Eggcorn Forum

Modern cars have these things called crumple zones, which are designed to, well, crumple to absorb impact force during a collision. Some people seem to have gotten the idea that these are called “crumble zones”:

A crumble zone is an area in the front of the car that takes the most impact in a collision.

(from ChaCha)

What matter is the distance of crumble zone. If your car has sufficient crumble zone, you are safe.

(from Aptera Forum)

The law of conservation of momentum won’t favour any one of them, so both will be hurt severely, although the larger crumble zone of SUV still has an edge over normal cars.

(from AutoZine)

Just the law of physics will cause a new Toyota to crumble when hit by a 40’s car. The older car had no crumble zone. It would be like impaling any piece of sheet metal with a rod.

(from The Fedora Lounge)

I suppose that, unlike a crumple zone, which would compress during an impact, a crumble zone would instead break up into very small crumb-like pieces and fall off the car.

Here’s one that initially uses the term “crumple zone”, but then explains it’s function in terms of “crumbling”:

Definitely better to get a car with crumple zones. A rigid car does not absorb the impact of a crash, unlike crumble zone cars that are specifically designed to crumble and absorb force.

(from Yahoo Answers)

Last edited by tyler (2010-04-20 09:39:25)