ecdriver711
Elio Addict
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2014
- Messages
- 1,351
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I've visited the P3 and P4; roomy and overall more impressive then in photos.
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Elio Door Beams
- Thread starter Jeff Bowlsby
- Start date
This is a really nice comparison photo of the P4 next to a Honda Fit. This shows just how comparable in height they are even with the P4 sitting 2.5" lower than production height. It also demonstrates quite well that while the EM body is narrow when the outrigger front wheels are included the vehicle is actually quite wide.
Another interesting item to consider is that the Honda Fit holds an NHTSA five star safety rating. When we compare these two vehicles in terms of safety it becomes easier to understand just why EM engineers believe that a five star crash safety rating is a realistic engineering goal for the Elio vehicle.
If you notice the distance from the driver to the front end in both vehicles is comparable with the drivers sitting relatively far back in the chassis relative to overall vehicle size. This allows for plenty of crumple zone in the front with which to dissipate impact energy. As far as side impacts both vehicles rely on very similar ideas which is reinforced door frames and beams and bars situated withing the door door panels. The Elio actually appears to have more distance between the rear passenger seat and the rear of the vehicle which allows for more crumple zone distance. Rollover protection in both vehicles comes from a well designed passenger safety cell within the chassis designed to protect occupants.
Honda has more physical space to play with so they can use a unit-body chassis in which the body panels are structurally significant in order to save weight. EM needs to provide as much protection into as small an area as possible so they sacrifice some weight and use spaceframe chassis design which is incredibly strong despite being compact in size. EM can make up for some of the extra chassis weight by using composite body panels to keep the vehicles' overall weight down.
Another interesting item to consider is that the Honda Fit holds an NHTSA five star safety rating. When we compare these two vehicles in terms of safety it becomes easier to understand just why EM engineers believe that a five star crash safety rating is a realistic engineering goal for the Elio vehicle.
If you notice the distance from the driver to the front end in both vehicles is comparable with the drivers sitting relatively far back in the chassis relative to overall vehicle size. This allows for plenty of crumple zone in the front with which to dissipate impact energy. As far as side impacts both vehicles rely on very similar ideas which is reinforced door frames and beams and bars situated withing the door door panels. The Elio actually appears to have more distance between the rear passenger seat and the rear of the vehicle which allows for more crumple zone distance. Rollover protection in both vehicles comes from a well designed passenger safety cell within the chassis designed to protect occupants.
Honda has more physical space to play with so they can use a unit-body chassis in which the body panels are structurally significant in order to save weight. EM needs to provide as much protection into as small an area as possible so they sacrifice some weight and use spaceframe chassis design which is incredibly strong despite being compact in size. EM can make up for some of the extra chassis weight by using composite body panels to keep the vehicles' overall weight down.
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