Crash rating/safety rating for these cars

At 140MPH it ain't gonna matter much.....

 

More crash protection than my KLR650 but not by much.

 

Your default speed limit in NZ is relatively low at 60 mph and you are in a solid car - you may come second in a T bone by a modern large SUV but that is why you should have proper child seats professionally fitted - I imagine the amount of metal in front of the cockpit gives you improved protection from a frontal impact - also your traffic density is very low so the likelihood of any of this must be correspondingly extremely low

 

My wife drove with our son in the back seat of her 400i daily on school days for three years. In Atlanta traffic. No problems with the car. Just stupid traffic!

 

Good day Daren,

Given that the 365GT4 was built in the early 70's, safety would be comparable to other cars of that era... and probably slightly better given the full frame used in its construction. However, one has to remember that the safety requirements were different then than they are now and so the 365/400/412 cannot compare at all to the crash protections of today (e.g. cars of today have crumple zones to absorb impacts, air bags, etc). Even so people still get injured and expire during collisions even in new cars and so even the new car's advanced safety features are no match for the "right" collision situation. Thus risk and "luck" play a role here.

Perhaps a call to your insurance company may be beneficial? I say this, as Insurance companies are in the business of risk and so they constantly reviewing and analyzing risk data and outcomes and so if anyone they should know.

Cheers,

Sam

 

No expert, but I would say ****house. A child seat would greatly enhance safety, of course, as would the vehicle mass.

 

Franck Valverde made a "not so brilliant" show in Marseille that ended in a tragic way. You can easily see in the video what are the weak point of this Ferrari during a crash. To make a long storry short the windshield mounts are quite thin compared to nowadays standard, and this is what broke after climbing a ramp at full throttle and launching the car against a pile of wrecked cars and finally plunging in the sea... The rest of the frame remained more or less in one piece.

Not sure the deadly footage would reassure your wife, but it appears back seat is a pretty safe place. In order to play it safe you could also inspect the wind-shield mount: there are often some cracks of paint there, so back to bare metal, spot weld the sheets of metals that are sandwiched against each other. This will strengthen the structure on its weakest point (plus the added benefit of curing these cracks for good).

With the automatic transmission this is a very nice car to drive, and the weight distribution is a perfect 50/50: this car can make it do gracefully despite the worst driving skills. If this is a daily driver for the lady, you should adjust the dampers on the "soft side", limit tire pressure to 2kg and make sure the air conditioning works! Last tip for the lady: when the lights are up it is much more easy to see the volume of the car (less stress in the parking).

 

considering AU standards test at 64kph offset (assuming NZ is the same) any speed over that the collision is likely to cause serious injury or death in a modern car,
low speed 60 kph crash in an older car ,the car usually fares better than a modern car in terms of , Ive been in a 59 ford that tapped the rear of a 2000 ford at less than 40kph, the 2000 was pushed in a foot, airbags didn't go off as it was under the 38 or so kph that they go off at, bit of whiplash for us in the 59 but only put a slight crease in the bonnet and that was it, we kept driving and had a few medicinal ales to fix our woes,
the 2000 was carted off to the wreckers on a tilt tray,
buy the best quality car seats for the kids, this will provide more protection than a modern car, my 2c...

 

You just have to look at the "pillar" of the windscreen. There are probably many cracks on other parts of the car due to the mix of polyester aluminiun and steel, but these can be touched up and polished as they are not contributing to the stiffness of the car. Unlike BB512 that could easily be folded, this is one of Ferrari's strongest chassis: the two central tubes are really massive, and more beefy than the ones you would for instance find in a Dodge Ram... So apart from the windscreen this car is so to say stronger than a SUV.

Please note that the safety belt on the 365 are a real pain, and the folding seats do not slide to leave some room for access to the back-seats. Starting with the 400 the seat belts are more in line with what we are used to. The 400/412 has also much better seats if you plan to install a kid seat in the back: when they are folded they move forward which makes access a lot easier. So if you really want her to drive the 365 you should retrofit the sliding mechanism of the later model and consider upgrading front seatbelts. Not an easy job but really worth considering -for the lady-.