My question is this: Has there been a formal study on the relative safety between cabovers and conventional cabs? The word on the street is that in a cabover, you're the first to the scene of an accident. This presupposes that it would be a traffic accident. There are lots of small incidents where climbing way up into the cab leads to a fall, but I'm focusing on the traffic safety aspect. Surely some insurance company or university has studied this. I have a 1970 Freightliner daycab cabover. Total weight going down the road is 65,000 pounds. Thanks.
I've driven both conventional and cabovers. Cabovers are nice in city driving because they are more manovorable. That being said you certainly feel a lot more vulnerable in one. It's only common sense that in a accident with a cabover the driver is more likely to get hurt.
I have often wondered the same thing. I used to believe that the conventional was safer because you are behind the engine and there is more area between you and the front bumper in regards to frontal impact. However, when Volvo came out with the VN model, one selling point was that the engine mounts were designed to break and allow the engine to drop on the ground in the event of a front end collision. It was explained to me that the driver was more apt to be injuried by the engine coming back into the cab without this breakaway system. So now I am thinking that with the cabover you will be sitting up higher and will actually be on top of the accident. You can weigh in the chances of falling climbing in or out of the truck with a cabover, but the one advantage to the cabover is you should never really have an excuse for turning and bumping into anything with the visibility the cabover affords. I know this is not what you are looking for, just wanted you to know I have wondered the same thing and these are my opinions.
There are cabovers and there are cabovers . Lay a Kenworth cabover down in a drain with it's flimsy fibreglass pillars and roof and you will get hurt or get deaded . Lay a Volvo down and it will flaten the door and crease the back cab panel . I worked as a foreman in a major truck accident repair shop and can attest to this . Take the plastic door liner off of a Freightliner Argosy and the door will sag and bow under it's own weight . This Volvo is the one i'm trying to buy at pressent , they ooze with safety consious inovations like internal intrusion beams etc. , unlike some that are fibreglass or rivetted together and thrown on a chassis with no crash testing done . As for which is better , a cabover or a conventional , the cabover is above all the painfull bits . It is also above car height and has more room to lay down and hang on , the square cab shape also offers strength .
Cab over is the way to got, servicing and mainteance are a breeze compared with conventional cabs and i recon maintenance is a safety first.
Showpony has a good point about maintenance being a safety issue. One thing's for certain on my rig; the power steering or front brakes are guaranteed not to fail, ever. I don't have either one on this truck!
Dirtmaster, the the less u have means less to look after and less to go wrong, pity trucks arnt built like that today, with electroniclly controlled ABS & EBS, computers, conections, and sensors. I would prefer to work your rig on steep dirt roads any day.