A few observations on Thing safety

[mainstreetprod]

I ran across an old thread about Thing safety. The general consensus was that Things are a deathtrap tin can of a car (but of course we love 'em).

For whatever reason, I've always been interested in crash testing and auto safety and have followed it closely over the years. Modern cars can protect you in a 50MPH crash into a bridge abutment with their multiple air bags, restraints, crumple zones, etc. Not even trying to compare a Thing with modern cars, just other older cars. I'm not sure Things are all that unsafe in that context. Hear me out:

1) A Thing has a very high sill and rides higher than many cars, making it side impact resistant. The other car's front bumper will hit the sill rather than the doors.

2) A Thing weighs 200 pounds more than a '74 bug, making it a bit more solid.

3) Front and rear bumpers on a Thing are truck type, much heavier than a Bug's bumpers. The heavy front bumper helps protect the gas tank from crash damage.

4) Thing's have a collapsible steering column and padded steering wheel and dash. Many older classic cars do not.

5) Many Things are equipped with padded roll bars (ones that are heavy steel and welded at all points, not a show bar). This provides more side impact protection and roll protection, along with a mounting point for 3 point safety harnesses (I installed those on mine). Lots of owners install high back buckets for whiplash protection.

6) Things have excellent brakes and even better ones if converted to discs. They steer quickly and handle well, helping the driver avoid an accident.

Bottom line: while you

wouldn't want to tangle with a modern Escalade, I think you are reasonably safe driving your Thing in a VW convoy to a show or event.

[VWFIXER]

Automotive crash safety ratings should use Volvo as the standard. What the Thinger lacks in modern safety crash technology; high strength steel, airbags, disc brakes, anti-lock brakes, et al; is the fact that lower carbon steel absorbes more energy overall and they are extremely light. But! the odd factor plays a huge part, people notice and stare, and hit someone else.
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Over a million air cooled miles driven and 15,000+ cars serviced.

[perello]

these Volvo "drive a tank" safety *sh**t* has plagued the industry for years now...and made people believe that they can crazy drive because the car can stand it.


I don't give a damn on "passive safety", we should be doing more "active safety" while we have in mind that we are vulnerable:

- respect speed limits (actually drive below the limit)
- keep a safe distance with the car in front of you
- (you get the idea)

only this keeps you real safe.
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Aug '58 pressed bumper SO23
1974 German Thing
1978 Bug 1200

[wbailey2112]

I love driving my Thing but it is not a safe car by today's standards in any way, shape or form. For this reason I avoid high speed freeway driving whenever I'm out with it, despite that my Thing is capable of 70 mph.

The stock steering wheels were never padded and the padding on the dash is minimal and positioned in a way that your head would hit the windshield long before it ever touched the dash pad.

I do have a VWoA dealer installed roll bar. It looks cool and, because of the attachment points at the B pillars, it keeps the body straight. I'm sure that it adds an incremental amount of protection, especially in a roll over situation, but I do not consider it a safety feature.

The bumpers? Truck style? They will fold up (or under) like a two dollar bill if a heavy modern car decided to hit you.

You can try to rationalize and argue that a Thing/Type 181 is relatively safe to drive but it is nothing more than a single-walled tin can that I would never ever consider putting a child seat in.
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'74 Thing
'83 Westfalia

[Glenn]

If you get t-boned by a large SUV, you'll be dead.

It's just a fact.
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Glenn
74 Beetle Specs | 74 Beetle Restoration | 2180cc Engine
"You may not get what you pay for, but you always pay for what you get"

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[jakokombi]

I tell my passengers that the Things greatest safety feature is that it is yellow.
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70 Sunroof Kombi
69 Tin Top
73 Thing
72 Baja

[mainstreetprod]

[oscarsnapkin]

I doubt the extra 200 pounds would’ve helped this car out. One step above a motorcycle as far as safety. Be safe.

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- 1977 CEI Sunroof Bus 2.0L F.I. Hydraulic Lifters
- 1973 Thing

"It’s so easy to laugh, it’s so easy to hate, it takes strength to be gentle and kind."

[Dougster43]

[VWFIXER]

[Joe 20]

Hell, if you cared about safety you'd never put your butt in one...

Re:Volvo's, I saw one take a side hit right in front of me. A car ran a rural stop sign. The Volvo got flung into a field, stayed upright, came to rest, and both passingers walked away with only minor injuries. They ARE tanks. It was a Volvo station wagon...I forget the model number.
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"Someday the world is gonna be populated by nothing but Volkswagens'" Corporal Klairvoy

[Semper_Dad]

The sticker on the visor says it all.

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Walküre Restoration Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=737492

[mainstreetprod]

[74 Thing]

An accident in any car is no fun.

You cannot rely on airbags either. How many cars have you seen that have been in a crash and the airbags have not deployed when they should have?

Being an alert driver and defensive driver is the safest solution, but that still does not completely save you from distracted drivers or ones that make bad decisions or now self driving vehicles controlled by computers (since computers are so reliable, right).

I understand that when I drive my VW, and if I have passengers in my car I drive even more defensively.

[iltis74]

I hope to not die wadded up in my Thing, but that warning sticker above pretty well sums up my thoughts on the safety aspect of them. A Subaru Outback is about the smallest, and lowest, vehicle I can rightly hope to be hit by where I'm at, and I'm not convinced the Thing is up to the task. Probably best to just be realistic about Things, and keep your head on a swivel.
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65 Beetle
74 Thing
87 Syncro

[Joe 20]

Drive your Thing like you would drive a motorcycle...
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"Someday the world is gonna be populated by nothing but Volkswagens'" Corporal Klairvoy

[mondshine]

Joe 20 said it best.

Nothing beats a top-down Thing road trip, just take it cool!

Safe travels, Mondshine

[Wildthings]

Three point seat belts would help. Roll bars are a mixed blessing. Bonk your head on one in a collision and your brain may well be toast. The unibody design helps with safety, adding some energy absorbing system to the front might help with a frontal collision.

[Ark]

[Semper_Dad]

I bought padding for my roll bar many years ago from Jegs. It's secured with Velcro tape which makes it adjustable and removable. Not your regular pool noddle in that the the hole is offset so you can rotate the thickest part toward the most potential "strike" area.

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Walküre Restoration Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=737492