I had no clue that there were zero crash tests done by any government body on the f-type... do we know anything about how safe these cars are?

 

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/f...-night-222185/

 

Every bit as safe as the driver behind the wheel. If it was 100% safe, there’d be no sport in driving a sports car.
Gotta say, I never pondered the safety of a car I ever bought. That would preclude ever owning a number of cool cars.

 

 

Correct
https://www.carkeys.co.uk/news/do-yo...-safe-are-they


found this video of an ftype crash test

Kev

 

The link in the post above seems to refer to non-government testing (Insurance agencyNHTSA/). (Not familiar with Euro NCAP)

In North America, the NHTSA performs tests that go above and beyond the US Government specifications. I'm sure that the vid shown is legit, and Jaguar needed to do frontal tests (unlike the NHTSA which does offset tests).

 

The offset test is the more important one as most cars are built for the frontal tests but most accidents are offset. A number of Benzes, Audis, and Lexuses failed the offset test when they had scored 5/5 on the frontal, I think in the c class the front wheel ended up in the passenger seat.

I am no expert, but have an interest in this stuff as I used to drive volvos and when you drive them you actually then start to stress when your kids are in less safe cars (which led to two volvos in the family). While most cars are built for side impacts (T bone collisions), the biggest problem these days is with the higher SUVs which can come in over the top of the intrusion bars (hence volvos have the intrusion bars go right up to the roof which leads to a huge and chunky B pillar), and I would expect that would be a problem with the F Type if there was one anywhere. I was only noticing a few days ago how big the A pillar is on the F Type. I wont speculate about whether that means it would be safe in a rollover situation but I have to say it gives me a bit of comfort visually.

Interestingly the XE when it first came out was pretty much the safest car you could buy, not meaning it got 5/5, but on the accumulation of all of the points in all of the areas. Some of those go toward pedestrian safety as well (eg bonnet air bags etc) which I tend to think isnt really what I am looking for when I buy a car, I want to know how safe my family is first and would take a car that scored 100% for that even if it wasnt so pedestrian friendly.

All told though, these cars are tested essentially at legal speeds. You can have a 5/5 safe car, but if you are doing 120mph and hit a truck coming the other way, they will be hosing you out of it.

 

Back in 2014, after ordering my 2015 R Coupe, and waiting 5 months for the car to be built and arrive in California, I took physical possession the day before Thanksgiving... Two weeks and less than 200 miles later, while driving home from the grocery store, I legally entered into a controlled intersection only to be T-boned square on the passenger door by a distracted driver who never noticed he had a red light, and barreled into the intersection at 45mph and only hit his brakes about 10ft before impact.
I can tell you from first hand experience these cars are solid as a rock, and the all aluminum body performs exactly as aluminum is represented to perform. It absorbs impact far better than sheet metal and steel. 40mph dead on square impact is substantial. The usual "bang" from such an impact was more of a dulled thud, and as the absorbed energy passed through the F-Type's unibody frame, my car slid sideways by no more than 5 feet.
Only the passenger side curtain airbag deployed No injury whatsoever, other than to my pride, and recent prideful acquisition.

I sold that cat as scrap. Called the GM at my JLR dealer and asked him to order me another equipped exactly the same.

 

Brucethequail,
It's so funny to me that you hold up Volvo safety as a reason for buying their cars. Having purchased 3 Volvos in the mid 1980s, because my wife was so convinced by Volvo's advertising that they were safe, and of course, our children could have nothing but the safest cars on earth to ride in. However, these three cars (3 different models) were the worst 3 automobiles I've ever owned and left my wife and kids stranded so many times that their lives were much more endangered by Volvo's reliability than protected by their structural integrity, that I promised myself to never consider buying a Volvo ever again. Safety comes in many guises, and how it crashes is less important than how it gets my family from one place to another. Their cars were rubbish which is not to say they haven't improved, but you'll never see me in one!

 

I'm glad I amused you, it wasnt intentionally funny but I take my laughs where I can get them. You should have liked the post if you got a laugh out of it.

I started with volvos with a 760GLE I essentially inherited in my 20's. Awful mechanically but lovely inside, I said I'd never get another. Then after a few other cars I saw and liked the s40 (first gen, not the 2004 version). It was also nice inside, pretty good to look at compared to a 3 series, mechanically fine, but pretty slow - like if you wanted to accelerate into traffic you would turn the air conditioning off. I then fell in love with the c70T5 which actually was a horny looking car, good mechanically with the 2.3 HPT, quick at the time (about 7 seconds for the 100kmh sprint). At that stage I wasnt looking for safety, it was more something different. I had that about 2 years before I good hooked on Need for Speed Underground 2 and decided I had to have a manual. So enter the manual 2004 s60R, 0 - 100kph in 5.5 seconds (in very cold weather), AWD (FWD bias) luxurious, looked good. It also sat on the road like it was glued there, though it was oversteery in corners. It had 4 piston brembos on each corner. I modded it slightly, it was very quick. No-one liked getting into it with me driving, I would pretty much have to drag the kids out from under the bed to get them into it. I had it until I went to the first XF which was a lot slower. You'd be surprised that come trade in time, modded manual volvos dont have a significant market. Lost about 65% in 2 years on that one.

Now that was a very safe car, probably as safe as you could get at the time. My missus though was driving a corolla seca - lovely car but not known for safety back in 2004. I'm thinking if I have a crash I would walk away, I couldnt say the same for her. So then the 2004 s40T5 came out. Same 5 potter as the s60R but in a soft pressure turbo, good engine later used in the Fords. That was the safest car you could buy at the time, also pretty quick (0 - 100kph in about 7 seconds from memory), good looking, handled really well. So we took that one, In 2009 we wanted to update it and after driving the A250 (OK not great) and evoque (just awful) replaced it with another s40T5 but this time with the R design. We then replaced that with a v40T5 CC but my wife hated the "wagon" look and it only lasted 18 months before the first XE. Ultimately having developed a taste for the XE my wife will never go back to volvo, volvos are "nice" to drive, Jags are "fun" to drive. I couldnt see myself going back to one either, they are a bit trendy and hipster for me nowadays and I couldnt see myself buying a FWD again.

We never had a breakdown in any volvo though the 1980s era 760 had a lot of mechanical problems and cost me a bomb to keep on the road. The engine was awful and seemed to **** itself after we changed from super petrol to lower octane unleaded. The problems we had with later cars were similar to what we have had in Jags - not many, and really inconveniences such as a leaking condensate pipe (first s40), software issue with brakes (first s40), warped rotors (second s40), heat transfer in tunnel (v40, I think an inspection plate had been left off). My mother still drives the s40T5, never had a significant mechanical issue, now about 9 years old with probably 120000kms on it.

 

The fact that no Government was involved is a plus in my book.

 

BruceTheQuail,
I don't want to hijack the thread, so someday when I have some time, I'll pm you some of the"hilarious" escapades in the Volvos Our first was a 240GL,second and third were a 740 Turbo and a 740GLE. None of the three lasted with my family or my parents more than 18 months. But I did get a chuckle out of your response.
Thanks