Carbon Fiber: So Good It Hurts

Jonny Lieberman
by Jonny Lieberman

Sitting behind the wheel of a Maserati GranSport GT, cruising along at maybe 50mph (the speedo was busted). I’m waiting for one of the lights ahead to switch from green to red. I’m supposed to turn into the lane next to whichever light remains green, then back into the center lane before coming to a stop. The right light turns red. I jink left, feeding the wheel from my right hand to my left, keeping both arms positioned at nine and three. When I re-grab the wheel with my left hand, I encounter a harder-than-steel carbon fiber steering wheel. I jam my middle finger but good. Man, I hate that stuff.

Ever since the super leggere McLaren F1 debuted, pistonheads have regarded carbon fiber as the ne plus ultra material for high-end whips. The triple-scientifically complex baked resin is both lighter (faster!) and stronger (survive!) than steel. Porsche’s Carrera GT was the first car to boast a carbon fiber monocoque chassis, which is way stiffer than two coques and the F1 way of things. Of course this totally rad material has an equally outrageous price tag; the Carrera GT sold for $440k. Alternatively, you can retro-fit your 997 cabin with carbon fiber (steering wheel, transmission tunnel, doors, pull handles, cupholders, door sills, shift knob and e-brake) for around $6500. An aftermarket E36 M3 carbon fiber hood will set you back a mere $1050.

Pricey yes, but should you pull an Erikson and smash into something at 200mph, at least you’re safer with carbon fiber than steel, right? Er, no. Top Gear fans will recall that The Stig crashed an 800hp+ Koenigsegg CCX’s carbon fiber nose into some old tires. As Jezza noted, the Koenigsegg’s front was shattered, like glass. Translation: carbon fiber withstands one [massive] impact and… that’s it. If Mr. Erikson’s Enzo had struck another solid object after shearing in two on a telephone poll, he couldn’t have blamed the crash on Detrich, or anyone else.

At the moment, exotic carbon fiber monocoques simply mean dead rich guys. However, like variable-valve timing and dual clutches, carbon fiber could easily start trickling down. Reference the Maserati Coupe and Porsche Carrera, carbon fiber has already invaded sports car cabins. Will manufacturers’ ongoing struggle to raise their models’ mileage to meet federal CAFE standards lead to the mass production of carbon fiber parts, including safety-critical components like the chassis and door panels? The scary thing is that NHTSA crash ratings are based on single-strike events. Carbon could outperform steel in federal tests, and kill you dead on the road.

Carbon fiber interiors aren’t so clever either. Why would anyone want anything harder than steel so close to their skull? The switch from metal dashboards to soft, spongy ones was a major automotive safety innovation. I discovered the hard way why carbon fiber is bad. And that was only a finger. Imagine an unbelted noggin. Sure, I know: the entire dash isn’t covered in the stuff, just the steering wheel, the gear knob, the center console, a strip over the glove box and the door inserts. But even if you avoid making high-tech head-on contact, how are you going to defend yourself against a T-boning Ford Excursion pushing those carbon fiber door inserts straight through your kidney?

Meanwhile, aesthetically, it’s a nightmare. The otherwise perfect interior of the Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT has extra helpings of baked plastic all over the joint, and it looks silly. In fact, when my companion and I climbed out of the four-door and into a two-door GT, we were much more impressed by the leather dash (and could have used some alone time when we clocked the leather headliner…). Anyhow, why would any self-respecting millionaire want a car with an interior swathed in the same crap as the kid’s CRX down the street? Even Jeep’s Liberty has fake carbon fiber all over the place. Talk about post-modern irony: low-tech plastic designed to look like high-tech plastic developed to save weight in race cars in an SUV? They might as well bring back the Landau roof.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for automotive innovation. I generally slap my forehead whenever the “cars are too hard to work on these days” conversation starts. I want smarter computers and super lightweight stuff helping me go faster, and then faster again. But I don’t want to look at it. Carbon fiber dashes are one step removed from plastering interiors with circuit boards. Obviously, engineers are proud of this miracle material and they want the whole world to know it. As it turns out, sodium-filled exhaust valves are also something of a techno breakthrough. Why not cover a car’s interior with salt? Manufacturers should continue surrounding us in steel cages, while cabin designers should carry on stealing their interiors from Audi.

Jonny Lieberman
Jonny Lieberman

Cleanup driver for Team Black Metal V8olvo.

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  • Make_or_break Make_or_break on Jul 15, 2009

    Only months late to the game...well, whaddaya expect from a newbie? In terms of problems: there's also some concerns about the toxicity of CRP as well, something not discussed by the original article or by the comments. As the author pointed out; CRP when it does fail goes out in a big way. How small this big way is unclear, but looking at crash footage of notable accidents where CRP was present (as with the big crash Robert Kubica had at the Canadian GP in 2007), I have to wonder what sort of CF particulates were tossed into the environment in the resultant dust cloud that followed the initial impact. There have been reports that under a microscope, a number of carbon nanotubes look a lot like asbestos fibers. But how dangerous this actually is is still unclear, because not enough research has been done as to how long these carbon fibers actually will exist in an environment like a human body. But considering how CF advocates proclaim the benefits of CRP longevity elsewhere, is it really too much to assume that such inhaled dust cloud fibers will stay in the body for a long, LONG time...just like asbestos? Maybe I'm just paranoid, but I think I'd rather stay upwind of said dust cloud if I had the choice. Problem is, in an accident there isn't such a choice.

  • Jordan Snyder Jordan Snyder on Jun 07, 2010

    I have to admit, reading the title of this article "The Truth About Cars" and then reading the article made me laugh. Fact is, this article is not based on research, or even good observation! There are a few points in particular I feel compelled to correct. First, the Porsche Carrera was not the first car to have a carbon fiber monocoque, in fact, when this article was written it was by far the most recent. The first car to have a carbon fiber monocoque I believe was the McLaren F1. There was also the Ferrari F50 and the Bugatti EB110. All three from the 90's, long before the Carrera was built. Second, you are MUCH safer in a car made of carbon fiber than you would be in a car made of steel. Theres the obvious fact that carbon fiber is lighter than steel, thus meaning it has less momentum. Then theres tha fact that carbon fiber is just plain stronger and more rigid than steel. Have you ever seen a Formula 1 crash? fairly often the driver even walks away! They are (usually) crashing into a cement wall at what? 200mph? then they flip and roll several times (theres your "second impact" for ya) the whole car is destroyed except what? thats right, the carbon fiber shell! Third, if I remember correctly, when the stig crashed the Koenigsegg they were amazed BECAUSE it was only a little bit of damage done to only the front bumper. And Jeremy commented that it broke in a similar fashion to glass, as in cracking into pieces, not like steel would. Fourth, when you get into an accident, do you usually drive away and into another car or do you usually stay there? So even if your "second impact" theory had any truth to it, when would it apply to real life anyway? And I even need to disagree with you on the look of carbon fiber. I like the look of the inside of any ferrari, and they are all riddled with carbon fiber. I'll agree that a lot of manufacturers use carbon fiber as a decorative piece poorly, but I dont think carbon fiber itself looks bad at all.

  • Ronin It's one thing to stay tried and true to loyal past customers; you'll ensure a stream of revenue from your installed base- maybe every several years or so.It's another to attract net-new customers, who are dazzled by so many other attractive offerings that have more cargo capacity than that high-floored 4-Runner bed, and are not so scrunched in scrunchy front seats.Like with the FJ Cruiser: don't bother to update it, thereby saving money while explaining customers like it that way, all the way into oblivion. Not recognizing some customers like to actually have right rear visibility in their SUVs.
  • MaintenanceCosts It's not a Benz or a Jag / it's a 5-0 with a rag /And I don't wanna brag / but I could never be stag
  • 3-On-The-Tree Son has a 2016 Mustang GT 5.0 and I have a 2009 C6 Corvette LS3 6spd. And on paper they are pretty close.
  • 3-On-The-Tree Same as the Land Cruiser, emissions. I have a 1985 FJ60 Land Cruiser and it’s a beast off-roading.
  • CanadaCraig I would like for this anniversary special to be a bare-bones Plain-Jane model offered in Dynasty Green and Vintage Burgundy.
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