Insurance, legality and your modifications

[19bonestock88]

I think that here in WV, most people aren't terribly concerned about my mods, unless I have an accident due to them... I deleted my passenger side wiper, so I would be faulted if a pedestrian runs out in front of me from the right, and my tail lights are tinted, so I would be faulted if I were rear ended, but I have yet to be pulled over for anything I've done to the car...

[LittleBlackDuck]

Originally Posted by 19bonestock88

I think that here in WV, most people aren't terribly concerned about my mods, unless I have an accident due to them... I deleted my passenger side wiper, so I would be faulted if a pedestrian runs out in front of me from the right, and my tail lights are tinted, so I would be faulted if I were rear ended, but I have yet to be pulled over for anything I've done to the car...

Doesn't it concern you that you may injure or kill a pedestrian because you modded the car to save a few drops of fuel?

Simon

[freebeard]

Doesn't it concern you that you may injure or kill a pedestrian because you modded the car to save a few drops of fuel?

Accidents tend to be caused by a chain of unfortunate events. Most likely the mod would be a link in a chain. Best to meditate and clear your karma before you take the wheel. Just in case.

I've seen other discussion by residents of your fair land, that seemed to indicate the law prescribes the [vertical] gap between the tire and fender. No stance for you!

Insurance and legality vary by location. In this locale, there's no testing for emissions unless you're in the Potland, OR metro area. But like everywhere the law is an @ss — you're required to have a windshield wiper but you're not required to have a windshield. Here's what cars look like around here:



Frank Lee -- That's sweet. Teeth from a harrow?

I know where there's a 1958 GMC COE parked in a fence row. Slammed to the ground, with a 1957 Cadillac front bumper —and those teeth— would be awesome. There may be a harrow in that fence row, it was an old I-H dealer that burnt down.

[LittleBlackDuck]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Accidents tend to be caused by a chain of unfortunate events. Most likely the mod would be a link in a chain.

Accidents is a really bad term for them, and most of the chain of events are actually avoidable to some extent. I prefer to call them collisions, and in most cases they are not accidents.

An accident is when a kangaroo hops alongside the road, you brake and then it hops onto the bonnet and windscreen. Sheer bad luck and totally unavoidable except for leaving the car in the garage.

This is the way I look at it:

A collision is where a pedestrian does not look at the oncoming traffic (inattention, haste) and walks into the road in front of you on a wet day (bad conditions). You don't see him in time due to a removed passenger side wiper (inappropriate mod) but brake hard and lock up the tyres (running at too high pressure increases braking distance) and hit him, injuring him severely (outcome).

If you had not removed the wiper you might have seen him earlier and braked, lowering the impact speed (reduced injuries).

If the tyres were running at the pressure that gave optimal traction / braking performance you may have been able to slow down more and steer away (reduced injuries or collision avoided),

I hate wasting money and resources - hence why my garage has two hybrids in it. They are both fairly recent Lexus' and have numerous safety features that have avoided three collisions since we have owned them. A potential head-on collision was avoided by the active cruise control system applying braking as an oncoming car pulled out into our lane. This occurred faster than I could have applied the brakes, and I drive with my left foot hovering over the brake pedal to reduce my reaction time (a carryover from my motor sport days). These features cost money, add weight and ultimately reduce the fuel efficiency of my vehicles, but life is precious and I would hate to injure somebody just because I wanted to save a few cents.

I had better hop off the soapbox now.

Simon

[19bonestock88]

While I wouldn't mind a newer car with some active safety features, they tend to be costly(your Lexus hybrid for example)... I travel between 20 and 30k miles a year, and the fuel savings are hard to give up... In my case, what I'm saving on fuel versus having a 100% stock car means the difference between being able to take lunch with me to work or having to do without... In the most of the year in which we don't receive snow, the one wiper does fine because I clean the windshield when I refuel, and during a rain, I can see through the droplets by focusing past them...

The higher tire pressure, while does increase braking distances, also makes the steering sharper/more responsive... Studies show that in emergency situations, the best option(given human reaction times) is to steer around the problem, rather than try and stop... This doesn't discount the new automated panic braking systems in newer cars at all, due to sensors and computer algorithms removing the human error with detecting hidden threats...

[aardvarcus]

So let’s replay your scenario using a non-ecomodder drivers:

Scenerio: Pedestrian walks out in front of a car because that person is irresponsible.

Result 1: Non-ecomodder driver is texting and driving, doesn’t brake at all.

Result 2: Or perhaps the driver isn’t texting, but is significantly exceeding the posted speed limit because that person’s kids are late to karate. Slams the brakes sooner, but was going so much faster they still hit the person just as hard.

Result 3: Or maybe they weren’t even speeding much, but as with 90+% of drivers have never checked their tire pressures and the tire pressure was to low for optimal braking which increased braking distance. Plus that person bought cheapo tires that aren’t good at anything, which greatly increases braking distance.

I could go on and on. Somehow I think these scenerios are much more realistic to occur. At the end of the day though, people shouldn’t walk out in front of traffic.

I am really glad you can afford two Lexus. Per the website, a CT 200h with the minimum options to get active collision avoidance is $40,450 USD. So I can get one for me and my wife for $80,900. That might be a bit out of my budget. But to be realistic, you would want to get the F-Sport suspension and sway bars, because anyone who really cared about safety would want be make sure the car had the best handling possible.

To add some perspective, let’s play a new scenario. Let’s say you are about to get into an unavoidable accident/collision because you are boxed in on all sides on the highway and are about to get plowed into by a loaded tractor trailer who can’t stop from behind. Happens all the time. You are a sitting duck! Would you rather be sitting in your CT200h or my old towing truck, which just happens to be a 2001 Chevy 2500HD Extended Cab 4x4/496/Allison sitting on a real one ton truck frame which weighs 7,000lbs empty and happens to have a 6.5’ crumple zone (known as the bed). Which would you rather be sitting in? I get a big discount on the insurance of that monstrosity because it is one of the “safest” vehicles on the road from the insurance company’s perspective. Should people trade in their 50+ MPG Hondas to drive 12 MPG one ton trucks for safety? Where does it end?

I don’t know about others on this site, but I have personally avoided a fairly large number of collisions by paying attention. I don’t think any of the people I was avoiding were ecomodders either.

[Fat Charlie]

Originally Posted by LittleBlackDuck

..life is precious and I would hate to injure somebody just because I wanted to save a few cents.

So when a jaywalker doesn't look... Blame the economy guy! If only he'd had that wiper blade my poor, innocent so-and-so who should have waited for the light would still be alive. I was on an Amtrak run in California this summer and it stopped because, as they announced, "a freight train up ahead struck a trespasser." No, the train wasn't covered with pillows and the innocent pedestrian who was just minding his own business got (presumably) killed. Blame the freight train.

I, too, believe life is precious. I've put my own life and others' lives at great risk to avoid killing other people, which may or may not have been the best way to do the job I had at the time but I wasn't going to casually kill people just because they may have presented a threat (even though it would have been perfectly legal) to us. So I'm on board with not killing people, okay? But if something I do doesn't cause the problem, don't blame things I did for the fact the day didn't turn out all smiles and rainbows- people who have both wiper blades, for instance, can also be looking to the other side when said jaywalker pops out into the road while texting. A passenger side blade isn't going to save anyone there.

My tires are well inflated. That may reduce grip, but I drive well within the limits of grip. Don't look to me if someone causes a situation that I can't stop in time to avoid. My "mod" didn't cause anything even though it has the potential to make a bad situation worse.

[RedDevil]

As for tire grip; the sideways grip seems to improve with high pressure due to less deformation. High tire pressure may help avoid danger, even if braking distance suffers (which I doubt, actually).

One thing that goes beyond doubt is that both braking and handling improve when you get top tier tires.
All cars and bikes I bought secondhand had cheap tires on them, all of them improved dramatically when fitted with the right stuff.
I air up my tires (moderately, even) with a clear conscience.

[Fat Charlie]

I've got Yokohama Avid Ascends, hardly Walmart specials. But I'm living on the edge, running above the car's recommended pressure.

[freebeard]

I had better hop off the soapbox now.

Simon

Do stop by from time to time to see how the pot you stirred is simmering.