[DML] Re: DeLorean Crash safety

["content22207" <brobertson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Remember that the production DMC-12 is a completely different
automobile from the DSV concept car. Many DSV concepts were lost in
Lotus' final engineering: air bags, knee bars, central fuel cell, etc.
Even ERM may have been more energy absorbant than VARI. Don't get me
wrong: The DMC-12 as built is a very safe car. But some original
concept features are missing.

Note that I put integrated DSV knee bars in a different category from
our knee pads. Having removed mine on several occasions, I do not
think their energy absorbing capacity could be very high (not the pads
themselves, but their flimsy attachment to the dash). They seem more
cosmetic than structural.

Of course simple seat belts are the single biggest addition to safety.
Why it took Ralph Nader and the US Congress to point out the obvious
to auto manufacturers -- passengers are much safer in their seats than
bouncing around the interior like pinballs (or being thrown from it
via inadequate windshields and door latches) -- is beyond me. I still
hope & pray that school buses will eventually be seatbelt equipped (I
plan to retrofit lap belts onto mine). 

My best friend is a firefighter stationed next to I-395 (opposite the
Pentagon). Every time he works an accident in which the vehicle
occupants were not wearing seatbelts, he has to go on a treasure hunt
to find their bodies. He's found them in trees & bushes, under the
vehicle, in the opposing lanes, all over. Note that firefighters wear
seatbelts in the truck that resemble race car or fighter pilot belts.

Moral of the story: buckle up.

Bill Robertson
#5939

>--- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Bob Brandys <BobB@...> wrote:
>
> Claude,
> 
> You are correct that the Bricklin was designed as a safety vehicle.  




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