WATCH: AK47 bullet pulverises window lifter motor in car door

If you think there might be something inside your car door that might stop an AK47 bullet from penetrating into the cabin, think again.

SVI Engineering, a specialist manufacturer of armoured vehicles, has released slow-motion video footage to demonstrate the devastating effect of an AK47 round on a window lifter motor located inside a car’s door.

Watch AK47 bullet destroy motor

“A window lifter motor – which is, of course, positioned inside a door panel, out of sight – is the sort of component that may well be in the firing line during an attack on an unarmoured vehicle. Question is, how will it stand up to a single AK47 round?” asks Jaco de Kock, CEO of SVI.

De Kock puts the window lifter motor to the test by firing at it with an AK47 inside SVI’s testing facility outside Pretoria as part of SVI’s Shoot Through video series.

The fascinating slow-motion footage of the bullet going through the device is captured by a Photron Fastcam SA4 high-speed camera supplied by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. Set at 30 000 frames per second – the 7.62 x 39 mm conventional steel-core round fired from the gas-operated rifle penetrates the window lifter motor, striking the integrated steel shaft and sending plastic pieces flying everywhere.

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No match for bullet

“Though we managed to hit the steel shaft – which is surely the most resilient element of the window lifter motor – it proved no match for the AK47 round,” said Nicol Louw, SVI business development director.

“I think there’s a better chance of winning the lottery than of such a component stopping a bullet. So, it’s best to rather invest in an SVI-armoured vehicle,”

The Shoot Through video series sets out to answer whether various standard automotive components can stop a round discharged by a firearm.

The subject of the first episode in the series was a ventilated steel brake disc from a Toyota Land Cruiser 79 bakkie fired at by an AK47, while the second episode featured a Volkswagen Polo engine block, the third a shock absorber, the fourth a Polo cylinder head and the fifth a seatbelt mechanism.

SVI Engineering is an original equipment manufacturer specialising in armoured vehicles since 2004.