Date: 18 Mar 2003 23:23:51 GMT From: davehinznopsamcop.net Subject: Re: Saab 9-3 hatchback - if & when?
Someone who looks an awful lot like Goran Larsson <hohnopsamlid.invalid> wrote: > In article <b583cf$25v92l$1nopsam34476.news.dfncis.de>, > <davehinznopsamcop.net> wrote: >> Hm. Sounds like an over-generalization to me. Maybe the *average* >> sedan and *average* hatchback... > Is that relevant? Sure, Saab can make a hatchback that is safer than > most sedan models, but why settle at that level? What matters is if > Saab can make a sedan that is more rigid and safer than a hatchback > made by Saab. That big hole in the rear of a hatchback must be a > structural problem, so it is not unlikely that the new 9-3 sedan is > safer than a hypothetical new 9-3 hatchback. Maybe, but was the 900 hatch less safe than the 900 sedan? I don't know of any reason to suspect that it was. In a rollover, it's all about pillar strength, from the dozens of them that I've personally been, er, invited to. It's not much in the way of tortional loads (where that big opening would enter into it), it's more of a compression thing - and the pillars are, I believe, in the same place on both cars. Dave Hinz