Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2003 15:22:20 GMT From: "someguy" <someguynopsamhere.se> Subject: Re: 9-5 Passenger Airbag - how to disable?
I have taken the opportunity to start reducing this posting to ease further reading "Nutmegger" <nutmegger_7717nopsamo.com> wrote in news:b7e4ln$dtntb$1nopsam38055.news.dfncis.de... > > "someguy" wrote::: > > This will be a long posting! > > Thanks "someguy" for taking the time to answer my questions and providing me > with some links. I found them very interesting and spent quite a while last > night reading them. . > > > > *** Several of my arguments were taken from this page (unfortunately in > Swedish > > but maybe a good translation program can help) > > http://svt.se/svt/jsp/Crosslink.jsp?d=112&a=473 > > <sigh> > No fair, I can't read Swedish. I searched through google to find an online > translation page and came up empty handed, unless I want to pay. Anyway, I > did find this, but it would take me forever to translate what the article > says. > http://lexikon.nada.kth.se/swe-eng.shtml > > > Here three experts from insurance, authorities and research instute > respond to > > questions about the safest location to place a child seat. Actually the > > insurance company is the same that has been investigating thousands of > accidents > > over the years and found that Saab 9-5 is the safest car (about 40% safer > than > > the average car) > > Wow, that's great to hear. I know I have always felt safe in my Saab. The insurance company actually has a link in English for this report. It is based on the investigation of 76100 real life accidents during 1994 - 2002 and the follow-up of 29300 injured people. This kind of investigation gives a much better view than the sometimes artificial crash tests. Both Saab and Volvo are using this kind of statistics in their development to design cars that behave well in real life, not just on the test course. http://www.folksam.se/engelsk/index.htm In the report also the dangers of colliding with heavy SUVs are mentioned. A US study reports that the risk is 3.4 times higher to get killed in a collision with an SUV than when colliding with an ordinary car of the same size. This means that probably not even Saab 9-5s can withstand an SUV collision with acceptable results. Thus you may argue that the SUV drivers buy themselves security at the expense of the lives of the other persons on the road. > > > There are also a lot of interesting reports from the Swedish National Road > and > > Transport Research Institute > > http://www.vti.se/edefault.asp is the English page. I have not checked if > > everything is available in English. > > This one wasn't and I'm very curious as to what it says, if you don't mind > summing it up for me. > http://www.vti.se/info/rapporter/edetalj.asp?RecID=2213 This report is about using modern IT for surveillance (like traffic video cameras, electronic access control etc.), its benefits but also the personal integrity problems and peoples fear for being continuously monitored. There was no real conclusion except for the fact that the fears of the public must be carefully considered when designing future traffic security systems. > I was surprised to see this: > http://www.vti.se/info/rapporter/edetalj.asp?RecID=1905 > We wouldn't see an article such as that in the US. > > I loved the moose crash test dummy! > http://www.vti.se/info/rapporter/edetalj.asp?RecID=1776 Yepp, moose crash tests and car behaviour during moose avoidance manoevres are significant in Swedish traffic safety thinking (we don't have ice bears in the streets but quite a significant amount of moose on the roads!). We actually forced the Mercedes guys to redesign their A-series of small cars since they initially behaved very poor during moose avoidance manoevres, the same thing with early Skodas. Actually (considering the original topic of this posting) a moose collision is one of the types of accidents where the child is best protected in the rear seat according to Swedish experts. This is because the moose body hits the wind screen and compresses the top of the roof down to the passenger seat. Saabs and Volvos are therefore equipped with very stiff windscreen/front door posts to reduce the damages from a moose collision. > > > Hmm....I can't imagine having a three year old in a reverse mounted > seat. I > > > did it up to the recommended weight of forty pounds, then I switched. > > > > The general recommendations here in Sweden are to have the child > reverse-seated > > as far as possible. > > Hmm....very interesting the difference in opinions. > > >The dimensioning factors are when the head goes above > the > > back of the child seat and when there is no mor room for the legs. These > > conditions typically occur at the age of 4. I the front seat the leg room > is > > often better than in the rear seat. > > Wow, I placed my child in a front position once he reached 40lbs which was > about 1 yr. Maybe US babies are larger than ours? Wouldn't believe so, many of you originated from Europe not so long ago. However I found one scentence somewhere and that is that Swedish child seats in most cases have longer backs than seats from other countries. We have been using reverse-mounted child seats for more than 30 years and maybe that is the result of the general experience gained during this time. I think the tradition also reflects the way the drivers behave and act. I read the NHTSA pages (interesting stuff too) and there it seemed like about 50% of all children killed in car accidents were unbelted. The figure for Sweden was about 25% year 2000. Thus one can conclude that having well informed drivers and a culture of good seat belting is probably the best method to improve traffic safety. > > You think if I emailed the person who wrote the article they might have it > translated already? Why not? Or he/she may give you directions where to find good reports in English. -- someguy
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