Date: Thu, 21 Sep 2000 18:38:20 -0400
Reply-To: John Koloski <koloski@TOAD.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: John Koloski <koloski@TOAD.NET>
Subject: Re: One More on Rollover Fatalities...
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
The Vanagon has a lower center of gravity than the Explorer. The center of
mass of the engine and transaxle is not much higher than the center of your
wheels (the axle). Most 4WDs have the engine at chest height and propeller
shafts angled downwards to the differentials. Sailboats are very tall but
have a very low center of gravity because their weight is concentrated low
down. The Vanagon may seem to sway a bit to the driver and passengers
because they are sitting way up on the mast, but the Vanagon is stable
because her weight is in the keel. AYYYYYEEEEE, KEEL HAUL THE SCURVY DOG!
----------
> From: Steve Schwenk <SXS@CONCENTRIC.NET>
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: One More on Rollover Fatalities...
> Date: Thursday, September 21, 2000 1:00 AM
>
> Here's some more good info from Thus. NYT on
> rollovers. I won't post anymore. And please do not
> e-mail me telling me vanagons are not at risk. Look at
> the height of a vanagon, and the width, and compare it
> to an explorer. You've got to be kidding if you think
> the vanagon is more stable.
> ________________________________________________________
>
>
>
> The annual number of deaths involving rollovers has
> been inching up since 1993 as sport utility vehicles
> have become more popular, according to an analysis by
> The New York Times of a federal database that includes
> all fatal crashes across the country. Rollovers were a
> factor in 10,657 of the
> 35,806 deaths that occurred in vehicles of all types
> last year, the analysis found.
>
> "Unless sport utility vehicles are redesigned and go
> through some
> comprehensive engineering changes, we're going to see
> more rollovers in
> the future," said Sally Greenberg, the senior product
> safety counsel at
> Consumers Union.
>
> Automakers say that they are addressing the rollover
> problem, by
> lowering the center of gravity of some sport utilities,
> installing electronic stability systems in some luxury
> models and even putting in air bags that deploy from
> the ceiling, to reduce the risk that passengers will
> smash through the side windows during rollovers.
>
> An auto industry computer simulation, demonstrated for
> auto engineers at
> a closed-door meeting in late 1997, shows that when a
> sport utility vehicle rolls over, an unbelted rider
> tends to be thrown through a side
> window in the direction of the roll, and is then
> crushed by the vehicle.
>
> The public image of rollovers, shaped by television
> footage of vehicles
> weaving at high speed through slalom courses of safety
> cones, is that
> vehicles tip over when drivers swerve too sharply
> trying to avoid road
> hazards. But federal regulators say, and auto industry
> engineers tend to
> agree, that fewer than 10 percent of all rollovers
> happen purely because
> of sharp maneuvers on a paved road.
>
> Federal studies have found that as many as 92 percent
> of rollovers occur
> when a vehicle is "tripped." This can happen either
> because the vehicle
> strikes a car, curb, guard rail or other low object, or
> because one side of the vehicle starts traveling over a
> surface that slows it down, like a muddy shoulder of
> the road.
>
> The Times's analysis found that a vehicle rollover was
> the first thing that went wrong in 4,125 of the 10,657
> rollover deaths last year. Sport
> utilities accounted for a quarter of all crashes that
> started with rollovers, even though sport utilities
> still make up only one-twelfth of all vehicles in use.
>
> One of the best answers would be to persuade more
> people to wear seat
> belts. A data review by regulators in 1998 found that
> only 327 of the
> 1,482 people who died in sport utility vehicle
> rollovers in 1997 were
> wearing their seat belts.
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