He shoots, he scores. Thanks for sharing your experiences with Jack Martin. It's irreplaceable reports of unique experiences like yours that make this list worthwhile for me. Rick Gendreau --- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Bob Brandys <BobB@...> wrote: > > Claude, > > You are correct that the Bricklin was designed as a safety vehicle. > Being in the safety field for over 30 years now, I was very involved > in vehicle safety, back in my younger days at grad school. > > The Bricklin was brought out at the time of the first air bag cars. > GM build over 20,000 full size air bag cars, in 74-76. Mostly Olds > and Caddy. The were a $300 option know as the "air cushion restraint > system." These air bags were much safer than the current design and > never killed any kids. > > However, there was a debate whether air bags were needed in a > adequately designed car that could absorb crash energy. > The DOT contracted to have 2 safety vehicle built in 1975 without air > bags to test this energy absorbing concept. > > Interestingly, these two vehicle had gull wing side doors. These two > safety vehicles disappeared when Regan became president (along with all > the information on making tires quieter (but that's another story). > > Bricklin followed up on this crash energy absorbing/dissapating design > and built the SV1. You could crash into a wall at 50 mph and walk > away. Bricklin even proved this in a live real test. The main design > feature was a steel frame that would crush like an accordian bellows. > Note: this 50 mph survivability without major injury still exceeds > the current air bag safety requirements. > > DeLorean used a different energy dissipating principal, that of glass > fibers breaking - and dissapating energy. > > Jack Martins, (who died of a brain aneurism about 5 years ago) was the > air bag safety consultant to JZD. Jack was a good friend of mine and > I still own his 1976 air bag Oldsmobile. I restored it, just before > he died and he was really happy about the fact that his car was saved. > > Jack and I discussed the safety differences between the D and the B > many times. Overall the Bricklin was the superior safety vehicle. > However, if JZD had installed air bags in the Ds, they would have been > almost equalivent. > > Jack was also influential the design of other safety features in the D. > For example, the front pillars are padded with about 3 inches of foam. > The doors have hip displacement absorbing panels and there knee pads > on the front dash. > > The energy absorbing front pillar pads only became a mandatory safety > feature about 5 years ago. JZD and Jack were way ahead in this safety > feature. > > In addition, to all the other reasons why GM wanted JZD out of > business, Jack felt that the DeLorean safety features also scared GM > because a better engineered car could be used at trial to show a > negligent design by another car company. > > Jack was a expert witness in many product liability suits against, GM, > Ford and Chrysler. Some of his cases were just unbelievable in the > stupidity of the engineers who designed stuff. Many times it turned > out the engineers never did the designing-it was young, underpaid, > inexperienced draftsman who were told to just make up something that > works. > > I really believe that if JZD has been allowed to stay in business, he > would have been the first car with standard air bags. His vehicle were > designed for them from day one. > > Anyway, who said that the rear tires don't fit in the bonnet. They do > in the 2015 Delorean. > > Bob > To address comments privately to the moderating team, please address: moderators@xxxxxxxxxxx For more info on the list, tech articles, cars for sale see www.dmcnews.com To search the archives or view files, log in at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:dmcnews-digest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx mailto:dmcnews-fullfeatured@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: dmcnews-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/