From the course: Universal Principles of Design

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Weakest link

Weakest link

From the course: Universal Principles of Design

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Weakest link

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- Hi, I'm William Lidwell and this is Universal Principles of Design. In this movie, Weakest Link, How the Weakest Links Can Make the Strongest Chains. Prior to the 1950s, the prevailing wisdom in car design was that strong, rigid-bodied vehicles were safer than weaker ones. It makes intuitive sense. Would you rather drive around in a strong metal shell or a weak metal shell? Stronger is better, of course. And so that's pretty much how automotive design went until a young Hungarian engineer by the name of Bela Barenyi came onto the scene. Barenyi knew that the problem with strong, rigid bodies was that they transferred the kinetic energy of crashes straight to the passenger compartment, increasing the chances of injury and death. Humans were in effect the weakest links in the design. What was needed was a way to reduce the kinetic energy reaching the passenger compartment. Barenyi achieved this by inventing crumple zones, sacrificial zones in the front and rear of the car designed to…

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