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Deadly dangers of a G-Wiz 'green' car in a 40mph crash
Last updated at 00:37am on 10.05.07This is what happened when the eco-friendly G-Wiz electric car was put through a crash test that it - unlike most other vehicles - never had to pass to be deemed roadworthy.
Experts at the Transport Research Laboratory who carried out the 40mph test said in real life such a crash would leave occupants with "life-threatening injuries".
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The impact replicates a 40mph crash with an oncoming car
The front pillar is pushed into the cabin at waist level
Following the test, the crash dummy's torso had to be removed separately from the legs
It comes just 24 hours after the Daily Mail revealed how ministers were alarmed at the safety risk posed by this type of mini-car - exempt from standard safety test regulations as it is classed as a "quadricycle" - and were considering proposing a ban.
So concerned were the TRL about the Indian-made G-Wiz that they refused to risk their more sophisticated £130,000 crash test dummies - full of electronic instruments - in the test for fear of them being wrecked.
Instead, they used a cheaper, more basic variety.
Their report into the crash noted: "The lower legs of the driver dummy were trapped within the vehicle and to remove the dummy from the vehicle the thorax of the dummy was removed separately to the legs.
"It is probable lower leg fractures could have been sustained."
These pictures of the test appear in the latest edition of Top Gear magazine which is published on Friday.
A spokesman for the magazine said: "The car's protection cell failed miserably.
"The driver's legs have been pushed a long way backward. A human leg would have been shattered, causing massive bleeding, potentially fatal in itself.
"The steering wheel has been pushed into the dummy's soft abdomen. A human is very vulnerable here - liver injuries, for example, can mean massive internal bleeding."
The car's UK importer GoinGreen said: "The G-Wiz has an exemplary safety record, with over 20million miles driven in London and Bangalore and over 4,000 years of ownership with no reported serious injury."
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