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Can anybody estimate the speed of the other car?

Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2016 10:33 pm
by Redcliff
Hello all,

My friend got a car accident recently. She was hit by the SUV at the passenger side. I wonder if any body can give me a good estimate on the speed of the other car from her car's damage. My friend's car is Ford Taurus 2002. The other car is Ford Explorer 2014. Here I attach the image of my friend's car for the reference.

Thanks in advance!

Redcliff

Re: Can anybody estimate the speed of the other car?

Posted: Mon Jan 25, 2016 5:44 pm
by edeyerl
No need to estimate the speed - both of those vehicles have "black boxes" from which crash-related damage can be downloaded. Looks like the Taurus car is a California car. If you are in SoCal, give me a call if you'd like to discuss further.

Eric Deyerl, P.E.
Dial Engineering
Culver City, CA
(310) 670-3600

Re: Can anybody estimate the speed of the other car?

Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2016 10:06 pm
by Redcliff
Hi Eric,
Thanks for the message!
But we cannot obtain the "black box" of the other car. Therefore, we have to use the damage of my friend's car to estimate the speed of the other car.

Redcliff

Re: Can anybody estimate the speed of the other car?

Posted: Wed Jan 27, 2016 9:22 pm
by sd3225
Be very careful about estimating the speed of the other car by only using the damage to your car. To help you understand this a little better... we can see the damage to your car.... but not to the other car... so imagine the difference in damage to the other vehicle as the difference between a heavy truck and being hit with a minicooper. I think you said it was an explorer..... but to make a reasonable "estimate from the other cars damage would require some additional investigation, ie measurements, etc. While looking at the photos of both and making an estimate may yield a "ballpark" speed, but I would be very cautious about saying it was going XX mph. What is the reason you cannot image data from the other module??

Re: Can anybody estimate the speed of the other car?

Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2016 1:35 pm
by Redcliff
Hi sd3225,

Sorry for the late reply! I appreciate your advice!

Redcliff

Re: Can anybody estimate the speed of the other car?

Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2016 4:52 pm
by nwcps618
Damage only gives part of speed. More info is needed, such as was there any pre-impact braking ?