I don't know about the exterior panels, but the Challenge Stradale has carbon interior door panels, which would be even scarier.

 

Would coating or applying a plastic film to the CF help to keep the doors from becoming flying shards in the case of impact? Kinda like how windshields work?

 

I disagree. Anything between you and the SUV driver that just ran the red light while yakking on the cell phone and eating a Big Mac, is going to stretch and absorb impact.

 

I agree with the above poster;

Mitsubishi even advertises that the fugly louvers on the doors of their outgoing Eclipse are there "not only for looks, but to increase the strength of the door in an impact".

 

I sure hope they are there for safety reasons, becasue they do nothing to the looks at all.

 

So how does an Enzo pass U.S. saftey regulations? The car's shell is carbon fiber no?? The doors are also entirely carbon fiber too no?

The Challenge Stradale has carbon interior door panels, but not the whole door.

 

The Amuse 350Z door is not hollow and may have the OEM side impact bars installed inside them. Again, door skins do not take impact! Yes, they absorb some amount of energy, but the amount of energy that's present when almost 2 tons hits you at xxMPH would flatten a door skin in an instant. Glue a straw at the tip end to a brick. Now, drop the brick with the straw's other tip end (the one not glued to the brick) facing the ground. Will the straw absorb some energy?...yes. Is that amount of energy negligible relative to the amount of energy present?...yes. The Mitsu commercial says the door design improves strength...likely in case of dent (more dent resistant), not in a crash.

 

So those carbon doors on the Amuse 350Z has side impact bars? Is there any way to confirm this? Does the Enzo have side impact bars inside its carbon doors as well? I'm assuming it does as it has to pass U.S. saftey standards to be street legal.

 

this might be bling, it might help front/rear impact, but i don't know how much it will help a side impact.

 

Carbon fiber doesn't shatter in an impact.

It is a woven carbon fiber cloth material.

It can be ripped apart in a crash, but it's not like plastic or glass.

-Pete