe the force of impact will be directed to the frame rails and crushing of the slider rather than the body sitting on top of the frame.
That's just my hypothetical tho.

Car bumpers are well below the sliders of my OME LC so in a side collision they would go under the Cruiser and wedge underneath or roll the LC if it was a hard enough hit.

And I agree w/ Doug, it is a secondary discussion to the original purpose of sliders.

 

[Romanknight]

This sounds about right: "The sliders are basically an extension of the frame. In a side impact, the force is being transferred to the frame not the occupants.
I believe the force of impact will be directed to the frame rails and crushing of the slider rather than the body sitting on top of the frame."
Without sliders, the "perpetrator" car/truck will hit the body (doors), which is less strong than the steel frame -then your body. The sliders are an extra barrier/obstacle between you and the other car, something extra to absorb the energy. On the other hand, I don't know if sliders could be bent enough, or a mount to break loose, to hit something else, like a gas tank.

 

[stayalert]

impact absorbing running boards are the way to go. I'll trade even up - my running boards for your sliders

 

[alaskacruiser]

Sliders are probably not very easily deformed in a crash, which could transfer more forces from the crash to the passengers than would be the case if the side of the vehicle absorbed the brunt of the force. Most of you are considering an ideal case with cars impacting sliders, but times have changed. Your chances of being hit by a pickup, SUV, or some other "light truck" is a lot higher now than it was 10 years ago. Pete and Nay have good points- sliders are meant for offroad protection. Just because they may protect your cruiser from door dings does not necessarily mean they will be protecting you or your passengers better in an accident and they could, in fact, make it less safe.

 

[cruiserdan]

Logic dictates that sliders will transfer more impact force to the frame than would be imparted if they were not there. It is almost certain that the frame would be damaged more severely than if they were not there. Depending on what vehicle struk a slider equipped vehicle a whole bunch of un-expected things may happen. A short vehicle moving fast enough could possibly flip the Cruiser instead of having some of the body panels absorb enough energy to reduce that chance. A vehicle matched well to the slider would have more of it's energy transfered to the frame before it hit the body, possibly reducing injuries in the cabin.

 

[FirstToy]

The way I understand crash worthyness is (and I may be wrong) the structural integrety of the cabin.
The front and rr can have crush zones but the sides can't. If the sides deform, so do the people inside.

When auto manufacturers improve side protection, it is by reinfocing the cabin and adding steel beams to the doors - they are creating a cage.
To deal with head injuries, they use the side curtain airbags.

I can't see how sliders would not help in a side impact... I know this is all hypothetical but I can't see how they would hurt occupants.

 

[alvarorb]

I had sliders on one of my FJ40s. One day sitting at a stop light, a guy on a motorcycle on the turning lane looses his balance and skids his bike right under my cruiser.
Nothing happened to the cruiser. The guy was ok, but the bike was dinged up. Whiout the sliders, my rig would have had some damage.

I think in situations like that, they help a lot.

Regards

Alvaro

 

[Dusty]

i am a doctor and have wasted much of the last 5 years of my life in the ER. Have seen results of many a MVA (motor vehicle accident) and many a death from them-side impact is especially nasty. acceleration is not your friend and kills regardless of restraints. However, i would rather gamble with acceleration and take my chances with a ruptured spleen, sheered aorta, or broken neck than have the side of my vehicle cave in and smash somethind. There is no objective data to support the use of sliders and time will only show if they are of value. of course side airbags are the ideal scenerio

 

[Bambusiero]

Several folks have pointed out that it it isn't just the side crush that causes injury, and so it's not so clear what the sliders will do for or against you. The side impact can move the whole vehicle out from under you in the direction of the impact, smacking your temple against the side window, and/or the shoulder belt whiplashing your head to the side. Really not good!

So, I agree with their auguments.

Still, what else can you do? (besides side air bags) I'll go WITH the slider and less intrusion and take a chance on the other factors.

 

[acolella]

Backward?

The slee step slider sticks out about 3" from the body.
The non-step slee that I have sticks out about 5" from the body.

Doug,
Dont you mean the other way around? (ie. The non-step slee that I have sticks out about 3" from the body not 5"?

 

[Bongo]

I would think that sliders would help. Better than not having them and having a bumper crush the side of your cruiser.