The banner above is an advertisment - if it asks you to download software, please ignore.
Site News - 3/26 M Car Covers (by State of Nine) | 12/12 Make Amazon Pay Saabnet!
Date: Sat, 24 Apr 1999 10:49:33 +0200
From: "Edmund Blackadder" <fredrik.israelssonnopsam.se>
Subject: Re: Opinions on the 1999 Saab 9-3?


So, in YOUR opinion, a crashtest between a Chevrolet Corvair and any other car from that time with FWD and normal handling could very well prove the Corvair to be a safer car? (As real life doesn't matter, after all, it's all up to the driver ;-) I can see that you don't considder ABS, ACC and good seats as safetyequipment. We live in a complex world, and looking at one tiny variable in a crashtest gives us only one color in a 32-bit colorpicture. /Edmund BTW, If a car looks intact after a crashtest, it means the humans got hurt. (In todays technology). KBB skrev i meddelandet <7fru2u$b6$1nopsam3.Belgium.EU.net>... > >> Take a look at http://www.carsafety.org/ictl.htm (Insurance Institute for >> Highway Safety) for some info on the 900. Surprise it's the safest - >lowest >> injury rate - midsize? >> You will also find that the 9000 is number 3 for midsize luxury cars. Not >> bad for a 15 year old design! >> (The collision rate in the level of BMWs and Mercedes says more about the >> drivers than the cars?!) > >Again again , as always, those numbers have more to do with the drivers , >the driving style and the amount of driving. Those are 3 huge variable and >are very different from car to car and from brand to brand. > >> Even though Saabs might not be rated highly in every crach tests, I have >> never ever seen any statistics from real use where Saab (at least for the >> last two decades) has not been ranked among the safest. >> Please give us some reference where the 9000 has been rated poorly! > >Auto Motor Und Sport (AMS), one of the leading magazine (german) of the >automottive world, was the first one to point to the lack of meaning of >those statistics : they were the first to come out in the September7 1990 >issue with the filmed results of crash tests of 8 cars to see how they would >handle offset crashes, the ones that really happen in real world ( crash >with a pole, for example). At the time, governments were using crashes again >flat barrier to measure the likelyhood of injury, which was ridiculous >since cars don't get involved in crashes against a flat barrier that is >perpendicular to the car !!!!!! >In that issue of AMS, they tested among other the Fiat Croma : after a crash >at 55 kmh, the dummy was crushed between the steering wheel and the seat: >they could not even remove the dummy from the car !!!! >A human being, they said, would have been killed instantly on impact. On the >contrary, in the Volvo 740, the front of the car had collapsed, as intented, >but the interior was intact, the steering wheel of the Volvo had barely >moved, and the driver would have walked away with minor injuries.( So was >the BMW 5 and the Benz 300E) >Anyway, in their April 3, 1992, AMS tested the Volvo 850 and the Saab >9000CS, which had just being stenghtened for the model year I believe ( it >was the last face lift of the 9000, I believe) >Results of the tests: surprisingly the 850 was slightly worse the older 740 >but the 9000, eventhough it performed better than the Fiat Croma, was pretty >bad : looking at the car after the very severe impact, it is unlikely the >driver wouldn't sustain some fatal injuries : the steering wheel had moved >up and backward over 20cm in each direction !!!!!!! > > >The funny thing in this post is that real-world statistics is being used >without much understanding: >THE ONLY WAY TO CHECK THE SAFETY OF A CAR IS TO HAVE THE CAR INVOLVED IN >CRASH TESTS AS CLOSE AS POSSIBLE TO THE REAL WORLD. >That is why after years of using the statistics you mentionned earlier, >organizations are coming up with more accurate ways of mesuring the safety >of a car, without the driver factor :that is why IIHS and EuroNCAP are >simuilating OFFSET crashes and side crashes.In those crashes, extremely well >done and without doubts, the 900 and ,to a lesser extend, the 9-3 did not do >well . >> The fact that the 9000 was based on a smaller and weaker basic design >> (Alfa-Romeo/Fiat) is one of the reasons why it's so safe - all structures >> but the safety cage work as good energy absorbers. >> >> All Saabs are designed to be safe - in real accidents rather than crash >> tests >> >> Jan Soderberg >> >> > >

Return to Main Index
StateOfNine.com
SaabClub.com
Jak Stoll Performance
M Car Covers
Ad Available

The content on this site may not be republished without permission. Copyright © 1988-2024 - The Saab Network - saabnet.com.
For usage guidelines, see the Mission & Privacy Notice.
[Contact | Site Map | Saabnet.com on Facebook | Saabnet.com on Twitter | Shop Amazon via TSN | Site Donations]