NPR Cartalk - Suziki Swift deathtrap

[ebacherville]

no, this is the definition of a "death trap"

YouTube - Gixxer Kart 1300 cc -Hayabusa kart

[dcb]

Originally Posted by AnDoireman

I'm afraid that's the first thing I thought when I saw this buggy

But people bring up safety soo much when we are trying to talk about efficiency that it floods all the boards, they just can't help themselves.

I think there should be a Godwins law on ecomodder for concern trolls.

P.S. 100+ horsepower solid axle cart looks like fun to me

[Shawn D.]

Click & Clack are mostly concerned with chortling over their lame jokes, berating men, and demonstrating their smugness over drivers who don't agree with their Cambridge-centric methods. The percentage of time they give out truly useful advice is pretty low.

I've personally corrected them a few times about some info they gave out which was outright incorrect, only to have them repeat the bad info again during a later show. One was on the subject of electric trailer brakes (which I responded two twice, including functional diagrams both times) and how '80s BMW heater valves work (their answer included two bits of bad information -- that the thermostat housing and thermostat were one piece and that a cold heater is "always" a bad thermostat).

[SuperTrooper]

Originally Posted by AnDoireman

The seat belt discussion - IIRC, Airbags were invented for a while before they were used, but they essentially came to popularity because in the US apparently, people didn't wear, or didn't like wearing seatbelts. I always thought that was fairly amusing.

Good wiki on airbags: Airbag - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[i_am_socket]

I like watching the head-on crash test videos (it's entertaining, admit it), but I can't put much stock in their value. For anyone who has ever been in an accident, was it ever crashing into a brick/concrete wall head-on at 35 mph with no braking? The accidents I've been in: 2 side collisions to front quarter panel < 25 mph & 2 rear endings < 20 mph; nothing that involved immovable objects.

The offset and any vehicle-vehicle crash test is far more useful in determining vehicle crash performance to me. Unless a vehicle is prone to exploding in a slight breeze or is full of running chainsaws, I'd refrain from calling it a death-trap.

[MazdaMatt]

bridger.us » Archive » Crash Testing: MINI Cooper vs Ford F150

I never understood why F150 was the biggest selling vehicle for so long. I see it as a bad idea to drive one; nevermind that its a Ford.

take a look at the list of "fatalities per million cars sold". The F150 is top of the list! Factor in the inability to avoid accidents, the high CG encouraging roll-over, the ridiculous crumpling, i'm amazed they are allowed to sell them!

I don't feel like searching right now, but I have also read that head-on collisions are the least-likely by far. Single-car is even more likely than multi-car.

[jamesqf]

I have real problems with anyone claiming that ANY car is a "death trap". I learned to drive in the late '60s, and have owned cars - all of them small - ranging from a '54 Sunbeam Alpine to a '60 Austin-Healey through the Honda CRX and my current Insight - not to mention a lot of motorcycles. I'm still here, alive & kicking, as are virtually all my contemporaries. If I look at the people a few years older than me, more died in Vietnam than in auto accidents.

On the other hand, my neighbors' granddaughter and her boyfriend were both killed a few weeks ago, when their big, safe new pickup went off the road and rolled.

[SuperTrooper]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

I have real problems with anyone claiming that ANY car is a "death trap". I learned to drive in the late '60s, and have owned cars - all of them small - ranging from a '54 Sunbeam Alpine to a '60 Austin-Healey through the Honda CRX and my current Insight - not to mention a lot of motorcycles. I'm still here, alive & kicking, as are virtually all my contemporaries. If I look at the people a few years older than me, more died in Vietnam than in auto accidents.

On the other hand, my neighbors' granddaughter and her boyfriend were both killed a few weeks ago, when their big, safe new pickup went off the road and rolled.

Let's see... U.S. Vietnam deaths: 58,198

Check out this chart: Annual US Highway Fatalities from 1957

Almost the same number of people died on America's highways EVERY YEAR during the Vietnam era.

As far as the safety of larger vehicles, the stats don't lie. Physics doesn't lie. Based on IIHS stats (Number of deaths per million vehicles registered) you ar twice as likely to die in a small car than a large car, truck, or SUV.

People die in trucks and SUVs. Vehicles don't go off the road all by themselves and acoording to the DOT truck occupants are the least likely to be belted in.

[MazdaMatt]

Originally Posted by SuperTrooper

As far as the safety of larger vehicles, the stats don't lie. Physics doesn't lie. Based on IIHS stats (Number of deaths per million vehicles registered) you ar twice as likely to die in a small car than a large car, truck, or SUV.

Please go up a couple posts to my previous one and click the link. You will see that F150 was the highest deaths per million of any vehicle, and the best were the midsized cars like accords, jettas, etc. That page breaks up the occupant deaths vs. occupant of other car deaths and the F150 had particularly high numbers in both.

[jesse.rizzo]

Originally Posted by MazdaMatt

take a look at the list of "fatalities per million cars sold". The F150 is top of the list! Factor in the inability to avoid accidents, the high CG encouraging roll-over, the ridiculous crumpling, i'm amazed they are allowed to sell them!

Also the fact that people who drive an F150 are mostly young 20 and 30ish males who are already reckless drivers, put them in a tank like that and they think nothing can hurt them.