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Re: No More Speeding, now airbags

To: "James H. Nazarian" <microdoc@apk.net>, mgs@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: No More Speeding, now airbags
From: Michael Jose <mwjose@u.arizona.edu>
Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2000 12:20:55 -0700
James,
I was in my first accident about 2 months after my license was granted.  A man 
in the
other car turned directly in front of my airbag-equipped celica.  I had no time 
to
stop, but if I had more experience could have slown down. The airbag did not
necessarily save my life, but it and the seatbelt insured that the only 
injuries I
sustained were burns from the airbag and cuts from the seatbelt.  The girl in 
the
seat next to me (she was not wearing a seatbelt and had no airbag, the seatbelt 
being
a mistake I will not make again) touched the windshield with her face, causing a
severe cut, slight injury to the brain and lots of plastic surgery ( she still 
has
the scars).  If she had been wearing a seatbelt, she would be much better off.  
If
she had an airbag, she would have walked away as well.  Airbags can't work in 
every
crash, but they do work.
Mike Jose

"James H. Nazarian" wrote:

> IMHO,
>
> I think you call them "B" pillars. Mount the belts to the "B" pillars. If they
> are not strong enough to support the safety belt... throw the whole car 
>design in
> the dumpster where it belongs and start over. This past weekend, actually
> yesterday, I had another first hand view of a fatal collision on I-80 in 
>Western
> PA. Word had it on the CB channels that an eastbound minivan rubbed shoulders
> with some other eastbound vehicle, thence the driver lost control of the 
>vehicle,
> drove it across the grassy median (at least 100') banged the front bumper 
>into a
> deep drainage ditch in the center that should have stopped it; that blew the
> balloons off, sealing the fate of all in the minivan. The vehicle continued
> across the median to collide head-on with a massive 18 wheeler that tore the
> minivan in two as it ran it over. Those airbags did nothing to protect the
> occupants (they all blew in the ditch.) nor did those flimsy seat belts help
> anyone, nor did the State of PA or the US Govt. and whatever other lax 
>government
> agency that claims to be interested in safety. Do I sound angry? Damn right I 
>am.
> I hate seeing people who were alive a few minutes earlier torn to shreds in a
> brutal accident that they thought they were protected from. I will have
> nightmares for months re-seeing the horrid aftermath. Airbags are dangerous, 
>if
> for no other reason than they lull people into the infamous "false sense of
> security". Watching a fire truck washing human blood off the pavement is too
> sickening for me.  That poor family was being driven by an incompetent 
>driver, in
> an incompetent vehicle, on an incompetent highway, patrolled by incompetent 
>cops.
> That carnage should never have been able to occur. We should wake up to the
> reality that air bags are next to useless, and demand their replacement by a
> safety device that works.
>
> IMHO
>
> Jim
>
> REwald9535@aol.com wrote:
>
> > Jim,
> > A couple of point I would like to discuss
> >
> > In a message dated 01/07/2000 12:10:25 PM Pacific Standard Time,
> > microdoc@apk.net writes:
> >
> > > We all know that money rules.  It is the bean counters who actually make
> > > most of
> > >  the decisions about what solutions will most effectively meet the
> > > requirements of
> > >  some new regulations.
> >
> > Not all the time in every company.  Some companies do care and do a better
> > job than the regulations require.  One example, in the frontal impact crash
> > test there is a measurement of damage to the dummies head called HIC (head
> > injury criterion) the government requirement is that the HIC not exceed 1200
> > units. (I have no idea what a unit is BTW)  My company's internal 
>requirement
> > for the same crash is that the damage must not exceed 600 units.  In other
> > words our requirement is twice what the government requires.
> >
> > >  The matter that was raised about the difficulty of entering a race car
> > > through
> > >  its window because the door was welded shut, can also be dealt with in a
> > >  cost-effective and simple matter: don't weld it shut.
> >
> > I brought this up and I was not talking about a car with welded shut doors,
> > it was a door slammer with a cage in it.  Climbing in over a side intrusion
> > bar(s) and not banging your head on the hoop gets old after a while.  Before
> > you say wait a minute nothing was said about a cage, just belts.  Well, what
> > are you going to mount the belts to?  Particularly the shoulder harness, a
> > sky hook?
> > Rick


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