Ray, since RV's are rarely crash tested, I have no idea how a Newell would do in a similar accident. I will say that a head-on collision with a wall is probably a worst case scenario. I have seen several RV's that had turned over on the side of the road and a couple of Newells that were turned over by tornadoes. Most fiberglass RV's just come completely apart during a turn over. The Newells stayed together and were repairable although there will be significant body damage and broken mirrors and TV screens.
Any vehicle with the driver sitting at the very front, i.e. no engine forward of the driver, will have no crush room before the driver is involved. If the coach is struck by another vehicle, the bus/Newell will fair much better. The generator and Newell frame will absorb energy from a car or pickup striking the front of the coach. A bus typically does not have the generator in the front (note: a few Newells have side mounted generator rather than front mounted). To quote the expert:
Quote:
I'd like to offer comments regarding chassis and body structure, as well as the possibility of building shells for "seated companies."
Monocoque or semi-monocoque are labels that lack precise definition when applied to motor coaches. Neither Prevost nor Newell use a separate frame-rail chassis, while certainly neither is a pure monocoque in the aircraft sense. Both are most accurately described as semi-monocoque. But there are differences that are especially relevant to including large, multiple slide-outs.
Newell uses heavier steel framing below the floor and aluminum for the body framing above the floor line. Prevost uses a lighter steel frame below the floor and heavier steel body framing. The Newell approach results in more strength from the floor down. The Prevost design relies more on the body structure above the floor, in particular on a horizontal trust-like structure from the floor to the bottom of the windows running the full length of the coach. A significant difference in the results is that the Newell structure, deriving more of its strength from the structure below the floor and comparatively less from the body side walls, has been far more compatible with the addition of slide-outs, particularly larger slide-outs and multiple slide-outs, that require the sidewalls to be cut vertically.
Karl Blade
Newell Coach Corp.
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Crash worthiness vs. Prevost
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