What the American Auto industry has become

I'll not climbing in anything <= ford escort. on the road
That junk nearly killed me, not that it was totally to blame, but the seats,
and seat belts ripped loose on me.

They said it didn't even resemble a car, especially after they cut me out.

no I'm a full size vehicle man mostly, although I have an s10 now.
 
I recall being in my LeMans and being rear-ended at a red light by a mid-sized Ford (Taxi).... my glasses got knocked from my face and scratched. The frame got bent into the tire, but none of the lights broke on my car. The Ford? Well..I ended up calling for an ambulance for the driver and his passengers. The cabbie just had some facial lacerations from broken glass and a fractured humerus....his passengers weren't tied in. Broken clavicle and ribs for the guy...spitting blood. The girl fared better...maybe a few bruised ribs...nothing broken (immediatly obvious). The car was toast..from the front bumper to the rear of the front tires.

Metal bumpers+metal body+solid frame vs. plastic bumpers+body
Never underestimate the power of MASS and INERTIA.
 
Those would be completely different tests Jim and Spike posted about.

The tests in Jim's article pit a small car against a mid-size car. Simple physics says the larger car will win in that battle. In Spike's test, the vehicles are crashed into a wall. The wall won't be moving, so the energy from whatever hits it bounces off and goes back into the vehicle (also simple physics). That's where design characteristics, crush space, crumple zones, etc. come into play. (Also, the F-150 has had one complete redesign and one restyling since Spike's test was performed.)

I had an ex long ago whose very overprotective mother wouldn't let her drive anything smaller than an Explorer... the mom drove a Suburban and then traded it in for a Yukon XL. I figured she'd be good to go if she crashed into a Kia, but what if she hit a wall or a tree?
 
Spike ...
Now keep in mind that this is not a test of how the two cars would fare in a head-on collision with each-other.
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When I have to worry about my wife driving into a wall, I`ll consider your test findings valid. But given that my wife's car has been hit twice by others .... I'll continue to take things like bumper height, opposing inertia and the risk of simply being rolled over into account. But thanks for the effort.


BTW, did you happen to notice that the Ford had the suicide door option, substantially weakening the cab area compared to 90% of comparably sized vehicles. No B pillar.
 
smart-tridioncell.jpg

There's your protective cage...can't say that I trust it much on first glance.
 
Professur said:
Spike ...

When I have to worry about my wife driving into a wall, I`ll consider your test findings valid.
Click to expand...

It is a valid test of what happens when you hit a stationary object. You never know what kind of accident you or your wife will have.

Recent crash tests by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety revealed poor crashworthiness among small 2008 pickup trucks.

The Institute reports that crashes of small trucks result in the highest driver death rates of any vehicles on the road, even minicars, in part because small trucks are involved in more single vehicle crashes and rollovers than other vehicles.
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http://trucks.about.com/od/makesandmodels/a/crash_tests.htm

Those who have followed the development of Daimler AG's tiny and trendy microcar, the smart (lower case intentional), have surely wondered about this vehicle's safety. Now they need wonder no more. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) recently crash tested the 2008 smart fortwo and found it performed so well it earned the Institute's best ratings for front and side crash protection. Plus, its rear crash worthiness was rated as "acceptable," the Institute's second-highest rating.
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http://www.greencar.com/articles/smart-car-offers-drivers-new-high-mpg-option-top-crash-rating.php

The new Toyota iQ may be the smallest four-seater car on the market, but it is also one of the safest, according to new independent crash testing results from Euro NCAP.

Euro NCAP, which has developed a new rating scheme which focuses on the vehicle’s overall protection performance, awarded the tiny traffic buster five stars.

In addition, one of Ireland's long established best selling models, the new Avensis, also earned a five-star rating. The new Avensis and iQ ranges went on sale here last month.
Click to expand...

http://www.advertiser.ie/galway/article/9162
 
Know? no I don't. But I do have significant anecdotal evidence to suggest that running into a stationary object is quite a bit lower than the odds of her getting hit. By the same token, as I said .... the pickup shown is an worst case scenario model ... something I'd never buy anyhow. My wife drives a car that I've checked out and am happy with the crash characteristics of. She got rear ended and it's taking a week to fix the damage. Zero damage was transmitted to the crash cage of the car. With the Smart ..... the crash cage can be as strong as you like ... the crumple zones are far too small. That means faster deceleration and more transmitted energy to the passengers. I`ve watched the video of the Smart running into a wall. The doors openned, but they were still bent.

But all that is besides the point when you consider that an accident between a smart and an escalade is NOT going to be bumper to bumper. The escalade is not going to run into the Smart. It's going to run over it.
 
jimpeel said:
So he DOES have that Constitutional power. Silly me. I must have missed that part. Could you please show it to me lest I make the same mistake again?

Here's a link to NARA so you can get that information to me post-haste. I can hardly wait.

http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/constitution_transcript.html
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You evoke the laughter from me because you seem to truly believe what you write. Bush did not have the Constitutional power and neither does any other president.
I'll continue to laugh, though... you are amusing.
 
Professur said:
But all that is besides the point when you consider that an accident between a smart and an escalade is NOT going to be bumper to bumper. The escalade is not going to run into the Smart. It's going to run over it.
Click to expand...

Like it would with any regular car. I'm not sure what your point is.
 
Professur said:
http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/Main/index.aspx

According to their stats, in the US in 2007, only 18.7 percent of fatal passanger car accidents involved a stationary object., while the most common fatal accident type was between passanger cars and light trucks.
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Look on the left side of that page, Prof...you'll see this zinger
Fifty-nine percent of fatal crashes involved only one vehicle, as compared with 33 percent of injury crashes and 31 percent of property-damage-only crashes. [Crashes 2007]
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Now...that may well be with a stationary object..like a wall, but also a 'stationary' object like...a ditch.
 
Here ya go Prof...

The gap in safety between sport utility vehicles and passenger cars last year was the widest yet recorded, according to new federal traffic data.

People driving or riding in a sport-utility vehicle in 2003 were nearly 11 percent more likely to die in an accident than people in cars, the figures show. The government began keeping detailed statistics on the safety of vehicle categories in 1994.

because of the growing numbers of SUVs and pickup trucks, which pose greater hazards than cars both to their own occupants and to others on the road.
Click to expand...

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20040817/ai_n14580604/
 
valkyrie said:
You evoke the laughter from me because you seem to truly believe what you write. Bush did not have the Constitutional power and neither does any other president.
I'll continue to laugh, though... you are amusing.
Click to expand...

Couldn't show me that enumerated power, could ya?

So answer me these interrogatories:

Are you okay with the nationalization of American companies?

Are you okay with the government bailing out failures so they can fail again?

Are you okay with most of that bailout money ending up in the coffers of unions?

Are you okay with the President taking control of companies and firing their CEOs?

Are you okay with the President ordering the sale of an American company to a foreign competitor?
 
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