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I didn't realize how big a deal this GM thing was... Posted by Snowmobile [Email]  (#686)  [Profile/Gallery]
(more from Snowmobile) on Mon, 7 Apr 2014 07:18:49
In Reply to: Re: Our 2006 Honda Odyssey - 3 recalls!, dtechakacheaptech, Fri, 4 Apr 2014 08:26:14 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
I actually just read a thing about a guy near us who was killed in a head on car crash a few years back in a 2006 Saturn where the airbag didn't go off. Veered across the center line into traffic. It was in the news recently because the family had had no idea what had caused the crash until 18 months later, a recall notice arrived in the mail from GM. If the car is off, the airbags do not function.
Obviously, this collision would have been avoided by proper driver training (so he would have known to shift to neutral and restart the car while still looking ahead and driving normally)... but it still should be a wake up call for many, particularly re the airbag (and something I've been saying for years):
Cars should be able to pass all the safety testing without airbags. Maybe not perfect, but reasonably good.
When the SUV side impact testing was introduced from IIHS, very few cars (ie basically nobody but SAAB) did well in it. The solution for most was technology: add a side curtain. Many cars passed that test with the curtain but failed miserably without. The 9-5 doesn't get perfect marks because a rear seat adult dummy head lightly touched the c pillar, whereas other cars with side curtains got better marks than the 9-5 but failed miserably without the curtains...
I'd want my car to be pretty safe even if the car is off. I think that should be a bigger criterion than it is, and imho why good structural design (like the folding B pillar) should be championed more. I have no doubt that most of the "5 star safety" cars on the road right now are highly dependent on functioning electronics to reach that level of safety and it would not surprise me if most are not really as safe as an og9-5 once you turn off the car.
With all this stuff, walking away without major (eg life threatening) injuries should be priority over protecting vs a minor scratch or bump. The Swedes had a good thing going, and imho a lot has been lost in the simple mindedness of other manufacturers playing the testing game... but the upside is that cars have on average improved drastically... though I think less so than the marketing departments of some brands would have us believe!
, Tue, 1 Apr 2014 08:22:55, Sun, 13 Apr 2014 08:15:11, Mon, 7 Apr 2014 07:18:49 <-- Viewing This Message, Mon, 7 Apr 2014 09:02:19, Mon, 7 Apr 2014 12:37:31, Mon, 7 Apr 2014 09:18:40
, Wed, 2 Apr 2014 09:32:53, Tue, 1 Apr 2014 16:26:00, Wed, 2 Apr 2014 06:28:05
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