re: Safety regs

[Michael Williams <alfanut@domain.elided>]

At 2:56 AM +0000 9/17/02, Georeg Graves wrote:
>US cars
>are REQUIRED to have safety PLATE glass in all windows. Most European
>car manufacturers are only required to use safety plate in the
>windshield for their home-market cars.

Is this different from safety glass? I'm sure safety glass is a requirement on all euro cars...

While searching for info on this I came across this... perhaps this is the reason we got all these funky glued in windshields in the US... Alfa always did freak out when US safety regs were to kick in (witness the jump to SPICA)...

"Before 1963, windshields were installed in a car by means of a rubber gasket. In 1963, butyl tape was used to adhesively bond the windshield to the frame on a small test
fleet of General Motors cars. Adhesive bonding became standard on a few GM models in 1964. The domestic manufacturers gradually shifted from rubber gaskets to
adhesive bonding (initially butyl tape and later, in some cases, polyurethane sealant) after 1964, but rubber gaskets remained on some domestic models until 1978. The
objectives of adhesive bonding were not explicitly stated, but two may be inferred: to provide a tighter bond between windshield and car, preventing the windshield from
becoming dislodged in a crash, denying occupants an avenue for ejection through the gap between windshield and frame; to reduce manufacturing cost by eliminating the
rubber gasket. On January 1, 1970, in the middle of the transition from rubber gaskets to adhesive bonding, Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 212 took effect for
passenger cars. Standard 212 limits the amount of windshield bond separation allowed in a 30 mph barrier crash and has the explicit objective of preventing occupant
ejection through the windshield portal. But the relationship of Standard 212 to adhesive bonding is not clear, since, as stated above, rubber gaskets continued to be used in
some models well after 1970. It is possible that a 1976 modification in the temperature range for Standard 212 testing may also have accelerated the shift to adhesive
bonding.

Foreign cars, as a matter or fact, continued to use mostly rubber gaskets throughout the 1970's. But Volkswagen, which had virtually a "pop-out" windshield before 1970, did
install clips between the gasket and the frame in response to Standard 212. It is possible that other German manufacturers also implemented similar devices about that time."
from : http://www.glassbytes.com/installeval.htm


> Then there are the bumpers. Not
>only do all bumpers (on cars) have to be the same height, they also
>have to absorb the shock from a 5 mph collision without damaging the
>car.

No longer true. This was lowered to 2.5mph by Ronnie.

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/studies/Bumper/Index.html

From the above webpage:

"9) How does the U.S. the bumper standard compare to the Canadian and European standards?

(I've snipped the Canuck stuff out, eh?)

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) regulation No. 42 requires that a car's safety systems continue to
operate normally after the car has been impacted by a pendulum or moving barrier on the front or rear longitudinally at 4 kilometers
per hour (about 2.5 mph) and on the front and rear corner at 2.5 kilometers per hour (about 1.5 mph) at 455 mm (about 18 inches)
above the ground under loaded and unloaded conditions."


If I'm not mistaken many of the makers (BMW, Saab, etc.) which sell a lot of cars in US and Europe just go ahead and make the bumpers the same for all markets. Economies of scale (and as you can see the regs are almost identical). Airbags standard in almost all euro cars even if not required. Selling safety works in Europe as well as it does here. IMHO, variances in the standards between the regions now cause more problems than a lack of safety equipment on Euro spec cars. Unless one side or the other agrees to adopt the others standards we'll forever have this problem. We are an island.

More info on importation on your own....

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/import/

-- 
Michael Williams
Sacramento, CA, USA

69 Duetto
73 Berlina (Fiat 124 Special)
84 GTV6


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