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From: alien@gcc-opus.ARPA (Alien Wells)
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Re: PISSED OFF (seatbelts)
Message-ID: <195@gcc-opus.ARPA>
Date: Wed, 16-Jan-85 11:58:58 EST
Article-I.D.: gcc-opus.195
Posted: Wed Jan 16 11:58:58 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 20-Jan-85 05:30:57 EST
References: <932@amdahl.UUCP> <43000009@rna.UUCP>
Reply-To: alien@gcc-opus.UUCP (Alien Wells)
Organization: General Computer Company, Cambridge Ma (creators of Ms. Pacman)
Lines: 70
Summary: 

In article <43000009@rna.UUCP> serge@rna.UUCP writes:
>What upsets me is the fact that available auto safety technology
>is not used by the car manufactures. I recently saw a documentary
>about this car called the Research Safety Vehicle. The RSV included
>such features as:
>- air-bags 
>...

A lot of people seem to *forget* a number of things about air bags:
	- Air bags do not go off on side collisions or roll-overs
	- Air bags can go off after a *minor* front end collision in such a
		way to totally obscure vision and control.  (Imagine hitting
		the front left corner of your car on something in the road,
		starting into a spin, then having this bag fill the front
		seat.  Can you say helpless?)
	- An air bag going off makes your car totally unuseable until you have
		spent many hundred $$ to have it fixed.  A parking lot fender
		bender, and you can just call the tow truck and wait for the
		bill.
	- Air bags can kill, especially children in the front passenger seat.
		The force of an air bag going off is pretty explosive.  If
		someone in the passenger seat has his head well down (like 
		he is picking up something from the floor), it could well
		break his neck.  Children, even children old enough to not
		need child seats normally, will have the bag inflate at head
		level instead of chest level.  This can snap their necks.

I always use seat belts.  I would love something to make driving safer.  But
I will never (unless kindly Uncle Sam forces me) buy a car with air bags.
My personal favorite would be a second shoulder strap so that both shoulders
would be strapped down.  This would distribute the force better, hold you
better, and cut down on the incidence of broken ribs and shoulder bones in
accidents.  And no, I don't expect to see it.  Face it, most people don't 
want to be bothered, and don't want to spend the $$'s for it, so the mass
market won't supply it.  Unlike some people on the net, I do not consider this
cause to have the government require it.

Some of the other things you mention are quite reasonable, and some have 
already started to be incorporated in cars.  I believe that the VW Rabbit was
the first production car to have the passenger compartment ride up over the
engine compartment in a front end collision.  Of course, watch out!  Many of
the things you were pointing out would make for significantly higher repair
costs in minor collisions.  Not everyone can afford a car in which you will
be perfectly safe in a 50 mph collision, but the car is totalled in a 20 mph
collision.

Also realize that:
	- The price they quoted for the car is probably low.  Prices always go
		up when you actually start building them and seeing some of the
		problems you weren't expecting.  The more innovative design,
		the higher the discrepency.  Remember DeLaurian?
	- There are other things people want.  Creature comforts, fuel economy,
		performance, handling.  These would all drive the price up.
		The more things you try to do, the more expensive it gets.
	- The car probably wouldn't even be legal as you saw it.  There are an
		incredible number of obscure laws and regulations which dictate
		how a car *has* to be made, and it is very difficult to change
		them.  Remember how long it took car companies to make 
		rectangular headlights legal?
	- And don't forget that making a major change to the overall design of
		a car is EXPENSIVE.  You are talking about a redesign at least
		as major as Chrysler's re-tooling for the K cars.  Car companies
		do NOT thoroughly change all their cars every year or two 
		(though they would like you to think so).  I expect that many
		of the design issues in the RSV will be incorporated into 
		future cars, but you are talking about a process which might
		take decades.  Change is fast these days, but just look at 
		how long it took front wheel drive cars to become *universal*.

					Alien