So my girlfriend heard that some years of cherokees had metal firewalls or consoles or something that when in a hard head on collision would sever the legs OFF of the people in the front seat. I call BS on this but i have been wrong on countless occasions. Anyone?

 

Probably the FSJs or wranglers. All firewalls are made out of metal to my knowledge... otherwise... it wouldnt be a very good firewall. Tell her to find some articles on the internet, otherwise she is wrong. The dash in xjs are plastic... hence why they break tabs so often when you try to take them apart.

 

And i dont know how this is advanced tech. Maybe chit chat.

 

I haven't ever heard anything about this in particular. The cherokee is not rated high at all by those people who rate stuff when it comes to any sort of impact. That said many have come to forums and shared stories and swear they wouldn't be alive today had they been in any other vehicle in accidents.

 

X2. In any case, XJ's are pretty solid. The other car is going to end up in a lot worse shape.

 

I disagree. For the time it was designed in the early 80's by AMC the XJ platform was very safe and cutting edge structurally. Just about anything built in the last 5-10 years will out perform the XJ in occupant safety. Jeep made improvements over the years but overall not a huge increase. Even if you hit a much smaller car with your XJ, the person in the other (new-ish) car will have less injuries. As long as you don't crash into his drivers window with your bumper. lol

Yes the XJ itself will probably not crumple into 1000 parts like a newer car will but each part of the car deformed or removed scrubs energy off of an impact which means less force transmitted to the occupants. This is increased when we plate/reinforce front and rear crumple zones of the XJ with plated front frame rails and I bet most off road bumpers will hurt working ability of "crumple zones" Although frame stiffeners will help because you want to keep the passenger area of the unibody strong.

 

Exactly. People just don't understand this. I used to own a 77 Cutlass - you know, a big boat of a car, all steel, big solid steel chrome bumpers.. everyone always said "Man I bet you don't worry about car crashes in that thing!"

And I always replied "Yes, I do, because this doesn't have crumple zones, which means none of the impact will be absorbed and even though the car might be driveable, I'll probably be seriously injured."

 

Yep. To those people I ask "a 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air and a 2009 Chevrolet Malibu crash test. Who wins?"

They state an answer and then show them this video.
And for some old but not even close to classic age comparisons

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l4YBf2tjag&

 

Uhmm. Not in an xj dude you know how hard of an impact you would need!!!
Were talking 95+ mph head on with a semi truck thats also going 95+mph.
You'd die in a crash b4 your legs get chopped.

 

You will lose your head before your legs. In the many wrecks i've responded too being a fireman, not once have i ever heard of, or seen a persons legs get chopped by a firewall. On the other hand they most likely will get pinched on a rly hard head on collision... And about your head, lets just say its not your windshield you gotta worry about in a wreck its the other persons. A man lost his head because of the other guys windshield flying through the windshield of his own car.