Crash Safety of Carbon Fiber Hoods

[HIGHPSI4]

I have a question about the carbon fiber hood craze.....In a high speed front impact/head on collision, will the hood absorb the impact and bend/deform or will it break lose/shatter from the hood hinges and be shoved into the windshield/driver?

 

[AndrewD5418]

If it does shatter, you'd be screwed.... But they are very tough usually.

 

[snox135]

It will break and shatter. I don't know if it will go through the windshield though. I suppose it possible but I doubt it.

 

[HIGHPSI4]

Is it going to shatter in to pieces or stay whole and be forced back into the windsheild area? I feel their strength will allow them to stay whole as a complete piece. Any one had any experience?

 

[Mikael SS]

It'll smash into a million pieces. And if it were able to break free from the hinges, it would slide right up the windshield, there is nothing making stay on course to break through it.

 

[Defiant]

You never know what'll happen before a crash, you can only look at what happened afterward. The hooks that are on the rear edge of stock hoods or on the cowl came about after a decapitation incident in a Honda, and went throughout the industry. A composite hood should lose its mountings where it's bolted to the hinges, but you can't anticipate what goofy thing will occur in a given crash.
The likelihood of such a freak injury occurring is beyond consideration. A greater threat is that someone inclined to mount a CF hood is also more likely to be an "aggressive" driver. Or did you actually think those monstrosities are attractive? WTF

 

[Tsi_User]

It will break into pieces, but I have never seen one completely come off the hinges in an accident.

on another note, what did you use to paint your exhaust manifold heat shield?

 

[asian312]

I've had a CF hood and unfortunately was involved in a front end accident with a tree. The brand was VIS and I hydroplaned off the road at 30-35 mph into a fairly large tree. The hood stayed attached to its mounts, splintered a little, and folded in the middle. It did not shatter into a million pieces.

 

[Project2G]

I have cf hood, fenders, hatch, and doors.. I think I will be dead if I get into an accident =(

 

[RayPeters]

I'm with Defiant on this one. I've yet to see one that didn't look like butt, but looks aside, the hood is designed as part of the crash structure of modern vehicles. The hooks on the cowl are there to prevent decapatation as Defiant pointed out, but also to allow the crushing of the hood to absorb energy as well. Racing organizations have strict rules about occupant safety and many have rules against CF hoods for this very reason. My feeling is if you have reached the point in your performance tuning where the weight savings of a CF hood wins or loses a race, you probably can't legally drive that car on the street.

 

[HIGHPSI4]

I used Rustoelum BBQ paint. It does very well.

 

[lordnikon_04]

Hey project2g, where'd you get the carbon fenders? I can't find them anywhere.

 

[thekellbeast]

I know squidskinz used to sell almost every part for the 2g's in CF, but last time I checked, their website was down.

 

[twicks69]

I spoke with squidskins several times over the last couple years, and he really doesn't want to do any carbon work for our cars anymore. He said he would still do reinforced fiberglass ones, but no carbon.

I was quite dissapointed because I wanted a dry carbon dash, hatch and doors for the track. I really don't care about the "crash safety" of the parts, because I am running a 10point cage, safety gear, etc. I wanted LIGHT parts.

 

[eclipsh]

I have cf hood, fenders, hatch, and doors.. I think I will be dead if I get into an accident =(

Just poking around and found this old thread. I saw this post and thought I should mention a little known fact: well laid carbon fiber is 10x stronger than steel pound for pound. So... if the doors were made well then you should be fine. Just thought you might feel a little safer knowing that

 

[Mikael SS]

Just poking around and found this old thread. I saw this post and thought I should mention a little known fact: well laid carbon fiber is 10x stronger than steel pound for pound. So... if the doors were made well then you should be fine. Just thought you might feel a little safer knowing that

if they laid enough carbon fiber to weigh as much as a stock door, i think the door would have to be solid.

 

[Defiant]

Just poking around and found this old thread. I saw this post and thought I should mention a little known fact: well laid carbon fiber is 10x stronger than steel pound for pound. So... if the doors were made well then you should be fine.

Well, there's "strong" -which usually means tensile strength, how hard something can be pulled on before it fails- and there's considerations in crash situations such as bending load, crumpling, flex and rigidity. Yes, carbon fiber is hugely tough, and when laid up in properly-oriented matrices is suitable for barrel-rolling a Formula 1 car at 180 miles an hour. You're not going to be seeing much F1 lab-quality work in an aftermarket racer-boy hood.
I've not seen aftermarket CF doors, but I have seen the piece of conduit they call "side intrusion prevention beams". It doesn't seem like it'd take a whole lot to do better.

 

[mavisky]

You can make a part almost as heavy as the steel and it'll be way way stronger or you can make one a little bit stronger and it'll be way way lighter. Which way you go depends on the part you're making.

Carbon hoods are tough. Mine held down the force of a Koni shock absorber trying to extend through it as I drove. The tip of the shock punctured through, but the nut on top of the strut was contained and never came through even though I watched the hood flex and bend on the hinges and hood pins while limping it home.