Re: Bad News for Sports Cars?

["Tony Sims" <simstony@domain.elided>]

From whence did this idea emerge that there should be absolutely no risk in
the life of a human being?  Aren't there arguments based in religion and
Darwinism that oppose interfering with, for the former, fate or destiny, and
for the latter, natural selection?  Anything that doesn't kill you makes you
stronger, and anything that does improves the species!

When will flying be outlawed?  After all, there's an enormous risk in
strapping 300 people in an aluminum tube and propelling it into the air at
hundreds of miles per hour.  What about restaurants, those crowded buildings
with large fires in enclosed spaces?  I rode a city bus not long ago, and it
had NO SEATBELTS OR AIRBAGS!

Hey, what about war?  That's a risky business, all those bullets and bombs
flying about. . .

Tony

----- Original Message -----
From: "James Bratek" <james_bratek@domain.elided>
To: "Alfa List" <alfa@domain.elided>
Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2003 4:47 PM
Subject: Bad News for Sports Cars?


> Well, if not necessarily bad news, at least another set of
> government-mandated challenges to incorporate into bodywork designs:
>
> --------------------------------
> EUROPEAN CARS TO GET BOXIER LOOK
> By Neal E. Boudette
> The Wall Street Journal
> March 5, 2003
>
> GENEVA--European automotive styling is headed for a face-lift, and it may
> not be pretty.
>
> In a bid to reduce injuries to pedestrians hit by cars, the European Union
> is on track to introduce regulations forcing car makers to build vehicles
> with higher hoods and fatter, boxier designs.
>
> For companies like BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Saab, that may mean
> replacing their elegantly sloping front ends with fatter, boxier designs.
>
> "For automotive designers, it's a disaster," Robert Lutz, vice chairman of
> product development at General Motors Corp., said at the Geneva auto show.
> GM makes Saab and Opel vehicles. "Sports cars are going to look a little
> strange," Mr. Lutz added.
>
> Although the pedestrian-protection measures aren't expected to become
> mandatory until 2010, most European car companies are already working on
new
> designs and technologies and may begin introducing them before then.
Hoping
> to attract safety-conscious buyers, Honda Motor Co. has already started to
> alter its hood designs to protect pedestrians. Changes to the hood and
> bumper would cost an estimated $50 to $100 per vehicle.
>
> Customers in the U.S. will see the changes because DaimlerChrysler AG's
> Mercedes unit, Bayerische Motoren Werke AG and Volkswagen AG and Europe's
> other luxury car makers sell virtually identical vehicles around the
world.
> The U.S. units of auto makers like GM and DaimlerChrysler would be
> unaffected by the changes.
>
> Larger vehicles that already have thicker-looking front ends, such as
> sport-utility vehicles and minivans, could probably accommodate the
> regulations with little noticable change to their profiles, Mr. Lutz said.
>
> According to the EU, some 8,000 pedestrians and cyclists are killed and an
> additional 300,000 are injured in car accidents each year. The EU hopes to
> reduce the number of deaths to 2,000 by 2010.
>
> In the U.S., federal auto safety regulators are reviewing European and
> Japanese proposals for changing vehicle design to improve pedestrian
safety
> for potential application in the U.S., a spokesman for the National
Highway
> Traffic Safety Administration said yesterday. NHTSA researchers have been
> working with counterparts from other countries since 1997 to develop
> internationally consistent rules. So far, U.S. regulators haven't issued
> specific orders for car makers to change vehicle designs. In the U.S.,
4,882
> pedestrians were killed in traffic accidents in 2001, a decrease of 16%
from
> 1991, according to NHTSA. The agency counted 78,000 pedestrians injured in
> traffic crashes.
>
> Most of the fatalities and serious injuries occur when the victim's head
> hits the hood of the car and the hood collapses onto the hard surfaces of
> the engine. The new European rules, which were outlines in a draft
directive
> last month, call on car makers to put more room between the hood and the
> engine, leaving more "crumple room" to soften the blow. A higher hood
line,
> however, would give the front of the car a fatter profile.
>
> Bumpers would also have to be built with more give. The draft directive
> suggests designing bumpers with about eight inches of flat, vertical
surface
> about eight inches in width that would spread out the impact on a
> pedestrian's legs. Mr. Lutz said that would result in a squarish, less
> streamlined nose, Mr. Lutz said.
>
> Although car makers have told the EU they will go along with the rules,
most
> aren't convinced the new rules will reduce as many injuries and deaths as
> the EU hopes. "The big problem isn't when the pedestrian hits the car, but
> when he hits the ground," said Wilfried Bockelmann, VW's development
chief.
>
> Most European auto makers are trying to develop technologies that fulfill
> the directive's requirements with minimal impact on design. One idea would
> equip the front end with electronics that sense when impact with a
> pedestrian is imminent and triggers a device that pops the hood up a few
> inches. A padded device could also pop out below the bumper to knock the
> pedestrian off his feet, preventing severe ankle and foot injuries, said
> Hans-Joachim Schoepf, head of passenger car development at Mercedes.
>
> Such "active" technologies, however, could add $200 or more to the cost of
a
> vehicle.
>
> The directive "means that cars can't be built tomorrow the way they are
> built today," Mr. Schoepf said. "We hope that if you do it cleverly, you
> will still have a good-looking car."
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