When it comes to fun in the sun and open-air motoring, it’s tough to beat the convertible body style. However, with unlimited headroom comes an increased risk of injury in the event of a rollover, an issue many modern convertibles address with a deployable roll bar. By contrast, the 2020 Corvette C8 features extra-high-strength A-pillars designed to withstand 2.25 times the weight of the car, thus superseding the need for a complex, weight-adding roll bar.
In an interview with GM Authority, Corvette Chief Engineer Tadge Juechter laid out some of the details on why the 2020 Corvette doesn’t need additional rollover protection in the form of a deployable bar.
“We designed the windshield pillars to hold 2.25 times the weight of the entire car. So you can turn the car upside down, and you can put another car on top of that, and still have room to spare,” Juechter said. “So it’s essentially a super strong roll bar,” he added, referring to the A-pillars.
To note, this applies to both the 2020 Corvette Convertible and the 2020 Corvette Coupe, with both body style variants featuring the same ultra-high-strength A-pillar design. The commonality makes sense given that the Corvette Coupe features a removable hard top panel.
The high-strength construction of the A-pillars also speaks to the overall strength and rigidity of the 2020 Corvette platform. Indeed, the high-strength construction also benefits other areas of the car beyond crash protection, such as enabling improved handling by way of precise tuning of the suspension system.
As we covered before, the 2020 Corvette Convertible is actually ready for track duty right out of the box without any additional rollover protection needed, which is sure to delight those buyers looking to mix open-sky motoring with the occasional outing at the local race circuit. This also stands in contrast to the Corvette C7 Convertible, which did not offer the necessary rollover protection for track driving, without aftermarket upgrades.
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Comments
Ultra Extra High Strength
Street-Ready Wheels
are however Not Included.
Bending & Cracking Like on the C7,
they are still made down in Mexico
from recycled old aluminum Corona cans.
Not Covered under Warranty &
Replacements on Backorder for Eternity.
What happened buddy? Did you crack a wheel curbing your C7 at speed because you don’t know how to drive and now you’re pissed at the world? Yeah, sounds about right.
That aluminum is all in your head eh?
Rob, if you have that many questions, than just read the hundreds of posts about the bent wheel issues on CorvetteForum in the C7 General Discussion
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/c7-general-discussion/4223832-official-bent-cracked-wheels-reporting-to-nhtsa-merged-w-previous-thread.html
Rob honey, here are more answers to your questions:
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/c7-general-discussion/4322291-c7-bent-cracked-wheel-roll-call.html
No roll bar ? Until the first fatality due to no roll bar, high speed wreck ? That will never happen. No big deal
still no one to build them anyway, and plastic everywhere ???
Live to dream.. it would be interesting if the 2020 Chevrolet C8 Corvette will share something similar to the 1963 Corvette with the split rear window in that the 2021 C8 Corvette will feature a hybrid layout with an electric motor that is designed for two purposes, launch the Corvette to 60 mph in under 2.0 seconds and give an extra 300 hp to the gas motor’s output for a higher top speed.
Strong A-pillars are great news indeed. Next, it is important that insurance companies read and believe this article, so they won’t “sky-rocket” insurance premiums due to the lack of a roll bar…
The big question is if SCCA will accept this as a functional rollbar for the track. GM had better get on the horn with them, if they haven’t already.
Now if that has been done, and SCCA will treat it as such, it’s great news.
Update: It appears that call was made. As of yesterday, NASA (SCCA) has deemed C8 Convertible as generally track approved for HDPE (track use).
This is significant as the C8 is not even available yet, so GM had to be involved there.
Source: https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/c8-general-discussion/4328771-c8-convertible-formally-added-to-nasa-approved-convertible-list-for-hpde-use.html
Now, each track safety officer has the authority to override NASA. So you may want to bring the NASA site details.
Also important to note that HDPE is not racing. A race safety officer may deem the need for rollbars high enough. I’m not sure I would compete in an SCCA class without one, especially since the NHTSA standard (for coupes) is still higher than 2.25 times the car’s weight (3x), and as noted below, IIHS requires 4x for a good rating.
If it was available, I would pay the extra for seat mount rollbars. Lost money on GM’s part.
Federal standards require that A pillars resist 3 times the vehicle weight and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety requires 4 times to get a good rating. Unfortunately, these standards do not apply to convertibles, but they do apply to the coupe version. What gives, GM?
GM has always been terrible on rollover occupant protection, opposing all attempts to establish decent Federal rollover standards and having their experts lie and cheat in testimony in rollover product liability suits. They conducted phony tests that claimed to show that a strong roof was irrelevant in rollover occupant protection. Now that we have decent Federal rollover standards (roof strength, ejection control, electronic stability and interior roof padding), fatalities and serious injuries in pure rollovers of newer cars and light trucks are quite rare.
“Unfortunately, these standards do not apply to convertibles, but they do apply to the coupe version. What gives, GM?”
I’m not sure that’s correct. I believe the removable roof technically makes all Corvettes a convertible by NHTSA standards. It may be one of the reasons why they continue to do it that way.
But can it support Vette driver’s egos?…..
The only reason to have a roll-bar in the C8: 2 satisfy dumb irresponsible owners who have super ego’s!!
Uh, no. The problem is if you are sideswiped on an incline or turn. Even with extremely low ground clearance, the moment the vehicle clips off the pavement, all bets are off when it comes to physics.
I’ve long called on Corvette to adopt the ejecting rollbar mechanism that GM pioneered in the Saab 9-3 and Buick Cascada, or fixed rollbars on the seat, or rocket-firing rollbars in the seat.
I raised it with Mark even, and I don’t think it was taken well.
If SCCA doesn’t accept this as viable, it means we’re going to have to weld rollbars in the C8, and I’m not sure in a rollover 2.25 times would handle the force of a high-speed impact and flip. You have to factor in the force (multiplier) of impact.
Any vehicle could hit your C8 Corvette shoving you off course that could lead to a rollover. You can be the best driver in the world and still be hit by someone else. I am almost 50 years old and never have had a speeding ticket but I have had 2 cars totaled by other drivers that hit me.
It is interesting to note that a 2005 Mini Convertible has an A pillar that will handle easily well over four times the vehicle’s weight due to a high strength steel tube inside the two A pillars. IN testing we saw over 16,000 lbs. force to bend the Mini Convertible A pillar. GM needs to get their act together, especially on a vehicle this fast which likely will be driven near its limits.
It boils down to weight. A MINI doesn’t have to worry about track times. GM could do it with carbon fiber… but that would make it cost more money.
I remain stuck in my position that this should be a factory option. If you want a heavy duty window frame, you should be able to order the car with it. Or with a rocket seat rollbars. Or with a seat with fixed rollbars.
I agree GM should get its act together on this, but the base C8 is fine as-is. It’s the options and missed profit potential that hurts.
It also hurts the value of the car. People that want extra safety will seek those cars out, and that makes the entire line more valuable.