LS007

From Ebay listing 2/24/04 "Lexus LS430 - Front End Damage". Hope it wasn't a CL members car.



Obviously, the vehicle has sustained severe front end damage. As a testament to the quality of the Lexus build, in spite for the front end damage virtually everything from the "A" pillar back is undamaged. The driver's door has a small kink on the front edge where it meets the front fender, but all doors open. Other than the airbag deployment, the interior is perfect. All glass (except the windshield) is in perfect shape as well as 3 of the wheels.

RA40

iTrader: (6)

That is an impressive/devestating impact. I certainly hope the driver was okay. The intrusion into the cabin is minimal. The dash has some pretty large gaps...brrrrrr, scary to think of such an impact.

Methodical

iTrader: (-1)

That's why I bought one. I wanted a the safest car I caould find for my 4 month old son.

Macromike

Wonder why the passenger airbag didn't deploy? Is there a de-activation switch on the 430s?

RA40

iTrader: (6)

This is a wise choice and I've read countless stories of others who have had collissions in their Lexus autos. WIth the recent side curtain air bags, it has me considering an upgrade.

mink92890

I think the light next to the outside temp might control the aribag. It senses if ur in the seat or not. Maybe thats why lexus has that???

LS007

From information in the 430's Electrical Wiring Diagram and Repair Guide...

The front airbag sensors are mounted inside each of the side members. The sensors consist of a frontal deceleration sensor, dignosis circuit, etc.. They send a signal to the airbag sensor asembly. The airbag sensor assembly detects whether the front passenger is seated or not and when not seated, the passanger's air bag will not be deployed. The side curtain shield airbag sensor assemblies are located in the lower LH and RH center pillars. The curtain shiled airbag assembly is mounted inside each of the rear quarter wheel panels.

I was surprised the front sensors are at least a foot back from the front bumper! I'm sure Lexus engineers have a safety reason like not to deploy air bags in a minor fender bender. Unlike this accident!

nthach

Mercedes and BMW also does this. On lesser cars like Hondas, there's a good chance the air bags will go off in a minor accident. I've seen a Honda Civic get messed up by a BMW, the Bimmer's bags didn't go off opon impact, but the Civic's did.

LS430inTX

A picture is worth a thousand words. That is an enormous amount of front end damage. I will guess the combined impact speed was probably 65+ mph. The instrument panel did suffer some very noticable structural damage however, what is most telling to me is the driver's footwell. Look close and notice that there was hardly any, if any at all, intrusion into the driver's footwell. And then go back and look at the damage sustained to the front, particularly the left front wheel. Where is it? Look close. It's still there. Guess where it's not. I have seen many unibody cars with such front end damage whose left front wheel had intruded into the driver's footwell so badly that if the victim survived such a crash they did so as a double amputee. I have always been concerned about footwell intrusionWhen I shopped for a new car before I bought the Lexus, I looked for crash evidence such as this before buying but couldn't find any. While I hope the passengers survived unharmed and wish for them it never happened, I can't help but take some comfort in the aftermath pictures knowing that if anything as catastrophic happened to me I might actually survive intact.

JPI Racing

I'm sure we can fix it heheeh
JPI

Shaffer

The safety cage did do a fine job. No major collaspe of the passenger area. I agree with LS430inTX- it is obvious that the instrument panel did suffer some stress. Perhaps the drivers knees hit the knee bolsters and did some of that to the instrument panel, but it is possible that the engine did come into the fire wall just a bit, as that was a very severe collision. A lot of cars that would hit whatever this car hit at that speed would have probably had collaspe all the way to the rear seats.
Here is the 01-04 LS430 in the IIHS off-set crash test, where only the left front of the car hits a barrier at 40 mph. This is a very good test to see how strong the passenger cell is. Here is a direct link to the LS430 results.
http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_rat.../html/0101.htm

Take the time to look at ALL of these. Very interesting. Also can view most all other 1995-2004 cars on this site.

Here is the results for other luxury cars:
http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_rat.../html/0224.htm
http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_rat.../html/0302.htm
http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_rat...html/99006.htm
http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_rat...00007_2001.htm
http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_rat...html/00017.htm
http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_rat.../html/0221.htm
http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_rat...html/99021.htm
http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_rat...ml/0313_04.htm
http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_rat...html/96031.htm
http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_rat...html/97005.htm
http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_rat...html/97008.htm
http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_rat...html/00027.htm
http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_rat...html/00033.htm
http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_rat.../html/0129.htm
http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_rat.../html/0207.htm
http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_rat.../html/0210.htm

http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_rat.../html/0220.htm (03 Accord)
http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_rat.../html/0202.htm (03 Camry)http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_rat.../html/0311.htm (04 Mazda 6)http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_rat...html/99026.htm

Look at the 2000-2004 Toyota Tundra, compared to the 1997-2003 Ford F150
http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_rat.../html/0108.htm
http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_rat.../html/0110.htm
But the all new Ford F150 made a complete turn around:
http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_rat.../html/0328.htm

Even some of the smaller cars do extremely well:
http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_rat.../html/0223.htm
http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_rat...html/00031.htm
but not all: http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_rat...html/97019.htm

WORST performers:
http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_rat...html/96026.htm
http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_rat...html/96024.htm

iloveGS300

That is amazing. Glad we are in such safe cars.

LS430inTX

Shaffer, thanks for those links. Very, very interesting and educational.

D2-AUTOSPORT

Wow that is impressive, makes you feel alot better about the purchase you made!!