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Does anyone know the statiscal likelihood of a roll-over accident in a convertible? I know the rollover system of BMW (used in Volvo, too?) is neat, and I would prefer it were I buying a BMW, I think the choice is more a matter of it being available.
I'm not an engineer or fully knowledgable about the strength of the windshield frame for the SAAB convertible (ours is a 1999 9-3). And I would be skeptical of anything a salesman tells me - they are inclined to tell you what you want to hear, so they can get the sale. (I think the salespeople suggested to me that the rear headrests would provide some protection and support - pleeeease)! But, on the other hand, it certainly makes sense that the front windshield frame would be engineered to provide the type of support to hold up in a typical rollover situation. It would be interesting to know whether there are any federal regulations as to the required strength of the windshield frame on convertibles. To assess the exposure of rear seat passsengers if the 9-3 convertible were upside down, I guess you could stretch a string from the top of the windshield to the top rear edge of the trunklid, and see how the string intersects the rear seat area - space above the string would be underground were the car upside down. When I bought my previous SAAB in 1983m SAAB did an entire separate brochure on all the safety engineering and features in SAAB's - it would be great if they still did that, and added a section as to the extra reinforcement added to the convertibles. That would help you develop a comfort level on this subject.
Having the roll-over protection system (such as BMW's) should not be taken as a license to drive recklessly or beyond one's abilities (and I'm not suggesting that you would) - one should still maintain a sharp attention to the driving environment. In addition, having additional passengers iin the car also adds the responsibility that one has for their safety, as well. That said, there is no doubt rollovers can happen in spite of our driving carefully, but the statiscal frequency of that would be interesting, also. (Statistics don't matter one bit, though, if you're the one to whom it happens)!
posted by 66.74.23...
, Sun, 19 Aug 2001 00:27:19
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