[OM] Move to Alaska and...

[Brian Gray via olympus]

Ken wrote
 <I had a fascinating experience yesterday. I was pulling out of work,
and ended up in a fender-bender. A Ford F350 was backing up and hit
the right-front corner of my X5. Now, remember that EVERYTHING outside
of the hood and grill of the front end are self-contained fully
plastic fender/headlight/bumper assemblies. In our extreme cold, all
that plastic shattered into a million pieces. The truck literally did
not even have a scratch on the bumper.>

Am I correct that that probably means that the plastic did not absorb much
energy and would not have done any better in a higher speed encounter while
still cold.   Is the X5 designed to meet any passenger safety requirements
of US laws  without a contribution to energy absorption from the plastic.
 Presumably steels and welding have to take the local temperatures into
consideration too in order to avoid the fate of the 'Liberty Ships' in WW2?
Brian
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