DaimlerChrysler to Bring Teeny Two-Seater to U.S.

My point exactly.

The "Smart" is a political vehicle. It is manufactured for political
reasons. Politics is a poor substitute for physics.

 

Or a dumb cost / benefit ratio.

 

The smarts pass all safety checks in the european ncap tests with
flying colours, which includes passenger space intrusion, shock loading
etc regulations, better than a lot of larger cars. The reason they cost
more is because getting this kind of protection in a smaller lighter
vehicle takes a lot of hard work and design time, and testing.

Personally I wouldnt drive one, they're ugly, but for a city/suburbs
car they are ideal and perfectly safe, if not safer than the vast
majority of yank tanks.

J

 

Your suspicion is wrong, in the EU almost all of the drivers are young
professionals aged 25-35, certainly all the ones i see round the cities
ive visited, they arent THAT expensive here, just a little more than
compact car.

One of our car TV programs did a 50 or 70mph diagonal impact with a
concrete wall test in one, I'll see if i can find the video for our
viewing pleasure.

 

When i say flying colours i mean it didnt fail miserably, it was rated
as 3-4* i think. Stil higher than a lot of modern cars. NCAP tests are
up to 40mph IIRC.

Heres a clip from the fifth gear crash test at 70mph. Naturally at that
speed the deceleration is rather drastic and probably fatal but that is
the same in all small cars, and cars are not designed and tested to
70mph anyway - the vast majority of accidents occur at lower speed and
dont involve a solid concrete wall like this vid.

as you can see from the picture the shell has almost zero intrusion
(havign watched the show its clearer, there was about 3inches shift in
the footwell area to one side but no dangerous 'trapping' or cutting
issues) but little other damage. The accelerations inside were rather
on the high side at that speed so it is assumed the driver would have
died, but ive yet to see a crash test that didnt say that and plenty of
peolpe do survive.

You do make an interesting point about loss of steering control due to
wheel contact, im not sure how they worked around that.

http://xo.typepad.com/blog/2005/12/video_smart_car.html

 

The 'yank tanks' we took over in WW II?

;-)

 

Your suspicion is wrong, in the EU almost all of the drivers are young
professionals aged 25-35, certainly all the ones i see round the cities
ive visited, they arent THAT expensive here, just a little more than
compact car.

The US brands of car make a rather pathetic showing on the streets of
Europe. Chevy advertises heavily; Ford less so, but you see many more
Smarts and Toyotas on the road. Yaris is very popular.

 

I think they could be lol. Mind you, theres a beautiful 76 'vette down
the road. Always wanted one since i was a kid. Cant corner, drinks
fuel, totally excessive but I still LOVE them lol. I shoulda been a
yank

 

dude, the /real/ political vehicles are those powered by ethanol or
hydrogen.

 

DUH. Everybody is different. Depending on Age, health, lifestyle,
diet, genetics, gender, etc. One person may be fine sitting in a
Toyota Corolla as it careens into the rear of a stopped Cadillac at
60mph. Bumps, bruises, broken bones, but no head trama. BUT the next
person 50 years older would immediately die in such an impact as the
brain matter sloshes around inside her head. Fatal Brain trauma and a
snaped neck in the blink of an eye.

Genetics has a lot to do with how well a person fairs in a car
accident. Some people are just built a lot more robust than others.
Bone density is different from person to person. Epithelial tissue is
different. Even the difference of being "relaxed" at the time of the
collision rather than "tense" can make all the difference in what kind
of injuries a person sustains. One example is all the drunk drivers
who kill and maime other motorists while walking away from it all with
no injuries. The Alcohol put them in a relaxed state which prevents
the flesh from getting damaged as easily.


East-

 

Now THAT is funny.


mike hunt

 

Does that mean that someone who is asleep at the wheel having pleasant drams
is less likely to be injured than someone who is asleep at the wheel having
nightmares?

 

Interesting article in Home Power magazine, No 114. August/September 2006
http://www.homepower.com/

The Myth of a Hydrogen Future
by Ulf Bossel, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and Engineering

High Points:

--Hydrogen is not an energy source but an energy carrier (you have to create
hydrogen from something)

--2.2 gallons of hydrogen is the energy equivalent of 1 gallon of gasoline,
you will process 2.4 gallons of water to get that kilo of hydrogen

--To satisfy present fuel needs with hydrogen, Los Angeles would have to
double it's water intake (already piped in from the Rockies) and use the
energy equivalent of 80 power stations to crack the hydrogen & compress or
liquidly it

-252.87 o C is the boiling point of hydrogen. To make it economical to
transport, some combination of super-refrigeration and pressure will be
needed to compress it

--because of low energy yield, it would take 22 gasoline truck-sized
transports (hydrogen pressurized to 3500 psi) to equal the energy found in
one tanker truck of gasoline

--it will require 30-40% of the hydrogen's energy to compress or liquefy it
for transportation

--the power plant to wheel efficiency of electric cars approaches 60-70%,
the best hydrogen fuel cells yield 17-23%

 

In a Nut Shell, Yes.


East-

 

Too true...

 

Not me. I'm the same.


RFT!!!
Dave Kelsen

 

You're unique... just like everyone else.

 

If a person is strapped in correctly, the deceleration (G-force) that
can be tolerated is amazing. See: http://www.ejectionsite.com/stapp.htm

 

Some people certainly can, as some have survived remarkable falls. Auto
safety has to be designed for the worst mainstream case, rather than the
best. Captain Stapp's recklessness aside, there are good reasons for the 18
G limit.

Mike