In article <
[email protected]>,
"Gerald G. McGeorge" <
[email protected]> wrote:
>The results aren't linear, but it's safe to say that even with enhanced
>safety design, a 2000 lb vehicle won't fare well when hit by something with
>twice as much mass. There's a limit on what can be achieved with design,
>simply a matter of physics, no matter what the greens & safety mavens want
>you to believe.
>Fact is, many of these small cars aren't even safe in single car accidents.
>
>When I worked for VWoA I got close enough to the liability side of the
>business to realize one of the industry's dirty little secrets was simply
>"small cars kill". Bill Clinton'e NHTSA released a report in 2000 that
>concluded the near-mandated downsizing of vehicles through the 80's & 90's
>had resulted in the unnecessary deaths of over 16,000 people.
Which was quickly refuted by Honda, showing the flawed methodology used. The
study didn't take into account safety improvements each year, for example, and
lumped vehicles into large discrepancy weight classes (every 500 pounds, or
some such).
>The study
>concluded the savings in fuel economy over the same period have more to do
>with improved engine and systems efficiency than did the reduction in
>average vehicle weight.
>
>All I know is, no kid of mine would be sent off to college in a Dodge Neon
>or other such death-trap!
So you send them in one that kills other people and kills the planet?
>
>Greens often try to muddy the water by citing European studies that show a
>similar fatality rate for their small cars as out larger ones. (I'm
>surprised wasn't cited in the report,) Comparisons to European statistics
>are not valid, because they drive far fewer miles than North Americans
Are you saying the studies don't use death RATES? I suspect they do.
>and
>there is far less disparity in vehicle sizes on European roads, that is,
>they drive a lot more small cars than we do.
Lots of big trucks on 2-lane roads, though. Their limited-access (like our
interstates) system is much less extensive.
>
>The whole buzz about SUV rollovers is a smokescreen to try & get people
>scared enough not to buy them.
Wrong. The IIHS and CR are hardly a "green conspiracy."
>It's a hidden agenda by the greens, who 1)
>worry about fuel consumption, and 2) want to ban off roading and fear that
>the more people have off road capable vehicles they more they'll use them.
Considering that fewer than 5% of SUV owners ever go off road anyway...
>(The latter point was confirmed to me a number of years ago by a Sierra Club
>official.)
Yeah, sure. Did he tell you where Elvis is living too?
>Roll overs represent only around 2.5% of all accidents,
But a much higher % of fatalities, and a much higher % of SUV accidents.
>and have
>more to do with idiotic driving than design.
Both, actually.
>A few years ago the Corvette had the highest rollover rate per miles driven
>than any other vehicle. Why? Idiots behind the wheel!
>
>
>
>
>
>"Bill Putney" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>>
>>
>> Brent P wrote:
>> >
>> > Large passenger cars come out ahead in every type of post-crash safety
>> > measure I've seen, including those that are not dependent upon driver
>> > demographics. And they were also safer when those who are now old
>> > and drive them were younger and driving them.
>>
>> I'm curious: Does this stuff scale linearly? By that, I mean, in two
>> otherwise identical two-vehicle crashes, one crash comprised of, say a
>> vehicle that weighs 2000 pounds and the other vehicle at 3500 pounds,
>> and the second crash with the two vehicles exactly twice (or apply any
>> ratio you want) as heavy (i.e., 4000 pounds and 7000 pounds as in the
>> other crash, will the outcome statistically be the same for
>> corresponding drivers and passengers of both cars in the two different
>> accidents.
>>
>> Another way of asking this is: If everyone in the nation became
>> convinced that bigger is better and got rid of their existing vehicle
>> and bought a vehicle that weighed 50% again as much as their previous
>> vehicle, would the safety statistics change for multiple vehicle
>> accidents (involving the now 50% heavier-across-the-board-vehicles), or
>> would they stay the same?
>>
>> Bill Putney
>> (to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
>> address with "x")
>>
>>
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