He Walked Away - Roll Bar Crash Test
We'd never think to test a Maximum Motorsports Roll Bar in an end-over-end plummet down the side of a canyon... with someone actually on board the car. But, a customer did just such a test with our roll bar in his 5.0 Mustang. Installed when it was his track car, the roll bar was a major factor in saving the life of his 17-year-old son in an accident on a mountain road.
Although it's hard to tell from the photos, the car was a 1995 Mustang convertible. This was not a simple, quick rollover caused by running off the road and into a ditch. This was a multiple-times rollover plus end-over-end tumble, off the road and 200 feet down to the bottom of a secluded canyon. Without the roll bar, the driver would certainly have been killed.
The driver, a Santa Barbara County high school student, was not intoxicated, on his phone, or texting; he simply missed making it around a curve on a dangerous mountain road. The MM Roll Bar was tested in an extreme manner... and it did exactly what it was designed and built to do. Because of the roll bar-and seat belts-everything turned out all right. Our customer's son walked away from the wreck with only moderate injuries.
That's right; he walked away.
Every high performance car needs proven protection. Although it's impossible to anticipate every possibility or offer any guarantee, a properly installed MM Roll Bar-and seat belts-will exponentially improve your chance of survival should you ever attempt a similar test.
The story was told to us by the father of the teenage driver in an email to Maximum Motorsports:
Dear MM -
I purchased an MMRB-14 roll bar from you a couple years back, and installed it in my '95 convertible. It went to the track a couple of times, then I picked up a more capable track car and the convertible just sat behind the garage. My 17 year old son decided he liked the car and began driving it early this year. Last weekend he missed a corner on Gibraltar Road in Santa Barbara and ended up in the bottom of a canyon 200 feet below the road. The car must have rolled 10 times - side over side, end over end, every corner rounded off. The only part of the car not destroyed was that bar - and it (and the seatbelt) saved his life. He took a pretty good knock to the head but he should make a full recovery. Thanks so much to Maximum Motorsports for making a quality product (and a quality installation kit)!
Dave D.
More on the wreck and its aftermath:
http://www.jalopnik.com/5964812/this-teenager-drove-his-mustang-off-a-200-foot-cliff-and-hung-out-down-there-for-a-day
http://www.noozhawk.com/article/110512_dad_talks_teen_driver_rollover_crash/
http://www.noozhawk.com/article/boy_17_rescued_after_father_uses_iphone_to_find_crash/
Wouldn't you feel safer with a Maximum Motorsports roll bar in your Mustang? Here's more info:
Roll Bar Tech