Ankle Injuries after accident?

It seems fairly common. This brief not only mentions foot injury, but even right hip injury:

http://www.medscape.com/medline/abstract/11240298

and does not depend on the vehicle. Every other part of the car is designed to crumple/absorb energy in a crash. Steering columns have crush sleeves in them

But the brake pedal is trickier. Some newer cars have brake pedals that under certain severe front end crashes, are designed to give.

But the brake pedal assembly has to be made strong, so in a panic stop when you stomp on the pedal, it doesn't break off. The human leg is about the strongest part of the body

 

I agree, in fact, I once designed a brake pedal assembly for a heavy duty truck. You have to design for maximum stiffness and you cannot allow the pedal to break (no pun intended) under any circumstances. I recall that I used the maximum force that a 95 percentile male could apply with both feet (you can find this info in a Human Factors design book) to come up with the max load. I then had the prototype pedal destructively tested to failure to verify that it could meet the load. I then refined the design for the production pedal and retested again with the production pedal. For the last test, the pedal did not fail, but the testing buck that was designed to simulate the cab structure failed at ~ 1100 lbs force. IIRC, the max force for a 95th percentile male (using both legs) was somewhere between 700 - 800 lbs force.

 

Excluding Jayman's bald head.

Tom

 

One must also consider that in a panic stop situation you may not align your foot properly on the pedal because you are in such a rush to remove your foot from the gas pedal and transfer it to the brake pedal. If your foot is not aligned properly you will put an enormous amount of strain on bones and ligaments when the impact does occur.

 

:doh:

:mmph:

 

Or, on earlier cars with poorly designed crush zones, the toe pan/floor pan would violently push upwards, in some cases resulting in the left foot breaking, sometimes clean off, collecting environment, and ending up further up the leg in the pants

This is a very traumatic sort of injury, usually there is a lifelong disability associated with it. An uncle of mine got into a crash when a drunk blew a red light, his smaller car crushed badly. Despite wearing a seatbelt, which was rare back then, he lost his left foot.

The floorpan literally pinched off his foot

 

My brother had an emergency brake embedded in his leg. That was actually one of the least of his problems from his mini-van accident.

 

This is THE reason I simply CANNOT make myself purchase a Prius. As soon as a sat in one, I noticed the danger of the parking brake pedal shearing off my ankle in a collision. At my height, the brake is very dangerously near my ankle/shin, and I foresee grave injury in the case of a collision.

I wonder if anything could be done, such as sawing off the pedal or modifying it. Let's see if we can get a discussion started!

Another safety detail that I dislike: Even with the electronic key, the fob and any associated dangling metal keys (house keys or whatnot) are right in the path of my right knee in the case of collision. Given that the car key is electronic, Toyota had the opportunity to place it almost anywhere. How could they ignore such an obvious improvement? Saab of course has the ultimate design where the key is in the center console.

Very saddened to hear about your injuries.

 

I don't think anyone actually drives around with the key FOB in the slot.

 

So you are saying the key fob could be in your pocket or lying in the center console while driving? I did not know that. Thanks.

Any ideas on the parking brake pedal problem? I'd love to buy a Prius, but I just can't the way things are.

 

Yes, most people keep the FOB in their pocket or in their purse.

As for ankle damage. I have not seen any evidence that the Prius is any worse or better in foot protection than any other vehicle. The fact that the cabin area stays intact and less deformed than many other vehicles would lead me to believe that it is safer than most. If there was a high risk of such dmg I would think the IIHS would have listed it. The did list leg, hip, head injury probability for other vehicles with poorer crash ratings.

Go play with this site for a bit and watch how different cars are affected in frontal and side-impact collisions. Watch the prius then watch the 1999-2006 GMC Sierra. The same truck many of my friends think is safer than my Prius. I used to own one, they are not that tough.

ConsumerReports.org - Car crash test

 

You might consider avoiding all cars with a brake pedal.

Seriously, in my 36 years in EMS I've seen dozens of people's legs injured by brake pedals, gas pedals, clutch pedals, parking brake pedals .... Anything in close proximity to legs at the time of impact in a high-velocity collision stands a chance of gouging them or worse -- car make and model notwithstanding. It doesn't take much crash-related distortion of the firewall or body side panel for pedals to close in on relatively immobile legs.

 

Injury to the lower extremities is pretty common in any passenger vehicle in this sort of impact. I was lucky when I was driving an F-150 hit by an idiot in another F-150 who blew an intersection during an ice storm. It was a corner hit so that my foot was knocked from the brake. I still had some nasty bruises and gashes on my shins, but no broken bones. And I was right back on the brake trying to stop as I picked my way through the trees... Meanwhile, Dipstick and his passenger struck a pole and bounced off the windshield. Airbags are only good for the initial collision, not the secondary hits. So wear your seat belts, boys and girls. I was able to walk home.

 

Yes, if the Prius has the Smart Entry / Smart Start feature. If the fob battery is dead, then you can start the car by inserting the fob into the slot. That's about the only time that the slot needs to be used.

If the Prius is a base model lacking that feature, then you have to insert the fob into the slot at all times.

 

After breaking my ankle in a motorcycle accident, I'm not too worried about anything like that happening in a car. But it still pains me to see guys riding with just Nike's and sandals. Or no helmet.

On second thought, maybe I should start driving my Prius with my $400 Sidi boots.

 

I can't say that I agree. There is a significant difference between the regular pedals and a special parking brake pedal with respect to foot placement:

Your right foot will normally not be resting UNDER any of the regular pedals. The left foot WILL be resting under the parking brake pedal while driving. And I think that makes a big difference as to the likelyhood of a pedal causing injury to the leg.

 

Hey, I always wear a full hockey goalies outfit when I drive. I get looks now and then, usually in the summer, and since the incident I always try to remember to take off the mask when I go in stores, especially banks. Usually people think I must be Canadian, or sometimes they just figure I'm a big time sports nut. I have got to say, my left ankle has never been so safe. :mod:

But derkire, to be serious for a moment, the Prius is about as safe as any economy car gets. If that is not enough, you may want to look into some higher end cars, in particular the Volvo. They are known for having very sturdy cars and bleeding edge safety innovations.

Luck!

 

I've driven with part of my goalie's equipment (no pads, skates, or helmet), and I can tell you it's not easy. Changing at the rink is a better idea. Besides, the smell of hockey gear is overpowering, even stuffed way back into the hatch.

Tom

 

Hey Ken,

I suppose that <i>on the average,</i> the Prius is likely no worse and perhaps even better than other compact-sized cars.

But I do not think that is a reason not to improve what I consider to be a glaring engineering/design mistake. I'd be very surprised if bad ankle injuries are not very significantly over-represented among the types of injuries suffered in Prius accidents. And I think it should not be that way.

Fun to hear about the hockey pads idea. That was my first thought as well, basically wearing a shin guard on the left leg. But that seemed too weird and impractical.

The easier fix would be either to saw off the pedal or somehow to encase it in a big rubber or plastic gizmo/device that would distribute the force over a larger area of your leg. Seriously, I'm looking for a way to solve this problem.