Who:

An unidentified woman and child were driving a 2007 pewter Honda Odyssey around 5/22/14 in Omaha, Nebraska, when they were side impacted by an individual trying to beat a yellow light a silver Dodge Charger. The impact was on the passenger’s side of the Odyssey. There were no fatalities or injuries in the Odyssey. The condition of the Charger driver was unavailable.

How:

Per the husband, the wife was waiting at an intersection to make a left turn with the light turning from yellow to red. An individual attempted to beat the yellow or red light and impacted the Odyssey on the passenger’s side. Per the husband, the child sat in the right seat of the middle row, and both the child and wife walked out of the vehicle without any injuries.

Why:

Fortunately, in this case, there were no fatalities. Who caused the collision is unclear, although it was clearly due to the refusal of or both individuals to yield to either oncoming traffic or to a red light. Fortunately, the relatively low speeds of the collision and the strong structural design of the Odyssey prevented fatalities or serious injuries.

The 2007 Odyssey weighs ~4365 lbs and has a “good” side score. It comes with head and torso side airbags in the front seats and head bags for all three rows. Its structural subscore was “acceptable,” with another “acceptable” score for the rear passenger torso. The 2011-era Charger weighs ~3961 lbs and comes with a “good” front score.

Given the likely speeds of the collision (I’ll estimate ~35 mph, based on front damage to the Charger), the collision likely imparted at least 220KJ of energy into the Odyssey / Charger. The standard side impact test simulates 143KJ of energy (a 3300-lb sled impacting a vehicle at 31 mph). In other words, the Odyssey faced 154% of the force it would have experienced in the types of crashes cars are side rated for. Given these forces and the side score of the vehicle, the Odyssey occupants were virtually guaranteed to walk away from this collision, and they did.

Such a case illustrates the importance of choosing a vehicle with a “good” side impact score. However, it also illustrates the importance of speed in such collisions. Had the Charger been traveling at only 10 mph faster at 45 mph, it would have imparted 65% more energy into the Odyssey, at 363KJ, despite only traveling 29% faster. I would still have expected the Odyssey occupants to have survived such a collision, but in such a collision, the driver would likely have faced significant injuries and the child may have faced serious injuries or worse.

Vehicles with side airbags and good side scores give you a fighting chance in collisions like these.

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