A classmate of mine recently died when a Cayman that he crashed into a tree burst into flames. Airbag + seatbelt engaged.

Questions I've been wondering about:

-Does the fact that the fuel tank is situated toward the front heavily increase chance of fire? What would be the cause of the fire in the first place? Its pretty uncommon in most cars in a head-on collision with a stationary object, no? Would a fire be very standard in a head-on crash for the Cayman specifically?

-Does the location of the engine behind the driver / passenger make the Cayman much safer assuming there is no fire?

-Given all of this, which is better to have in the front for pure safety reasons - a fuel tank or an engine?


I was actually looking to buy a Cayman myself, but never really thought about the relationship of the Cayman's anatomy to a post-crash fire before this happened. Any comments / help is appreciated.


Thanks in advance.




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I geuss you can ponder the ideas all day long, I am sure there is other circumastances also that can effect it, such as speed, how much gas in the tank, direction the tree was traveling, etc... I think the number one rule, is to buy a vehicle that you always wanted and appeals to you without the fear of dying. Imagine that Earnhart died from a simple looking crash, in a vehicle designed to have the driver safely walk away in an event of a crash at 150mph plus.

I know it doesn't answer your question, but it isn't a great feeling also to loose people that you associate with or see on a weekly basis, so i see where you are trying to find logic or a cause to the death.

The front of Cayman is pretty beefey, but at high speeds and with a tree that is rooted... I will say the tree would win.

 

reconsidering what i just wrote, I looked at the pic and noticed it looks like a side impact vs a head on, by the way the side is crushed... I don't think engine placement would of mattered in that accident or the fuel tank also.

 

Thanks for your help. While the indicent is sad in any context, its the fire that really surprised me, given that it was a fairly standard, medium speed collision, as opposed to falling off a cliff like you see in movies. A spontaneous fire is essentially guranteed, 100% death for every passenger - this is very disturbing, given that so many times one walks away with minor bruises from the same exact crash no fire.

 

Porsches have a good crush zone up front and are probably not more likely than any other car to spill fluids (gas) during a wreck. The botton line is that cars are dangerous -- as was said, the tree will win: wreck any car at a high enough speed and you will start a fire.

It sounds morbid but a question: did your firned die of smoke inhalation, fire, or was it the collision that killed him. Looking at the photo it looks like there wasn't much chance even without the fire.

 

How fast was he going??.Dont think the brand made much difference in this case. Hit a tree at that speed and its pretty much over regardless of what you are driving. Sorry for your loss.

 

wow that is bad

 

I wanted to buy cayman so much, now I dont know

 

I already ordered Cayman S Sport Special ed. But ... I dont know now is is safety or not. Beacuse i was driving InfinitiFX45 and Cadillac Escalade. ?