KUALA LUMPUR: A posting of a new Proton S70 which had been involved in a road crash seems to have sparked a massive discussion among Facebook users.
The post which showed three different photographs of the S70's damaged rear was shared by Eugene Kenzie three days ago.
The post which is believed to be originally from another car enthusiast group carried a cynical caption, "Kosongnya belah dalam bumper S70, sekosong hatiku ini", seemingly putting down the latest Malaysian car model for having a rear bumper that was "empty".
The user only posted "Proton S70 1st case", indicating that this was likely the first known crash involving an S70, but several users hit out at what they said was a lack of safety features in Proton's first new model sedan.
However, many netizens spoke out against the posting, saying that bumpers in most vehicles were now designed that way.
The post has so far received more than 1,100 likes and has been shared more than 250 times.
Unlike the usual comments, many of those who commented on the post seem to provide a detailed insight of the design, engineering, architecture and the road worthiness of the S70, making realistic and evidence-based comparisons with other brands and models.
One such comment was from Adli Latif who shared: "Most cars now have a crush zone design. They adopted the design from F1, and accident data.
"Most cars these days, the front and rear are designed and manufactured and are easy to break but built to absorb the impact from reaching the passenger carriage area. That is also why, if you look at cars like Beemer (BMWs), Merc (Mercedes), the front and back materials are made from softer and bendable materials like plastic (bendable up to a certain level of course...this is not a tank.)."
Another FB user, Mariam Muhammed, wrote : "The crumple zone is to absorb and increase the impact time from reaching the passenger, when the crumpling process starts (in the event of a crash), while reducing the risk of serious injury to the occupants.
"It's like when you are wearing your seatbelt, and brake suddenly... the jerk might cause some hurt to the passenger as compared to braking slowly. Use the physics concept of inertia...."
Meanwhile, to a comment from one user who said the bumper design was a sign of "cost-saving", user Rohaidzad Rashid wrote: "Obviously you have never seen F1. F1 cars have many parts designed to be disengaged to absorb and transfer away force from the body.
"In car design now there is a 'crumple zone'. The space has nothing to do with cost saving."