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While home with a cold, I watched a thing on discovery channel the other
day about car pileups and how multiple collisions often ruin whatever
safety features are in the car, and how driver-side impacts by larger
vehicles are dangerous in any car.
Then last night I watched the new zealand WRC rally on speedvision.
Amazing. Sardine-can lightweight cars like ford focus and subaru wrx
getting punished severely. Colin drives his ford off the road probably
going 100mph, and into a tree at an odd angle, busts out his windshield
and the tree is just 5-6 inches from his head. Next scene, the car is
driving away without a windscreen and a big crease in the top of the car.
Then a subaru wrx loses it coming out of a corner and rolls probably a
minimum of 4 times and 150 feet. Next scene, the drivers are standing
there, stunned but safe. I wish I had these guys nerves. I'm pretty easy
going and calm, but these guys don't let adrenaline get the best of them.
Aside from racing safety, I usually think of low end domestic and japanese
cars as sardine can death traps, where safety takes a back seat to cost
or miles per gallon, or efficiency.
I'm sure if Saab wanted to be king of safety and sell cars with an
optional fully racing approved roll cage and 3" four-point seatbelts for
road use, a certain few thousand safety nuts and performance nuts would
buy quite loyally. Saabs are already quite safe, but I think there is a
serious market for the safety fanatic. Anyone who has a had a brush with
death in a car, and that's probably many many million here, would be a
good candidate. I bet the majority of people have a brush with death in a
car before they get old, some people closer than others. Rich yuppies
buying safe cars for their kids would probably also buy. The only downside
I can see is reduced storage space because of the rollbars. You wouldn't
be able to bring 8' boards home inside the car, or refriderators, but
that's a handy and underused feature of our saabs anyhow. I'd seriously
consider staying in the saab family if this sort of extreme safety kit
were available at dealerships for market prices (say $2000) for new and
used saabs. This would probably help their used car market (resale) too if
people could go pick up an offlease or used saab and outfit it to meet
their safety needs without dealing with half a dozen performance shops,
welding, and poking holes in the car, and DIY work. A factory option would
add a lot of value to the car for a certain set of buyers.
The other safety consideration I thought of would be a radical new design.
A 2 passenger car for daily use. How many cars on the road have more than
one passenger - not many. One person sits behind the other like in a jet
cockpit. Windscreen would be like a jet cockpit too. Think of the Bentley
in this year's LeMans. Have a wide area on either side of the passenger
like Steve Mcqueens Porsche 917. This wide area could be storage space for
groceries and briefcase. The back of it could be space for intercoolers on
either side. Curved bars could direct side impact forces to where they
attach on the front or back of the passenger area.
Basically, Saab would be giving up a little versatility for unmatched
safety, with a performance quality to attract younger buyers like myself.
Saab has already given up a fair amount of versatility for safety when
they got rid of the classic 900 series. All the old hatchbacks had nice
flat loading that was level with the bumper. According the Saab when I was
at the VFA in Georgia, the NG900 and 9-3 aren't flat and level with the
bumper because they needed somewhat of a buttress there to protect for
side impacts in that area.
posted by 10....
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