1 00:00:01,160 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to you stuff you should know front House stuff 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:12,760 Speaker 1: Works dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm 3 00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:16,799 Speaker 1: Josh Clark. There's Chuck a k A. Charles W. Chuck 4 00:00:16,840 --> 00:00:24,360 Speaker 1: Bryant a k a. Charles Wayne Bryant named after Wayne Coyne. No, 5 00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:28,840 Speaker 1: thank you, Wait, I wasn't done. And then there's Jake. 6 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:33,800 Speaker 1: Thank you people who voted for us for the Webby Award. Yes, yes, 7 00:00:33,920 --> 00:00:36,880 Speaker 1: we won. We won the People's Voice Award. Yeah, that's 8 00:00:36,920 --> 00:00:40,400 Speaker 1: three of those for us, and a huge congratulations to 9 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:47,320 Speaker 1: UH another podcast that we admire for winning the Webby. Yeah, Invisible. Yeah, 10 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:49,680 Speaker 1: if you heard our Ted Talks episode, or we interviewed 11 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:55,040 Speaker 1: Roman Mars and he won the I Guess panel vote, Yeah, 12 00:00:55,200 --> 00:00:58,160 Speaker 1: and then we won the People's Voice vote. He's the 13 00:00:58,240 --> 00:01:02,400 Speaker 1: he's the industry darling. We're the populist darlings. Yeah, as 14 00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:04,960 Speaker 1: I like when I put it on my personal Facebook page, 15 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:08,160 Speaker 1: attacked Roman and I said, we won the one for 16 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:11,720 Speaker 1: people's vote and Roman won the one based on quality 17 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:15,399 Speaker 1: and he said, no, they're both quality. He was very 18 00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:18,520 Speaker 1: sweet about it. Yeah. Um, I also want to say 19 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:21,120 Speaker 1: give us special props to reply all who gave us 20 00:01:21,160 --> 00:01:23,640 Speaker 1: a run for our money for quite a while there 21 00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:27,720 Speaker 1: the People's Voice Awards, so actually check out all of them, 22 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:33,840 Speaker 1: the nominees, nominees, because to to get considered for a webbing, 23 00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:35,400 Speaker 1: I mean, there's a ton of podcasts out there, and 24 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:37,640 Speaker 1: to make it basically what amounts to the top five, 25 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:40,400 Speaker 1: you gotta be pretty good. Hats off to everybody, and 26 00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:42,720 Speaker 1: thank you again for everyone who voted for us, and 27 00:01:42,760 --> 00:01:47,200 Speaker 1: congratulations again Into Roman and Visible crew agreed we were 28 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:52,800 Speaker 1: in good company, So thanks everyone. So Crumple Zones, I 29 00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:55,320 Speaker 1: predict this is going to be a correct of an 30 00:01:55,360 --> 00:02:00,120 Speaker 1: episode terrible. Um. You know what I found out that 31 00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:03,559 Speaker 1: this fascinates me way more than I thought it would. Dude, 32 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:06,640 Speaker 1: totally with you because I'm not a car guy, as 33 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:09,359 Speaker 1: you know. No, but it's not just that it's this 34 00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:13,240 Speaker 1: is more the history of auto safety, but it also 35 00:02:13,320 --> 00:02:15,480 Speaker 1: has more to it. There's some physics that we can 36 00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:19,560 Speaker 1: grasp involved very simple that makes it very attractive. Um, 37 00:02:19,680 --> 00:02:22,799 Speaker 1: let's kind of like big thing hit, big thing makes boom, right, 38 00:02:23,200 --> 00:02:25,480 Speaker 1: that's exactly right. But all you have to do is 39 00:02:25,480 --> 00:02:29,839 Speaker 1: switch out like force and acceleration. You sound smart. Um, yeah, 40 00:02:29,919 --> 00:02:32,800 Speaker 1: there's a lot to it that that there's even some nefariousness, 41 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:36,120 Speaker 1: corporate nefariousness. So I'm like, yeah, this story is ever sure, 42 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:38,320 Speaker 1: you know, agreed? And you know what, this made me 43 00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:43,120 Speaker 1: want to do episodes on crash test dummies for one, 44 00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:45,560 Speaker 1: and then maybe even a couple of others. As far 45 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:49,040 Speaker 1: as Nator, we should do one on him. Yeah, maybe airbags. 46 00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:51,720 Speaker 1: Just the whole car safety thing is way fascinating. It 47 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:55,000 Speaker 1: really is. And to top it all off, this article 48 00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:57,600 Speaker 1: was a grabstor article, so well that's why I picked it. 49 00:02:58,919 --> 00:03:01,359 Speaker 1: At this point, I'm just searching for his articles. Yeah, 50 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:05,080 Speaker 1: we should just be like, recommend some articles that you 51 00:03:05,120 --> 00:03:07,079 Speaker 1: wrote that we should do. We've done most of them. 52 00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:09,280 Speaker 1: I know that's the problem. He needs to come back 53 00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:13,160 Speaker 1: into the fray so sad. And we should also shout 54 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:15,520 Speaker 1: out our colleagues here at how stuff works with car 55 00:03:15,639 --> 00:03:19,000 Speaker 1: stuff Scott and Ben. I'm sure I have covered this 56 00:03:19,520 --> 00:03:22,519 Speaker 1: at some point. And if you're into this kind of thing, 57 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:26,760 Speaker 1: they have a just a treasure Drove of car very specific, 58 00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:33,680 Speaker 1: detailed car podcast, emphasis on the treasure. So that's corumple zones. 59 00:03:33,840 --> 00:03:37,120 Speaker 1: If you want to know more about it, go listen 60 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:39,160 Speaker 1: to car Stuff. All right, should we start with that 61 00:03:39,280 --> 00:03:45,040 Speaker 1: little history bit? Yeah? Why not right. Yeah, so, um, 62 00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:47,000 Speaker 1: there's actually a lot of history too. I found this 63 00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:51,400 Speaker 1: really cool Museum of American History, a Smithsonian Museum. They 64 00:03:51,480 --> 00:03:53,800 Speaker 1: had a like an exhibit years back. It looked like 65 00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:55,800 Speaker 1: the late nineties, early two thousands, and I just went 66 00:03:55,800 --> 00:03:58,600 Speaker 1: through the page. There's this really interesting essay that they 67 00:03:58,600 --> 00:04:01,280 Speaker 1: had broken up over this webs light. Um, there's a 68 00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:04,880 Speaker 1: lot of weird history. But initially, the idea of what 69 00:04:05,120 --> 00:04:10,320 Speaker 1: caused REX has changed dramatically over the years, because at 70 00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:14,280 Speaker 1: first it was strictly driver error, because the paradigm people 71 00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:16,760 Speaker 1: were looking through was before you had horses, and a 72 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:20,359 Speaker 1: horse could spook and bolt and run somebody down, and 73 00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:23,160 Speaker 1: the horse did that, it wasn't the driver. The whole 74 00:04:23,160 --> 00:04:27,560 Speaker 1: idea of a horseless carriage was that it was just 75 00:04:27,640 --> 00:04:30,400 Speaker 1: a lump of metal that responded to the driver's commands, 76 00:04:30,640 --> 00:04:33,680 Speaker 1: and so anything that went wrong it was the driver's fault. 77 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:37,359 Speaker 1: And it took many, many years for people to realize like, actually, no, 78 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:41,240 Speaker 1: there's some serious design flaws in cars. We can actually 79 00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:44,920 Speaker 1: make them safer, right, And once people figured that out, 80 00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:48,440 Speaker 1: they didn't realize that the auto manufacturers had known this 81 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:51,600 Speaker 1: for decades. And then after the public finally realized that. 82 00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:53,680 Speaker 1: It took a few more decades for people to finally 83 00:04:53,720 --> 00:04:56,640 Speaker 1: implement it. Yeah, And I think the rationale for a 84 00:04:56,680 --> 00:04:59,360 Speaker 1: while was and it was the style of the day 85 00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:01,720 Speaker 1: as well and the materials that were available at the time. 86 00:05:01,760 --> 00:05:04,840 Speaker 1: But there was a notion of well, let's build these 87 00:05:04,839 --> 00:05:08,280 Speaker 1: things like Sherman tanks and it will make people safe, right, 88 00:05:08,360 --> 00:05:13,120 Speaker 1: And what crumble zones proved is the exact opposite. Let's 89 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:18,560 Speaker 1: build something that that crumbles and crushes in just the 90 00:05:18,640 --> 00:05:20,960 Speaker 1: right way, and that's actually much safer. And you know, 91 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:24,080 Speaker 1: it's funny. I remember when this stuff kind of came up, 92 00:05:24,120 --> 00:05:27,560 Speaker 1: what probably mid to late nineties, when people really started 93 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:31,440 Speaker 1: to show up and um in normal cars, and I 94 00:05:31,480 --> 00:05:34,760 Speaker 1: remember thinking, like, God, they make cars so cheaply compared 95 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:37,120 Speaker 1: to how they used to, Like they just come apart. 96 00:05:37,400 --> 00:05:41,360 Speaker 1: Now I realized, oh, they're designed to come apart, because 97 00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:43,880 Speaker 1: before it was like the car is not gonna do anything, 98 00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:47,000 Speaker 1: but everybody inside is gonna liquefy. Now it's like, how 99 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:49,120 Speaker 1: about we keep the people inside safe and just letting 100 00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:51,359 Speaker 1: the car take the brunt of the impact. Yeah, and 101 00:05:51,600 --> 00:05:54,000 Speaker 1: one person, there are a lot of people that that 102 00:05:54,080 --> 00:05:56,159 Speaker 1: owe to this design over the years. But one person 103 00:05:56,320 --> 00:06:01,760 Speaker 1: squarely in the center as a dude named Ella. That's 104 00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:04,960 Speaker 1: a nice name. There's a couple of accents and everything. Yeah, 105 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:06,680 Speaker 1: I'm not even sure if that's right, but he was 106 00:06:06,760 --> 00:06:11,279 Speaker 1: a very very very famous engineer and inventor for Domino events. 107 00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:16,920 Speaker 1: Holds more than patents like this guy. We all owe 108 00:06:16,960 --> 00:06:19,440 Speaker 1: a debt to this dude. So many more patents than 109 00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:24,400 Speaker 1: either of us, Yes, than both of us put together. 110 00:06:24,880 --> 00:06:29,200 Speaker 1: Do you hold a patent neither? This is kind of shameful, 111 00:06:29,279 --> 00:06:31,719 Speaker 1: really at this point, do you want to hold a patch? 112 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:35,080 Speaker 1: Everybody should hold at least one patent. Well, if you 113 00:06:35,080 --> 00:06:39,400 Speaker 1: could patent things like, uh, you know, stupid stuff that 114 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:42,720 Speaker 1: aren't like real, like um Chuck's method for getting out 115 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:47,159 Speaker 1: of the grocery store in a hurry, patent it, I 116 00:06:47,240 --> 00:06:50,680 Speaker 1: might actually try that. What is it? Are you gonna 117 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:53,520 Speaker 1: you say patent pending first before you describe it. I'll 118 00:06:53,560 --> 00:06:56,320 Speaker 1: just hold on to that. Maybe I could trademark that 119 00:06:56,680 --> 00:07:01,760 Speaker 1: not patented. No, you can patent a process kenny hh okay, 120 00:07:02,360 --> 00:07:04,120 Speaker 1: or you can just type a little trademark symbol next 121 00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:07,120 Speaker 1: to everything you say and it's like back off, everybody. 122 00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:12,640 Speaker 1: So Bella Mr Barni uh in nineteen fifty two had 123 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:15,960 Speaker 1: a patent um It was actually the very first one, uh, 124 00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:19,960 Speaker 1: the Mercedes Spence W one one one fintail. You didn't 125 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:22,120 Speaker 1: say what the patent was for. I know I was 126 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:25,120 Speaker 1: getting to it. Oh sorry, the beautiful car. And it 127 00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:30,240 Speaker 1: was the first car to hold to have this patent pending. Well, 128 00:07:30,280 --> 00:07:33,000 Speaker 1: I guess it was patent holding by that point. Crunch 129 00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:36,000 Speaker 1: zones on the front and rear of the car. The 130 00:07:36,040 --> 00:07:39,640 Speaker 1: whole reason was these current zones could be designed to 131 00:07:39,880 --> 00:07:44,320 Speaker 1: absorb the impact from a crash, and if the car 132 00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:47,000 Speaker 1: absorbed the impact, then the people were less likely to 133 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:49,720 Speaker 1: absorb the impact because that impact, the force of the 134 00:07:49,760 --> 00:07:52,960 Speaker 1: impact has to go somewhere. Yeah, it ain't going nowhere. 135 00:07:53,480 --> 00:07:56,440 Speaker 1: And if the car is built to be rigid, the 136 00:07:56,480 --> 00:08:00,240 Speaker 1: car is not gonna absorb it. It's gonna transfer it. Yeah, 137 00:08:00,280 --> 00:08:03,840 Speaker 1: like a big ford edseil hitting a Ford fair lane. 138 00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:07,640 Speaker 1: It's a lot of pounds of metal smashing into one another. 139 00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:10,400 Speaker 1: And the people inside aren't getting fare too well, especially 140 00:08:10,440 --> 00:08:12,880 Speaker 1: back then when they're like, what's the seatbelt, dude? Not 141 00:08:12,920 --> 00:08:16,080 Speaker 1: only what's the seatbelt? The earlier, earlier cars had plate 142 00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:20,000 Speaker 1: glass windows. Yeah, there were death machines. They all of 143 00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:23,120 Speaker 1: like this, the knobs and stuff. Now that's like touchscreen 144 00:08:23,640 --> 00:08:26,920 Speaker 1: before where they would stick out, so you just take 145 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:28,960 Speaker 1: one and go right through your forehead into your brain, 146 00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:34,160 Speaker 1: just getting paled. Dashboards. Dashboards weren't even padded. It was 147 00:08:34,200 --> 00:08:36,560 Speaker 1: a steel bar that would just take the top of 148 00:08:36,559 --> 00:08:39,600 Speaker 1: your head clean off. And then the cars ran on 149 00:08:39,720 --> 00:08:44,520 Speaker 1: nuclear fuel. Basically it might as well. Yeah, it was amazing. 150 00:08:44,559 --> 00:08:48,640 Speaker 1: I know that they've done side by side examples these 151 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:51,640 Speaker 1: days where they crashed an old car because people are like, oh, 152 00:08:51,679 --> 00:08:53,760 Speaker 1: the old cars were built like tanks, and so they 153 00:08:53,800 --> 00:08:55,439 Speaker 1: would do the same miles per hour for like a 154 00:08:55,520 --> 00:08:59,040 Speaker 1: Volvo compared to like a nineteen fifty seven Ford, and 155 00:08:59,320 --> 00:09:02,600 Speaker 1: you know, the it's obvious what happens. You just like 156 00:09:02,640 --> 00:09:05,120 Speaker 1: there's a there's a point in time where the common 157 00:09:05,160 --> 00:09:08,040 Speaker 1: wisdom was you didn't wear a seatbelt, even if you 158 00:09:08,120 --> 00:09:10,400 Speaker 1: had it, because you would prefer to be thrown from 159 00:09:10,440 --> 00:09:13,160 Speaker 1: the car because it was so deadly inside the car. 160 00:09:13,559 --> 00:09:16,280 Speaker 1: And there's actually a very famous injector seat pretty much 161 00:09:16,640 --> 00:09:20,280 Speaker 1: there's a famous um Reader's Digest article that really captured 162 00:09:20,280 --> 00:09:24,079 Speaker 1: public opinion back in is called Eds and Sudden Death 163 00:09:24,920 --> 00:09:27,240 Speaker 1: and it's just like really gory and gruesome, and it's 164 00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:29,800 Speaker 1: talking about like these cars are death traps. We need 165 00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:31,959 Speaker 1: to do better than this. Yeah, and they weren't even 166 00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:35,320 Speaker 1: going that fast back then, you know. All right, So 167 00:09:35,400 --> 00:09:39,920 Speaker 1: these days, um, it's all proprietary the exact features and 168 00:09:39,960 --> 00:09:45,280 Speaker 1: specifics of crumple zones because these car manufacturers they have 169 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:47,120 Speaker 1: their own methods and they don't want to share that 170 00:09:47,160 --> 00:09:50,240 Speaker 1: with everyone. Makes sense, that's fine as long as they're building, 171 00:09:50,480 --> 00:09:53,080 Speaker 1: that's right. But in general, what we're talking about our 172 00:09:53,360 --> 00:09:56,880 Speaker 1: frame designs, where certain parts of the frame of the 173 00:09:56,920 --> 00:10:01,160 Speaker 1: car bend and collapse in such a way that it 174 00:10:01,320 --> 00:10:05,000 Speaker 1: keeps the people and things like the gas tank uh 175 00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:08,120 Speaker 1: safe because you don't want that gas tank exploding either, 176 00:10:08,200 --> 00:10:11,040 Speaker 1: which we'll get to right, So let's talk about what 177 00:10:11,120 --> 00:10:15,360 Speaker 1: a crash is, right. A crash is where an object 178 00:10:15,520 --> 00:10:22,520 Speaker 1: with mass traveling at a certain rate um collides with 179 00:10:22,679 --> 00:10:28,760 Speaker 1: another object with maths. Yes, and when that happens, force 180 00:10:28,880 --> 00:10:32,200 Speaker 1: is created. Right And yeah, Well, I was gonna say, 181 00:10:32,280 --> 00:10:33,800 Speaker 1: people saying, well, what if you don't hit a car, 182 00:10:34,360 --> 00:10:36,560 Speaker 1: you're gonna hit a street, You're gonna tumble, you're gonna 183 00:10:36,640 --> 00:10:39,679 Speaker 1: hit a telephone pole, that something is going to make impact. 184 00:10:40,400 --> 00:10:43,200 Speaker 1: So what what's happening when you when you have impact 185 00:10:43,280 --> 00:10:48,480 Speaker 1: is you are technically you're accelerating, but every and logically 186 00:10:48,559 --> 00:10:50,760 Speaker 1: you should just call it decelerating in the case of 187 00:10:50,760 --> 00:10:54,679 Speaker 1: a crash, but it's still scientifically, it's still accelerating whenever 188 00:10:54,720 --> 00:10:58,760 Speaker 1: you have a change in velocity. Right, Um, So when 189 00:10:58,960 --> 00:11:02,959 Speaker 1: you hit some thing in your car and you decelerate quickly, 190 00:11:03,760 --> 00:11:08,320 Speaker 1: that force is transferred force. The force is the mass 191 00:11:08,480 --> 00:11:13,040 Speaker 1: times the the rate of deceleration. Right. So another way 192 00:11:13,080 --> 00:11:16,240 Speaker 1: to put is how bad you're messed up equals how 193 00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:19,600 Speaker 1: heavy the car is and the object that hits times 194 00:11:19,640 --> 00:11:24,160 Speaker 1: how quickly and suddenly it stops. Yeah, So you can 195 00:11:24,200 --> 00:11:29,199 Speaker 1: actually take force in that equation and and diminish it tremendously. 196 00:11:29,720 --> 00:11:33,800 Speaker 1: If you can diminish tremendously the rate of acceleration, if 197 00:11:33,840 --> 00:11:36,160 Speaker 1: you can make if you can extend the time it 198 00:11:36,200 --> 00:11:39,960 Speaker 1: takes to decelerate, and you you can understand this a 199 00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:42,640 Speaker 1: lot more easily if you think about when you come 200 00:11:42,679 --> 00:11:45,960 Speaker 1: to a stop slowly at a stop sign, as opposed 201 00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:47,680 Speaker 1: to when you have to slam on the brakes and 202 00:11:47,679 --> 00:11:50,640 Speaker 1: you come to a stop. Now, the next degree above 203 00:11:50,720 --> 00:11:54,839 Speaker 1: that is when you hit like a pylon and come 204 00:11:54,920 --> 00:11:57,600 Speaker 1: to a complete stop. So that's what an accident is. 205 00:11:57,640 --> 00:12:01,240 Speaker 1: It's that transfer of force from one to another through 206 00:12:01,280 --> 00:12:05,080 Speaker 1: this deceleration, this rapid deceleration. Yeah, and in the case 207 00:12:05,120 --> 00:12:07,560 Speaker 1: of a crumple zone. Uh, there are two things that 208 00:12:07,640 --> 00:12:09,719 Speaker 1: is trying to do. Their one is to reduce that 209 00:12:10,320 --> 00:12:14,440 Speaker 1: initial point of force, initial force from that first point 210 00:12:14,440 --> 00:12:16,880 Speaker 1: of contact when you hit that phone pole or that 211 00:12:16,920 --> 00:12:19,720 Speaker 1: other car or whatever. You want to drop that force 212 00:12:20,080 --> 00:12:24,400 Speaker 1: and then redistribute that away from the people, right right, 213 00:12:24,520 --> 00:12:27,880 Speaker 1: So the way you drop that force is to extend 214 00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:31,520 Speaker 1: the rate of deceleration, even by tenths of a second, 215 00:12:31,640 --> 00:12:34,040 Speaker 1: makes an enormous impact, Like that's all you have in 216 00:12:34,080 --> 00:12:36,880 Speaker 1: the case of a crash. Right. So Ed points out, 217 00:12:37,040 --> 00:12:40,680 Speaker 1: um that if you take if you change the deceleration 218 00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:43,760 Speaker 1: time from point two seconds to point eight seconds, you 219 00:12:43,840 --> 00:12:49,160 Speaker 1: reduce the total force by huge difference. Yeah, especially if 220 00:12:49,200 --> 00:12:53,199 Speaker 1: you're in a car accident, like less force being transmitted 221 00:12:53,200 --> 00:12:58,880 Speaker 1: through the car, is that's preferable, yeah, right, So, Um, 222 00:12:58,960 --> 00:13:01,760 Speaker 1: the whole point of crumps, the whole thinking behind them, 223 00:13:01,880 --> 00:13:06,160 Speaker 1: is to basically build an area that can change this deceleration, 224 00:13:07,040 --> 00:13:11,000 Speaker 1: lengthen it out some so that the forces. Yeah, and 225 00:13:11,000 --> 00:13:14,680 Speaker 1: then also to kind of redistribute that force throughout the 226 00:13:14,720 --> 00:13:18,240 Speaker 1: car away from the passengers. That's the whole thing behind 227 00:13:18,280 --> 00:13:20,880 Speaker 1: it makes total sense. All right, let's take a quick 228 00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:23,280 Speaker 1: break here and we will come back and talk a 229 00:13:23,320 --> 00:13:48,000 Speaker 1: little bit about how they're doing that stuff. All right, 230 00:13:48,120 --> 00:13:52,800 Speaker 1: So a car is it can't be one big crumple zone. 231 00:13:53,400 --> 00:13:56,360 Speaker 1: There are parts that need to be rigid, Like the 232 00:13:56,840 --> 00:14:00,760 Speaker 1: if you picture a car, picture the four seat. Let's 233 00:14:00,760 --> 00:14:02,760 Speaker 1: just talk about a four seater. Let's do it. I 234 00:14:02,800 --> 00:14:04,480 Speaker 1: know people will be like, what about the third row, 235 00:14:04,559 --> 00:14:07,440 Speaker 1: there's seven of us in here, whatever the case. Just 236 00:14:07,520 --> 00:14:11,680 Speaker 1: picture a small box where the people are actually sitting. Yeah, 237 00:14:11,679 --> 00:14:14,439 Speaker 1: that's the called the passenger compartment. The passenger compartment, that 238 00:14:14,559 --> 00:14:17,560 Speaker 1: is that box that needs to be rigid. You don't 239 00:14:17,559 --> 00:14:21,400 Speaker 1: want that crumpling. You want everything before that and after 240 00:14:21,520 --> 00:14:26,080 Speaker 1: that crumpling to reduce that force and that decert rate 241 00:14:26,080 --> 00:14:30,600 Speaker 1: of deceleration. So you want that middle to be super strong, 242 00:14:30,640 --> 00:14:34,480 Speaker 1: and you don't want to because if that crumples, the 243 00:14:34,480 --> 00:14:37,280 Speaker 1: people aren't protected any longer. They're exposed all sorts of 244 00:14:37,400 --> 00:14:40,960 Speaker 1: terrible stuff. So it does have to be rigid. But again, 245 00:14:41,160 --> 00:14:44,640 Speaker 1: before they made the whole thinking was, well, just make 246 00:14:44,680 --> 00:14:48,240 Speaker 1: the whole car super rigid. And the problem is there 247 00:14:48,240 --> 00:14:53,480 Speaker 1: has to be something that's absorbing into redistributing that force. Um, 248 00:14:53,560 --> 00:14:56,320 Speaker 1: and that's what the crumple crumple zone does. So they 249 00:14:56,360 --> 00:14:59,600 Speaker 1: took that tank of a car and rather the whole 250 00:14:59,600 --> 00:15:01,840 Speaker 1: car being that, they shrunk it down to just the 251 00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:04,840 Speaker 1: passenger compartment where it's really needed, and then made the 252 00:15:04,880 --> 00:15:07,760 Speaker 1: rest of the car a big crumple zone and then 253 00:15:07,760 --> 00:15:11,640 Speaker 1: surrounded that part with air bags, side curtain, front and 254 00:15:11,680 --> 00:15:14,680 Speaker 1: all that stuff. So that's what protects the people. But um, 255 00:15:14,720 --> 00:15:17,160 Speaker 1: the way this article put it in Man sure has 256 00:15:17,160 --> 00:15:20,040 Speaker 1: a way with words. He talked about thinking of it 257 00:15:20,080 --> 00:15:23,400 Speaker 1: in terms a car crash in terms of a budget, 258 00:15:23,440 --> 00:15:26,640 Speaker 1: like a monetary budget, and that's what that forces. And 259 00:15:26,840 --> 00:15:32,160 Speaker 1: everything that happens is paying a little bit of that budget. 260 00:15:32,200 --> 00:15:34,600 Speaker 1: It's spending some of it, yeah, spending some taking away 261 00:15:34,600 --> 00:15:37,520 Speaker 1: from that budget, like like on glass breaks, when the door, 262 00:15:38,080 --> 00:15:40,840 Speaker 1: you know, when anything any kind of damage happens, that's 263 00:15:40,880 --> 00:15:43,760 Speaker 1: spending a tiny little bit of that budget because that's energy, right, 264 00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:46,160 Speaker 1: And then eventually the budgets entirely spent and all the 265 00:15:46,160 --> 00:15:48,680 Speaker 1: force has been distributed in the accidents over the crash 266 00:15:48,760 --> 00:15:53,080 Speaker 1: is over right. Um, if you can get other parts 267 00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:57,680 Speaker 1: besides the passenger compartment and even more importantly the passengers 268 00:15:58,360 --> 00:16:03,560 Speaker 1: to distribute that force, then ad can be distributed before 269 00:16:03,680 --> 00:16:06,040 Speaker 1: it gets to the passengers. Yeah, you wanted to be 270 00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:08,160 Speaker 1: paid down to almost nothing by the time it gets 271 00:16:08,160 --> 00:16:10,040 Speaker 1: to you. I don't think it's get the imperson. I 272 00:16:10,080 --> 00:16:13,480 Speaker 1: don't think it's possible to distribute a percent of the force. 273 00:16:13,840 --> 00:16:16,240 Speaker 1: Probably not, because in that case, like the person wouldn't 274 00:16:16,280 --> 00:16:22,080 Speaker 1: even you wouldn't feel anything, right, So, but I mean, 275 00:16:22,360 --> 00:16:25,320 Speaker 1: is that possible? I guess could you design something to 276 00:16:25,360 --> 00:16:29,400 Speaker 1: where somebody could come to a complete and sudden stop 277 00:16:29,520 --> 00:16:34,000 Speaker 1: in an impact and not not experience any force whatsoever 278 00:16:34,040 --> 00:16:36,560 Speaker 1: because all of it was distributed away from the person. 279 00:16:37,640 --> 00:16:40,440 Speaker 1: Probably not. And that's the point the article makes. Probably 280 00:16:40,480 --> 00:16:45,080 Speaker 1: not like a drivable manufacturable car, because that's the delicate balance. 281 00:16:45,160 --> 00:16:47,520 Speaker 1: They they still have to drive and handle in a 282 00:16:47,520 --> 00:16:50,440 Speaker 1: certain way. And like when you that's what it fascinates 283 00:16:50,440 --> 00:16:52,960 Speaker 1: me about this is car design. You have to take 284 00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:56,280 Speaker 1: all these things that are knocking heads against one another 285 00:16:56,320 --> 00:16:59,120 Speaker 1: into consideration. You know, it's got a gas think in there, 286 00:16:59,440 --> 00:17:03,920 Speaker 1: things full of flammable fuel and it's crashing into things 287 00:17:03,960 --> 00:17:07,600 Speaker 1: like it's amazing. It's really like that delicate balance they've 288 00:17:07,600 --> 00:17:10,199 Speaker 1: walked these days to make cars as safe as they 289 00:17:10,200 --> 00:17:13,280 Speaker 1: are as astounding to me. So so there are some 290 00:17:13,320 --> 00:17:14,960 Speaker 1: things that they have to trade off. Like if you 291 00:17:15,040 --> 00:17:17,760 Speaker 1: have a really good um crumple zone, a big one 292 00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:21,200 Speaker 1: in front, you're gonna have to do something with your engine. 293 00:17:21,280 --> 00:17:23,280 Speaker 1: And you can only put an engine so much on 294 00:17:23,320 --> 00:17:26,119 Speaker 1: top of itself before it needs to just kind of 295 00:17:26,119 --> 00:17:29,200 Speaker 1: go back toward the passenger right, And you can only 296 00:17:29,240 --> 00:17:31,320 Speaker 1: move it back so much. And the problem is with 297 00:17:31,359 --> 00:17:33,359 Speaker 1: an engine. An engine is one of the few things 298 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:37,119 Speaker 1: in the car aside from the passenger compartment that is 299 00:17:37,640 --> 00:17:41,280 Speaker 1: rigid and basically immovable. Like an engine is not going 300 00:17:41,359 --> 00:17:46,320 Speaker 1: to crumple and bend. It's going to transmit that force. 301 00:17:47,040 --> 00:17:50,320 Speaker 1: And if that engine comes into the passenger compartment, it's 302 00:17:50,320 --> 00:17:54,080 Speaker 1: going to say hello and transmit that force right into 303 00:17:54,080 --> 00:17:57,159 Speaker 1: the people that it runs into. Yeah, and that I 304 00:17:57,160 --> 00:18:00,359 Speaker 1: mean I remember old car Wrex where the engine is 305 00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:03,320 Speaker 1: like in the front seat, you know, where the person 306 00:18:03,400 --> 00:18:05,560 Speaker 1: used to be. That's not a good place for an engine, 307 00:18:05,560 --> 00:18:08,000 Speaker 1: and that's not a good place at all. So there 308 00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:10,399 Speaker 1: are considerations you have to you have to do in 309 00:18:10,640 --> 00:18:13,680 Speaker 1: making a crumple zone, um Like, so in that case 310 00:18:13,720 --> 00:18:16,680 Speaker 1: you would be like, well, it's likelier that the engine 311 00:18:16,760 --> 00:18:19,200 Speaker 1: is going to kill the passenger by getting pushed into 312 00:18:19,200 --> 00:18:21,159 Speaker 1: the passenger compartment. We're just gonna have to make the 313 00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:25,200 Speaker 1: crump zone a little less um And then another thing, 314 00:18:25,280 --> 00:18:26,760 Speaker 1: like you said, that they have to deal with is 315 00:18:26,960 --> 00:18:30,200 Speaker 1: gas tanks. Thought that most cars fuel tanks are in 316 00:18:30,240 --> 00:18:35,240 Speaker 1: the back, and this is really cool. Most modern cars, 317 00:18:35,240 --> 00:18:39,119 Speaker 1: when you getting a rear end collision, it's designed the 318 00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:42,119 Speaker 1: rear crumple zone is designed to go up so that 319 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:45,160 Speaker 1: the gas tank is actually lifted up and away from 320 00:18:45,280 --> 00:18:47,399 Speaker 1: the point of collision, which is usually the hood of 321 00:18:47,440 --> 00:18:49,879 Speaker 1: a car behind it, right, which happens in a fraction 322 00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:52,320 Speaker 1: of a second, right, So it's designed to do that. 323 00:18:52,320 --> 00:18:54,280 Speaker 1: That's part of a crumple zone as well. And that's 324 00:18:54,280 --> 00:18:59,280 Speaker 1: a huge improvement from the seventies, specifically with the Ford Pinto. 325 00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:03,320 Speaker 1: So the Ford Pinto. Man, this is this one may 326 00:19:03,520 --> 00:19:06,840 Speaker 1: even deserve podcasts in and of itself, but I think 327 00:19:06,880 --> 00:19:11,480 Speaker 1: in like ninetevent definitely the seventies people were dying in 328 00:19:11,680 --> 00:19:16,879 Speaker 1: fairly low speed rear and collisions because the Pinto's fuel 329 00:19:16,920 --> 00:19:21,360 Speaker 1: tank would break and catch flame and burn people alive. 330 00:19:21,680 --> 00:19:24,159 Speaker 1: These cars were exploding in minor collisions, and then the 331 00:19:24,200 --> 00:19:27,000 Speaker 1: autopsy would show they had like basically not even a 332 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:29,600 Speaker 1: bump or a bruise. They had just been burned to 333 00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:33,720 Speaker 1: death because the Ford Pinto gas tank blew up. And 334 00:19:33,880 --> 00:19:38,440 Speaker 1: Ford got caught very famously with some internal memos where 335 00:19:38,440 --> 00:19:42,720 Speaker 1: they calculated the cost benefit of a recall as opposed 336 00:19:42,720 --> 00:19:45,600 Speaker 1: to paying out lawsuits for human lives, and they said, 337 00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:47,280 Speaker 1: the human life we're going to say is about five 338 00:19:47,359 --> 00:19:50,960 Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars, So if if you know X number 339 00:19:50,960 --> 00:19:53,479 Speaker 1: of people see us will end up probably spending forty 340 00:19:53,560 --> 00:19:56,440 Speaker 1: nine million. But it cost us a hundred and thirty 341 00:19:56,480 --> 00:19:58,639 Speaker 1: seven million to recall these things and actually make them 342 00:19:58,680 --> 00:20:01,760 Speaker 1: safe to protect people. So they went with the just 343 00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:04,879 Speaker 1: handling lawsuits and it was a big deal, and finally 344 00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:07,240 Speaker 1: there enough of a public outcry came out about it 345 00:20:07,320 --> 00:20:10,640 Speaker 1: that they finally did something. Um and I think they 346 00:20:10,640 --> 00:20:13,360 Speaker 1: did recall some Pinto's and then they were like, oh, 347 00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:15,359 Speaker 1: we'll just put the guess thing in front of the 348 00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:19,320 Speaker 1: rear axle so that's not exposed during crashes, and a 349 00:20:19,320 --> 00:20:22,080 Speaker 1: couple of other improvements that cost like a dollar a piece, 350 00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:25,440 Speaker 1: and they at that point it was kind of um, 351 00:20:25,560 --> 00:20:30,240 Speaker 1: the Pinto was dead. Yeah, they weren't selling longer. No, 352 00:20:30,359 --> 00:20:32,120 Speaker 1: I mean, like you want to get a bad name 353 00:20:32,160 --> 00:20:35,240 Speaker 1: for your car, fiery death is a good way to 354 00:20:35,280 --> 00:20:38,480 Speaker 1: do it. There was a movie, what was it. It It 355 00:20:38,600 --> 00:20:42,200 Speaker 1: was one of the spoof movies. Oh it was. It 356 00:20:42,280 --> 00:20:47,080 Speaker 1: was don't don't talk top secret, Secret barely tapped the tree. 357 00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:51,120 Speaker 1: It was a Pinto that exploded like it slowed down 358 00:20:51,119 --> 00:20:54,000 Speaker 1: and went and then went boom. I didn't think it 359 00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:56,919 Speaker 1: was top secret. So when that World War two, it 360 00:20:57,000 --> 00:21:05,040 Speaker 1: was an anachronism. I'm I'm nine point nine. That was 361 00:21:05,119 --> 00:21:09,639 Speaker 1: my first thing too, my first guess. Alright, so, uh, 362 00:21:09,960 --> 00:21:13,160 Speaker 1: not only gas tanks, but these days with these fancy 363 00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:16,439 Speaker 1: schmancy electric and hybrid cars, you've got these big battery 364 00:21:16,440 --> 00:21:19,280 Speaker 1: packs and you've got toxic chemicals, and you know it's 365 00:21:19,400 --> 00:21:22,040 Speaker 1: you've got to protect that as well. If you, in 366 00:21:22,080 --> 00:21:24,800 Speaker 1: the case of a Tesla Roadster, if you get into 367 00:21:24,840 --> 00:21:27,920 Speaker 1: an accident, elon Musk himself comes and pulls you to safety. 368 00:21:29,320 --> 00:21:33,399 Speaker 1: That's the level of service. Yeah, oh wow, I might 369 00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:35,919 Speaker 1: be worth it. If you need it. Uh No. In 370 00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:38,440 Speaker 1: the case of a rodster though, it is pretty neat. Though, Um, 371 00:21:38,480 --> 00:21:41,200 Speaker 1: it's got a safety mechanism. It shuts off the battery packs, 372 00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:44,560 Speaker 1: drains all the electric energy from the cables the instant 373 00:21:44,680 --> 00:21:48,320 Speaker 1: it senses an emergency. Pretty rad. It is pretty rad. 374 00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:51,000 Speaker 1: What about if your car is tiny, though, it's pretty easy. 375 00:21:51,040 --> 00:21:54,399 Speaker 1: If you've got a stretch limo, you've got plenty of 376 00:21:54,400 --> 00:21:56,800 Speaker 1: things to crumple, Yeah, crumple away. But what about like 377 00:21:56,800 --> 00:22:00,159 Speaker 1: a Mini Cooper. What's this thing? Smart car? Yeah, like 378 00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:04,160 Speaker 1: a smart car. Um. So the grabster says, well, let's 379 00:22:04,240 --> 00:22:07,560 Speaker 1: use a smart too as an example. Um. They came 380 00:22:07,640 --> 00:22:10,280 Speaker 1: up with crumple zones that they call crash boxes, one 381 00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:12,040 Speaker 1: in the front and one in the rear. But the 382 00:22:12,040 --> 00:22:15,480 Speaker 1: problem is these are extraordinarily small cars. You've seen smart 383 00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:18,399 Speaker 1: cars before. It's like the kind you could put like 384 00:22:18,440 --> 00:22:20,520 Speaker 1: a giant penny in the back and like pull it 385 00:22:20,560 --> 00:22:22,640 Speaker 1: backward and it takes all It looks like a McDonald's 386 00:22:22,640 --> 00:22:27,000 Speaker 1: happy meal very much, except a very very expensive one. Um. 387 00:22:27,080 --> 00:22:29,840 Speaker 1: But the smart cars very small, and when it does 388 00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:31,760 Speaker 1: get in the crest, it does have these crumple zones, 389 00:22:31,800 --> 00:22:34,880 Speaker 1: and they do do something, but they The engineers also 390 00:22:34,920 --> 00:22:37,120 Speaker 1: had to like get kind of clever to like, for example, 391 00:22:37,119 --> 00:22:40,960 Speaker 1: I think, um, the transmission actually turns into its own 392 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:44,560 Speaker 1: crumple zone to redistribute the force, right, Yeah, it's amazing. 393 00:22:44,720 --> 00:22:47,600 Speaker 1: And um they use the wheels and the tires. They 394 00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:49,520 Speaker 1: were like, well, these things they're gonna be getting a 395 00:22:49,520 --> 00:22:52,520 Speaker 1: lot of impact right away, so why not design the wheels, 396 00:22:52,600 --> 00:22:57,200 Speaker 1: the suspension, the tires, uh two deform and breakaway or 397 00:22:57,240 --> 00:23:00,439 Speaker 1: even rebound and distribute that kinetic energy elsewhere, which is 398 00:23:00,440 --> 00:23:04,200 Speaker 1: pretty awesome. It's amazing. Yeah, And so again we should 399 00:23:04,240 --> 00:23:07,000 Speaker 1: say this is proprietary stuff for the most part, but 400 00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:09,840 Speaker 1: you can really let your imagination run with these things. 401 00:23:09,840 --> 00:23:12,919 Speaker 1: Like all you have to do is say, um, you know, 402 00:23:13,320 --> 00:23:17,000 Speaker 1: like really high end sports cars, they'll use like honeycombed 403 00:23:17,600 --> 00:23:22,919 Speaker 1: structures which give great, excellent strength under normal conditions, but 404 00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:26,120 Speaker 1: when they're dented with enough force, they just completely give 405 00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:30,119 Speaker 1: and crumple and that force gets redistributed throughout the honeycomb. 406 00:23:30,119 --> 00:23:35,200 Speaker 1: Imagine more lightweight too. Yeah, I guess you think trains, 407 00:23:35,440 --> 00:23:38,760 Speaker 1: even trains just technology, which is pretty smart too. What 408 00:23:38,800 --> 00:23:40,879 Speaker 1: they put them on the front and rear of each 409 00:23:41,520 --> 00:23:44,280 Speaker 1: car compartment, right, each passenger car, and then when the 410 00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:47,560 Speaker 1: cars to start stacking up, it just gets distributed throughout 411 00:23:47,560 --> 00:23:50,760 Speaker 1: the train rather than into the people who are trying 412 00:23:50,760 --> 00:23:53,760 Speaker 1: to eat their seals. Very steak. All right, we let's 413 00:23:53,800 --> 00:23:55,600 Speaker 1: take another break and we'll come back and finish up 414 00:23:55,640 --> 00:23:58,119 Speaker 1: with a little bit on everyone's favorite topic of the 415 00:23:58,119 --> 00:24:22,720 Speaker 1: stuff you should know Army Nascar No So Chuck the 416 00:24:22,800 --> 00:24:27,800 Speaker 1: Grabster mentions a crash in this article. Michael waltrips Darryll 417 00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:32,400 Speaker 1: Walt trip No. Michael waltrips crash at Bristol. You look 418 00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:37,280 Speaker 1: it up. It's pretty bad. It's insane that he not 419 00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:40,920 Speaker 1: only survived like they show him right after the crash, 420 00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:43,680 Speaker 1: like waving to the crowd like, hey, I'll be at 421 00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:46,320 Speaker 1: the bar. Yeah, he probably was too. Oh I would 422 00:24:46,320 --> 00:24:48,440 Speaker 1: have been have been like give me a flask right now. 423 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:52,120 Speaker 1: This is a and it was that the Bristol track 424 00:24:52,160 --> 00:24:55,600 Speaker 1: in Tennessee. And um, Bristol is a it's not. It's 425 00:24:55,680 --> 00:24:59,760 Speaker 1: the one of the slowest, thankfully. It's not a superspeedway. 426 00:24:59,800 --> 00:25:03,040 Speaker 1: It's really small. But he was going fast. Well, you're 427 00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:05,520 Speaker 1: still racing cars, but it's not like he was. He 428 00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:07,200 Speaker 1: wasn't going like two hundred miles an hour or anything 429 00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:09,000 Speaker 1: like how fast is he going? Nina, I don't know. 430 00:25:09,080 --> 00:25:11,400 Speaker 1: At Bristol. I'm gonna get this wrong. I think. I mean, 431 00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:15,920 Speaker 1: the top speeds are in the lower one hundred, twenties 432 00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:18,920 Speaker 1: and thirties. He's still going over one mile an hour, 433 00:25:19,280 --> 00:25:24,960 Speaker 1: which is several kilometers per hour. And he just stopped 434 00:25:24,960 --> 00:25:26,760 Speaker 1: all of a sudden because he hit a pylon, a 435 00:25:26,800 --> 00:25:30,000 Speaker 1: concrete pylon. Yeah, he hits uh. Instead of like another 436 00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:33,120 Speaker 1: car that will move with you, or offense that will 437 00:25:33,119 --> 00:25:36,359 Speaker 1: break away, he hits something that had zero give. Now 438 00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:38,960 Speaker 1: um something else that may have saved him, but it 439 00:25:39,040 --> 00:25:42,200 Speaker 1: seems it's so slight, it seems minimal. He actually hits 440 00:25:42,280 --> 00:25:46,200 Speaker 1: the guardrail a fraction of a second before he hit 441 00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:49,880 Speaker 1: the concrete, and you see some stuff kind of come off. 442 00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:53,639 Speaker 1: And again, when you look at force, that force of 443 00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:57,240 Speaker 1: the collision. As a budget, that spent some of that 444 00:25:57,240 --> 00:25:59,720 Speaker 1: that force when those things takes force for those things 445 00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:03,159 Speaker 1: to be thrown clear, But it was probably just miniscule 446 00:26:03,160 --> 00:26:05,960 Speaker 1: compared to the actual impact that came right after that 447 00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:09,840 Speaker 1: when he hits the concrete and just the car just disintegrates. Well. 448 00:26:09,880 --> 00:26:12,720 Speaker 1: And this was in before they had done a lot 449 00:26:12,760 --> 00:26:16,760 Speaker 1: of the safety advances that they have today in NASCAR, 450 00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:19,080 Speaker 1: and they head points out in this article like he 451 00:26:19,160 --> 00:26:22,359 Speaker 1: got lucky, Like he shouldn't have survived that crash with 452 00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:25,399 Speaker 1: the kind of cars they had. He got super lucky. 453 00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:28,240 Speaker 1: But even if you're not a car race fan and 454 00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:31,280 Speaker 1: you see these rex on TV where the car just 455 00:26:31,720 --> 00:26:34,959 Speaker 1: flies onto a million pieces, that's exactly what it's supposed 456 00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:37,440 Speaker 1: to be doing. And every little piece of that car 457 00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:40,119 Speaker 1: you see flying off is something that has kept that 458 00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:43,880 Speaker 1: driver safe. It's so funny to think, like before they 459 00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:47,480 Speaker 1: designed cars to save you money in the shop after 460 00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:50,960 Speaker 1: a wreck, but it didn't matter because there's really just 461 00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:54,280 Speaker 1: saving your a state money because you're dead. Now it's 462 00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:56,679 Speaker 1: like this is gonna this is gonna cost you a 463 00:26:56,720 --> 00:26:59,679 Speaker 1: billion dollars to replace this this car. It's basically just 464 00:26:59,720 --> 00:27:03,200 Speaker 1: told old but you're fine, right, Like that's the thinking 465 00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:06,359 Speaker 1: behind crumple zones. Basically, yeah, that human life was more 466 00:27:06,400 --> 00:27:09,439 Speaker 1: important than a bumper that you don't have to replace. 467 00:27:10,520 --> 00:27:15,639 Speaker 1: Good move. UM in two thousand, In the eighties and nineties, UM, actually, 468 00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:21,560 Speaker 1: all throughout NASCAR history up until the two thousand's UM, 469 00:27:21,680 --> 00:27:24,240 Speaker 1: the idea was a little more that old school approach. 470 00:27:24,280 --> 00:27:27,840 Speaker 1: They wanted these cars to be rigid and stiff because 471 00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:31,280 Speaker 1: they performed better and they were heavier and you could 472 00:27:31,359 --> 00:27:34,800 Speaker 1: drive faster and hug the road and handle better. But 473 00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:38,760 Speaker 1: then in in two thousand one and you know, it's, well, 474 00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:42,600 Speaker 1: it's not funny at all. I followed NASCAR one time 475 00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:46,560 Speaker 1: for one season and the very first because I had 476 00:27:46,600 --> 00:27:49,000 Speaker 1: friends that did it, and I was like just driving 477 00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:52,920 Speaker 1: in a circle. They're like, no, no no, no, just watch Chuck. 478 00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:56,160 Speaker 1: It's much more than that. Just watch. You're smart guy, 479 00:27:56,280 --> 00:27:58,600 Speaker 1: you'll get it. And so I was like, all right. 480 00:27:58,600 --> 00:28:01,160 Speaker 1: I watched the Daytime five hundred and two thousand one, 481 00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:04,160 Speaker 1: and that's when dail Ernard died. That was the first 482 00:28:04,240 --> 00:28:06,600 Speaker 1: race I ever watched, like all the way through, like, 483 00:28:06,640 --> 00:28:08,840 Speaker 1: does this happen a lot? Well, I was scared I 484 00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:11,080 Speaker 1: had something to do with it. I don't know if 485 00:28:11,160 --> 00:28:13,919 Speaker 1: you did. I don't think you're a jinx no. But 486 00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:16,400 Speaker 1: it was very sad because if you saw that wreck, 487 00:28:16,480 --> 00:28:18,040 Speaker 1: it didn't appear to be that big of a deal 488 00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:21,040 Speaker 1: because the car didn't fly into a million pieces. Yeah, 489 00:28:21,119 --> 00:28:23,040 Speaker 1: he just kind of turned up into the wall and 490 00:28:23,119 --> 00:28:25,720 Speaker 1: all of a sudden, Dale Earnhart's dead. I think they 491 00:28:25,760 --> 00:28:30,000 Speaker 1: even like they played like a wall sound effect before 492 00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:33,399 Speaker 1: they realized like, oh wait, yeah, it was awful. So 493 00:28:33,440 --> 00:28:36,080 Speaker 1: what happened in that case is he had what's called 494 00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:40,840 Speaker 1: a Bassler skull fracture. So did you look these up? Yeah? 495 00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:43,240 Speaker 1: I mean this is when you're going really fast and 496 00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:45,600 Speaker 1: you stop immediately, and in the case of a race 497 00:28:45,600 --> 00:28:49,200 Speaker 1: car driver, their bodies are completely strapped in, but their 498 00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:52,480 Speaker 1: heads at the time weren't, and your head goes forward 499 00:28:52,480 --> 00:28:55,200 Speaker 1: and your body doesn't. Yeah, and you get a fracture, 500 00:28:55,440 --> 00:28:59,040 Speaker 1: a snap where your spinal column meets your skull. That's 501 00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:01,480 Speaker 1: the basilar skull fracture. Did you look it up on 502 00:29:01,520 --> 00:29:05,680 Speaker 1: Google Images? Yeah, it's Man, did you see the raccoon eyes? 503 00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:11,360 Speaker 1: There's actually, Ah, you can if you're doing an autopsy 504 00:29:11,480 --> 00:29:14,360 Speaker 1: or something. One way to too if the person has 505 00:29:14,400 --> 00:29:17,280 Speaker 1: like real dark circles around their eyes and especially under 506 00:29:17,320 --> 00:29:20,120 Speaker 1: their eyes. Um, that's called raccoon eyes, and it's a 507 00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:24,800 Speaker 1: symptom of basilar skull fracture. Um. It's pretty crazy stuff. 508 00:29:26,080 --> 00:29:28,680 Speaker 1: You probably shouldn't look that up because there's some really 509 00:29:28,760 --> 00:29:32,520 Speaker 1: awful pictures of just dead people with raccoon eyes and 510 00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:35,840 Speaker 1: the tops of their heads removed and stuff. Man, well 511 00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:39,040 Speaker 1: because that wreck, because they are in heart with such 512 00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:42,400 Speaker 1: an icon of the sport. I mean, you know, anytime 513 00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:45,880 Speaker 1: someone dies it's a tragedy. But he was like on 514 00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:49,040 Speaker 1: the mount Rushmore of race car drivers, So for him 515 00:29:49,080 --> 00:29:53,080 Speaker 1: to die in a crash, they really started taking things seriously. 516 00:29:53,280 --> 00:29:56,200 Speaker 1: And um they created what's called the Car of Tomorrow, 517 00:29:56,800 --> 00:29:58,600 Speaker 1: which is what they've been racing in I think since 518 00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:02,200 Speaker 1: two thousand eight. Uh, and that is uh, well, it's 519 00:30:02,240 --> 00:30:05,480 Speaker 1: essentially just a card that's way way, way safer. We 520 00:30:05,480 --> 00:30:09,160 Speaker 1: won't get into a lot of the particulars, but there's 521 00:30:09,800 --> 00:30:13,320 Speaker 1: more styrofoam involved that are crumple zones. It was just 522 00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:15,120 Speaker 1: a big one. I think the I think it's called 523 00:30:15,160 --> 00:30:17,800 Speaker 1: the Hans Device is what they started wearing after that, 524 00:30:17,800 --> 00:30:21,280 Speaker 1: which keeps your head attached to the seat smart so 525 00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:24,520 Speaker 1: it doesn't snap forward. The drivers didn't like it as 526 00:30:24,600 --> 00:30:27,360 Speaker 1: much because they couldn't look around as easily, but you know, 527 00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:29,760 Speaker 1: it's like a give and take with safety. Sure you 528 00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:31,920 Speaker 1: don't want to die out there either. Let's put some 529 00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:36,680 Speaker 1: mirrors in there. I got a rear view mirror. We'll 530 00:30:36,720 --> 00:30:41,200 Speaker 1: put a bigger one up. Uh. I got nothing left, No, 531 00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:44,680 Speaker 1: you got anything left? As crumple zones part of the 532 00:30:44,760 --> 00:30:49,480 Speaker 1: growing auto safety suite. Uh. If you want to know 533 00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:52,600 Speaker 1: more about crumple zones, type the word those words into 534 00:30:52,600 --> 00:30:54,600 Speaker 1: the search part how stufforks dot com. Since I said 535 00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:59,400 Speaker 1: search parts notap for listener mail, I'm gonna call this 536 00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:05,040 Speaker 1: hundreds of doll heads? Did you read this one? Hey? 537 00:31:05,080 --> 00:31:07,080 Speaker 1: Guys love the show. The lead episode hit home because 538 00:31:07,120 --> 00:31:10,800 Speaker 1: I worked for a consumer product certification company. We test 539 00:31:10,840 --> 00:31:14,840 Speaker 1: everything from guitars to pacifiers to chainsaws, and one of 540 00:31:14,880 --> 00:31:20,320 Speaker 1: our responsibilities is certifying low lead content. UM. Part of 541 00:31:20,320 --> 00:31:23,560 Speaker 1: our federal code mandates that surface coatings paint on children's 542 00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:26,800 Speaker 1: products and furniture contained no more than ninety parts per 543 00:31:26,800 --> 00:31:29,320 Speaker 1: million of lead at This limit was originally six hundred 544 00:31:29,360 --> 00:31:31,840 Speaker 1: parts per million, but it was lowered after the lead 545 00:31:31,840 --> 00:31:34,840 Speaker 1: toy panic of two thousand seven. Remember that one, the 546 00:31:35,320 --> 00:31:38,560 Speaker 1: Great lead Panic of two thousand Do you know? Yeah? 547 00:31:38,600 --> 00:31:40,800 Speaker 1: Remember the Chinese toys turned up with lead in it 548 00:31:40,840 --> 00:31:43,360 Speaker 1: and everybody's like, get those things out of here. I 549 00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:46,240 Speaker 1: think I slept through most of two thousand seven. Yeah. 550 00:31:46,360 --> 00:31:49,960 Speaker 1: Did you have mono mature? Okay? Uh? And our trace 551 00:31:50,040 --> 00:31:53,920 Speaker 1: Metals Analytics lab we test thousands of products every year. Uh, 552 00:31:53,960 --> 00:31:59,080 Speaker 1: for heavy metals, lead, mercury, arson, etcetera, and other restricted substances. 553 00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:00,760 Speaker 1: My first job at the company was to use a 554 00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:04,240 Speaker 1: razor blade and physically scraped surface coatings off toys for 555 00:32:04,360 --> 00:32:07,720 Speaker 1: lead testing UH. This job was quite tedious due to 556 00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:11,320 Speaker 1: the amount of UH scraped surface coating needed for acid 557 00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:14,640 Speaker 1: digestion and chemical analysis. The early days of your podcast 558 00:32:15,120 --> 00:32:18,120 Speaker 1: definitely helped. In one instance, our lab we asked was 559 00:32:18,160 --> 00:32:21,640 Speaker 1: asked to test only the painted eyebrows of a doll. 560 00:32:22,720 --> 00:32:25,320 Speaker 1: You can imagine how little surface coating can be collected 561 00:32:25,640 --> 00:32:27,520 Speaker 1: from one set of eyebrows. Due to this, I was 562 00:32:27,560 --> 00:32:32,840 Speaker 1: surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of doll heads with scraped eyebrows. 563 00:32:33,280 --> 00:32:35,959 Speaker 1: As you can imagine, the sites of hundreds of eyebrows 564 00:32:36,120 --> 00:32:37,840 Speaker 1: doll heads staring at you as you work is quite 565 00:32:37,880 --> 00:32:40,440 Speaker 1: off putting. If their dead eyes just want you to 566 00:32:40,480 --> 00:32:42,959 Speaker 1: know there were thousands of people working hard every day 567 00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:44,920 Speaker 1: to ensure the products are safer you and your families. 568 00:32:45,360 --> 00:32:47,440 Speaker 1: Thanks guys, keep up the great work. And that is Matt. 569 00:32:47,920 --> 00:32:50,960 Speaker 1: Thank you. Matt. Hat is off to you for what 570 00:32:51,040 --> 00:32:53,400 Speaker 1: you do for a living things, for keeping him with 571 00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:56,840 Speaker 1: soul safe, tucking us all in at night. If you 572 00:32:56,840 --> 00:32:58,400 Speaker 1: want to get in touch with this, you can tweet 573 00:32:58,440 --> 00:33:00,520 Speaker 1: to us the spy Scape Podcast. You can join us 574 00:33:00,520 --> 00:33:02,640 Speaker 1: on Facebook dot com, slash Stuff you Should Know, hang 575 00:33:02,680 --> 00:33:04,480 Speaker 1: out with us on Instagram at s y s K 576 00:33:04,640 --> 00:33:06,880 Speaker 1: podcast so you can send us an email to Stuff 577 00:33:06,920 --> 00:33:09,360 Speaker 1: podcast at how stuff Works dot com and has always 578 00:33:09,400 --> 00:33:11,280 Speaker 1: joined us at our home on the web, Stuff you 579 00:33:11,280 --> 00:33:18,920 Speaker 1: Should Know dot com for more on this and thousands 580 00:33:18,920 --> 00:33:28,400 Speaker 1: of other topics. Does it how stuff Works dot com