I know I've prattled on about this before, but I am prone to repeat
myself:
For obvious reasons, the threat of rollover is in the minds of roadster
drivers; a roll bar offers the instinctive appearance of greater safety.
The reality is that rollovers are rare, and other kinds of collisions
are common. The net effect is that most aftermarket roll bars increase,
rather than decrease, the likelihood of injury. Even a highly engineered
race-body-sanctioned roll bar may actually increase the likelihood of
serious injury IF the occupant is not properly restrained in a racing
harness NOR wearing a helmet.
Any roll bar that is effective at protecting the occupants AND does not
present its own set of hazards in a collision is likely to neither fit
under a soft top, nor be remotely attractive. I can see that "hoops" do
not present the same head-banging threat that some other aftermarket
type rollbars do, so their potential harm is lessened. As Paul says,
though, they do not likely offer much protection, either. If someone
can offer you some persuasive explanation for precisely how their roll
bar will indeed increase safety rather than lessen it, and the
installation is acceptable to you, then by all means go for it. Heck,
if it does nothing for safety but does no harm, and you simply like the
way it looks, then go for it. (I happen to like the look of the hoops
on the Miata, the MGF, and the BMW's.) Just don't assume any bar
automatically enhances safety.
Rant over, discuss/rebut.
Dean
B-GT....the best solution ;-)
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-mgs@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-mgs@autox.team.net] On
Behalf Of Paul Root
Sent: Friday, November 21, 2003 6:58 AM
To: BarrMark262@aol.com
Cc: mgs@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Chrome roll bar question
The thing about those Miata roll bars is that they are just decrative,
they provide no additional safety in a roll over. My boss has one in his
Miata.
Also, because the shelf behind the seats is up high, they can more
easily put the double hump in. I would think trying to put something
like that in a B would just cause lots of problems with accessing the
battery, getting the seats all the way back and probably getting the top
down.
Paul.
BarrMark262@aol.com wrote:
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