{"id":26960,"date":"2021-03-03T17:03:58","date_gmt":"2021-03-03T21:03:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=26960"},"modified":"2021-03-03T17:03:58","modified_gmt":"2021-03-03T21:03:58","slug":"payne-how-auto-safety-systems-saved-tiger-woods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2021\/03\/payne-how-auto-safety-systems-saved-tiger-woods","title":{"rendered":"Payne: How auto safety systems saved Tiger Woods"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Workers<\/p>\n<\/div>

As the world awaits an official Los Angeles County accident report on what caused Tiger Woods\u2019 early morning crash Feb.\u00a023, there is much that is unknown about the single-vehicle incident. Uncertainty abounds as to how fast the vehicle was traveling, whether Woods might have been asleep or distracted, if something malfunctioned in the vehicle, even why the golf\u00a0icon\u00a0wasn\u2019t being chauffeured.<\/p>\n

But auto safety experts say one thing is certain: Modern safety systems in Woods\u2019 2021 Genesis GV80 SUV saved the superstar golfer from much more serious injury.<\/p>\n

Woods\u2019 horrific rollover apparently resulted in isolated right leg and ankle injuries as safety features\u00a0\u2014\u00a0and the crucial fact that Tiger was wearing a seatbelt \u2014\u00a0worked together to form a cocoon around the 45-year-old athlete. Developed over decades to increasing crash standards, the systems on board the Genesis help isolate passengers like Woods to prevent head and torso injuries.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really is a sign of how well these vehicles are built nowadays and the combination of all these safety features,\u201d said David Harkey, president of The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which tests vehicles. \u201cNone of us want to be in that kind of violent collision. But your odds of surviving something like that now are much greater than they were a decade ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

Experts say vehicles are designed to create a sort of double-layer cocoon around occupants. The first layer is enabled by crush zones in the chassis itself in order to prevent the engine, wheels, and other external objects from intruding into the cabin on impact.<\/p>\n

The second cocoon layer is created immediately around the driver using so-called passive safety systems like seatbelts and airbags that prevent occupants from flailing about the cabin.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe call it the egg philosophy. The vehicle cage is structured like an egg shell with front and back crumple zones to keep the cabin intact,\u201d said Bryan Johnson, a spokesman for Auburn Hills-based Joyson Safety Systems that outfits about one-third of manufacturers (though not Korea-assembled\u00a0Genesis) with passive safety components.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan you keep the compartment intact during a crash and maintain a survivable state? That’s the whole key in a collision, and (the GV80) did that with respect to the upper body,\u201d said Harkey, pointing to the roof, its integrity intact despite the apparent rollover.<\/p>\n

IIHS and Joyson engineers have followed the Woods\u2019 incident closely. \u201cThe underlying structure in Tiger’s\u00a0crash did what is was supposed to do,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cThe systems worked and kept Tiger seated and in an upright and protected position.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"In<\/p>\n
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Los Angeles County firefighters extracted Woods from the GV80 by peeling back the front windshield glass. The tempered glass itself is a safety marvel as it is designed not to shatter in violent accidents like Woods endured. Harkey noted the intact cabin side windows and panoramic glass sunroof.<\/p>\n

Woods injuries are reportedly limited to his right leg, ankle, and foot (shattered tibia and fibula with foot bones requiring screws and pins) likely caused by planting his right leg on the brake pedal as the vehicle went out of control.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour first instincts are to brake,\u201d said Harkey. \u201cThat\u2019s where we see injuries (in accidents like this) \u2014\u00a0to the ankles in the lower leg. That’s exactly what Tiger experienced.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harkey said Woods\u2019 extended leg was vulnerable since it was up against the engine firewall where multiple parts \u2014\u00a0engine, wheels, suspension \u2014 are being smashed\u00a0into the cabin structure.<\/p>\n

By coincidence, IIHS is currently putting the $49,925 Genesis GV80 \u2014 new this model year \u2014\u00a0through its rigorous safety tests. Vehicles must meet federal safety standards to sell in the United States, but manufacturers frequently benchmark to IIHS\u2019\u00a0higher standards which earns them the Virginia-based organization\u2019s Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick Plus ratings.<\/p>\n

Hyundai Motor Group, which includes the Genesis luxury brand, was awarded more Top Safety Picks than any other manufacturer last year.<\/p>\n

Woods had just played the Genesis Invitational and was driving a GV80 courtesy vehicle at the time of his crash. The automaker has kept a low profile, lamenting Woods misfortune and \u201cwishing him a full and speedy recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement, Hyundai\u2019s luxury maker highlighted several advance safety features in its GV80. Woods was cushioned by a center-side airbag that deployed between the front seats helping keep Woods in place (and from knocking heads with a right-seat passenger had their been one).<\/p>\n

Woods was surrounded by airbags including a steering wheel airbag to the chest, side curtain airbags to keep his head from striking the door window, and a lower door airbag to bolster his hips.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest recent evolution in vehicle safety is the integration of sensors in vehicles,\u201d said Joyson\u2019s Johnson.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s safety systems are designed to work with instant speed and precision. Take the simple seatbelt which experts agree was the foundation of keeping Woods alive in a median-hopping\u00a0accident at perhaps 50 mph.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cYou now have pretensioners in a seatbelt that \u2014 right before a collision \u2014 will respond and retract. So it literally pulls your body back into an upright position,\u201d said IIHS\u2019s Harkey, describing a sequence that happens in milliseconds. \u201cThen you have load limiters which allow the belt \u2014 once the crash occurs \u2014 to loosen slightly. That prevents injuries that sometimes occur because (a tight belt) may actually do a bit of upper body damage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Woods was alone, but more air bags would have deployed should other occupants have been present.<\/p>\n

American consumers have gone whole hog for SUVs \u2014 over 70%\u00a0of non-pickup truck new vehicle sales \u2014\u00a0which are heavier and carry a higher center of gravity than sedans, potentially making vehicles like the 5,000-pound GV80 less controllable compared to, say, its 4,100-pound G80 sedan sibling.<\/p>\n

Regarding passenger protection, however, Johnson did not see that as an issue. A wild card, however, is the SUV\u2019s hatchback which, unlike a sedan\u2019s isolated boot, opens the vehicle cargo area to the passenger compartment \u2014 and potential flying objects like golf clubs or luggage.<\/p>\n

In Woods\u2019 case, his clubs and luggage stayed intact. Harkey said the\u00a0IIHS test includes passenger dummies, but not cargo.<\/p>\n

Overall, vehicle structural engineering have made big strides in recent years. \u201cThe GV80 is on an all-new platform \u2014\u00a0with strong focus on safety \u2014\u00a0including passenger compartment protection\/reinforcement areas,\u201d said Genesis. \u201cThis includes the use of advanced high strength steel for rigidity and safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1995, IIHS began so-called moderate overlap tests in which 40% of the front end took the brunt of a head-on collision \u2014\u00a0the deadliest of crashes. In the last decade, IIHS has added small overlap tests aimed at strengthening front corner crush zones in which 25% of the driver\/passenger sides bear the impact.<\/p>\n

In addition to these overlap tests, IIHS tests for side, roof strength, and head-and seat restraints.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was clear that at, some point in the collision, (the GV80) landed on its front and there was severe intrusion into (the engine compartment),\u201d said Harkey. \u201cBut the structure absorbed a lot of that energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Driver<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Joyson’s Johnson said that active safety features like anti-lock brakes and forward collision avoidance systems \u2014\u00a0both of which were on the GV80 \u2014\u00a0have also made vehicles safer, though they likely did not factor in the LA crash. Woods was saved by good ol\u2019 passive safety tech.<\/p>\n

Johnson expects, however, that future active safety advances \u2014 accelerated by the promise of driverless vehicles \u2014 could prevent crashes.<\/p>\n

\u2018We are currently seeing an evolution of occupant monitoring in systems like GM\u2019s Super Cruise (driver-assist),\u201d he said. \u201cSo if a driver is distracted, then a predictive system might be able to give them a warning in time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the world awaits an official Los Angeles County accident report on what caused Tiger Woods\u2019 early morning crash Feb.\u00a023, there is much that is unknown about the single-vehicle incident. Uncertainty abounds as to how fast the vehicle was traveling, whether Woods might have been asleep or distracted, if something malfunctioned in the vehicle, even […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26960"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26960"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26961,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26960\/revisions\/26961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}