i hate to admit it but i wrecked a car with a carbon hood. The hood took a hell of an impact and it just had a few cracks going across the hood. It was plenty strong to protect you.

 

You want the hood to crumple in a collision. The crumpling metal will absorb energy. If everything was rigid the occupents of the car would feel the full force of impact like jello in a bowl that gets dropped to the floor.

 

Or worse, the hood could pop loose and blast through the windshield, but its more likely to just shatter or break in half in that kind of collision.

However that is why its rated for track use only. Obviously everyone has seen CF hoods on the streets and they are relatively safe, just not DOT tested. The offroad warning is a liability disclaimer for the manufacturer and distributor, just in case.

Hood pins are not an altogether bad idea, as I have seen plenty of them pop loose and smash the windshield when the latch bolts work themselves loose. Usually the hood is unscathed and can be buffed clean, but the glass is usually shattered and the driver terrified of sudden loss of visoin at speed.

I've never had this happen in 4 years of driving a couple cars with no pins. I have found a bolt that dropped right out of the threads though, so I make a habit of checking the hardware frequently. Of course niether of those cars did 150, either. I have an exra set of Sparco Blue pins I always 'meant' to try on one of the other cars. It would have to be a serious consideration if I were to put a CF on the TT.

 

the one i had the latch was molded into the hood. So hood pins were not really needed. It came with a front end conversion so im not sure who made it.