Crash Test Dummies

Matt wrote today about a mystery corner that seems to flummox drivers. A conveniently placed camera made me giggle a little as I read it -- we can laugh at that sort of stuff as long as no one is hurt.

Earlier this week, a friend sent me a video where over a dozen vehicles failed to negotiate a mystery turn somewhere within North America. The following day, someone else shared the turn with me and this continued until it seemed like everyone I knew had seen the footage of the impossible mystery turn.

Those with a taste for vehicular mayhem are likely aware of the Norfolk Southern–Gregson Street Overpass, perhaps better known as “ The Truck Killing Bridge.” Located in Durham, North Carolina, the site consists of a railroad bridge covered in warning signs that’s just short enough to cleave the tops off unsuspecting commercial vehicles, buses and RVs. The location became so infamous for absolutely wrecking trucks that a local office worker decided to set cameras up in 2008 to capture the magic, resulting in one of the best websites in history.

On Monday, a pedestrian ended up being trapped beneath an autonomous test vehicle owned by Cruise. The incident took place in San Francisco (Fifth Avenue just south of Market Street) and has already become the subject of some rampant speculation as the company hopes to avoid another public relations nightmare.

Cruise quickly put out a series of statements via Twitter (now X) claiming the pedestrian was actually tossed in front of their robotaxi after being struck by a hit-and-run vehicle that was traveling in the accompanying lane. While the investigation is technically ongoing, numerous media outlets have run with the premise after having seen the on-board footage.

The crash test dummies at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) have been doing great work in ratcheting up the difficulty of their impact examinations, often requiring automakers to return to their drawing boards in search of the elusive Top Safety Pick+ designation. Now, the group is increasingly casting an eye toward how backseat passengers fare in a wreck.

We all know that when you try to show off, you often end up in a ditch.

It's a lesson many of us learn as kids -- we try to do a trick on our bikes or take a turn too fast, and we get a dose of humble pie. Yet, we don't fully learn, because we get our driver's license and do the same dumb stuff while driving a car.

Presented, for your afternoon amusement, a video in which a 1920s-era automobile jumps a house, with fairly predictable results.

With automobiles becoming heavier every year, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has announced that it’ll be updating its crash-testing rigs to handle more weight. Up until now, the heaviest model to see an IIHS sled has been the roughly 6,000-pound Audi e-tron. While all vehicles have been packing on mass lately, EVs tend to be substantially heavier than their combustion-reliant counterparts due to the battery. For example, the new GMC Hummer is so insanely heavy that there are roads that its 9,600-pound frame simply cannot handle. All that mass likewise means the IIHS is going to have a hell of a time doing any crash testing if its equipment isn’t ready.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has updated its side crash test and the results for mid-size cars is, uh, not good.

The Steed 5 pickup, Haval H1 five-door SUV, and the Renault Kwid five-door compact, all achieved poor levels of adult and child protection in crash tests conducted by Global NCAP and AA South Africa yesterday.