Date:         Fri, 29 Nov 1996 10:56:11 -0800
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Matthew L. Dekker" <mdekker@eskimo.com>
Subject:      VW & Airbags

Hello everyone,

My two cents on this airbag fiasco is making me reconsider waiting for the 
V6 EV since they'll have airbags. Maybe by the time they finally make it to 
market they'll have that switch that'll let you turn it off.....

While the Idaho incident is a tragedy, the blame rests solely with the 
person who put the baby seat there. It would seem that no amount of warning 
stickers and owners manuals will save people from foolish actions. In my 
early A3 Golf (w/o airbags), I had to fit an A2 baby seat front seat belt 
assembly just so I could put the child seat in front. I know it is safer in 
back, but if one is hauling cargo the seat must be up front. (Which is why 
I'm looking for an EV. Even with the little one in the middle seat, I could 
probably put the whole Golf in the space behind the middle seat.)

The American public is being very mislead by good intentioned consumer 
advocates and media. (60 Minutes never followed up on their Audi 
persecution, while Dateline did own up to putting bottle rocket engines on 
the GM pickup gas tank.....) Life is risky and having passive safety 
equipment is just fooling people into thinking there is less risk. A GM 
engineer said on the radio the other day that a very small number of people 
have been saved by airbags. (Maybe 10 a year.) While it is difficult to put 
a price on those lives, wouldn't the millions of dollars spent on airbags 
have been better spent on better driver education and regular testing (not 
just renewals).

Just because I have a pre-airbag Golf does not make me immune from the do 
gooders, the door attached belts in my '80 diesel Rabbit (RIP) and my '93 
Golf III are not as secure as those mounted to the B pillar and even those 
are probably not as safe as a five point racing harness. When will these 
self appointed (and in some cases, duly elected) caretakers realize that a 
car is inherently defensive, unlike say, a motorcycle, and let people live 
their lives and make their choices.

Back to lurk mode,


Matt Dekker
mdekker@eskimo.com

Dekker Service Home Page
http://www.eskimo.com/~mdekker