Air bags: pros & cons

[Denise 20352]

> Precisely my train of thought. This government induced nannyism that protect us from ourselves, and the generally greedy and litigous public and legal system have allowed any sense of self respect and self preservation to decay into allowing and depending on the authorities to keep us from doing harm to ourselves, and expecting a financial award from those that have somehow circumvented the government mandated web of well being.

  Its getting worse.  Theyve already gone after the cigarettes and the cars, now theyre trying to control the food.  "For your own good"  Twenty or thirty years ago, no one but George Orwell would have believed that this could happen.  Now what is going to happen in the next 20-30 years that we could not possibly foresee happening right now?  Its scary.

  The governments argument is that the government and private insurance companies (which will soon be the government) have to pay more for your health care.  At what point do we become government property?  Slaves?

-denise

[Denise 20352]

  Here in the US, they go off at 10 mph.  If it were 50, or even 30, I wouldnt have as much of a problem with them.  However, there is still my CD player analogy.  If they cant make a CD player that lasts 20k miles, what makes you think that an air bag will work the way it was designed to?

-denise

[Mike #19861]

 If everyone would walk around their cars at least once a week, look at the tires and lights and just the general condition of their car, many situations could be avoided. Tire pressure monitors only tell you when a tire is down. It does no more than a walk around. If you are underway, and suffer a blowout, no monitor could have prevented it unless it has been ignored for some time. If you happen to look at the condition of the tires, you could likely prevent most of these blowouts.

 Most all blowouts are caused by one of two things, a worn or damaged tire, or low air pressure. These are the sort of things that can be prevented easily.

 Cars with lights out are a pet peeve of mine. Its OK if one light is out, they can go at any time, but to see cars on the road with multiple lights out is a sign that the car has been neglected. This shows that the driver has generally neglected the most basic of car maintenance, the walkaround. Yesterday I saw a Toyota with FIVE brake lights out! That is more dngerous than a tire that is low on air, in my opinion. And these cars with lamp monitors do little to prevent it. Quite often I see Cadillacs with many lights out. They do not all go out at once. They are simply ignored over time.

 Drivers today just get into their car, start it (or "turn it on" as many say now), stuff a cell phone in their ear and off they go. Never look at anything. Rarely even wash them. These drivers can be charged with driving an unsafe vehicle, a pretty stout fine that includes a coart date, but never do. Many times I see these cars piloted by visible minorities. The cops will completely leave them alone fearing discrimination charges and the ensuing reams of paperwork. Meanwhile they go blissfully on.

 Mike

[Bruce Reynolds # 18992]

Densie,

But, people can FIDDLE with CD players.   That is the reason why they stuff up.

Bruce,
The Tassie Devil(le),
60 CDV

[JIM CLC # 15000]

ALL. concerning all of the "safety" items on cars today, when its all said and done, A safe and sane driver will out-preform any safety-devise installed on any car.
Brake lights come-on automaticly when the brakes are applied. (assuming the bulbs, switch and wiring are ok.)
But, the turn signials have to be turned on by the driver. (a lot of drivers dont use them at any time, ever )
Good Luck, Jim

[John Tozer #7946]

Hi Porter,

This from a country that has:

1.

[Denise 20352]

> This is a much GREATER problem nowadays with the millions of illegal immigrants in the US, driving with no license or insurance.

   Considering that an alarming percentage of them are now "Other Than Mexican" you should be more concerned about those trucks full of explosives.

-denise

[Denise 20352]

  We put a CD in, it plays, push the eject button and its supposed to come back out.  Instead, it makes grinding and puking noises.  Less than 20k or so miles on the car, and I recall a Ford tech in this forum telling me that he frequently replaced these radios under warranty, so it wasnt a matter of fiddling with it.  They built junk, and it broke.

  At least, unlike the air bags, we can see that it is broken. There isnt any way to test under what conditions the air bag will inflate.  And please dont tell me that it "self-tests" when you turn the key on...I have a strong background in troubleshooting systems that "self-test".

  Think about it...should you really trust a company that cant make a working CD player to arm an explosive device and place it between your arms?  Thats like driving down the street holding a stick of dynamite.

-denise

[Denise 20352]

> BUT as far as the ins co is concerned totaling out a vehicle is a drop in the bucket compared to what the medical expenses would be if that same accident happened without airbags.Whiplash alone would cost more than $12K.

   Air bags dont prevent whiplash.

-d

[Dave Smith #17592]

Ah!  But Ford doesnt build a crappy CD player.   The people who make the parts that go into the radios do.  Just like Walmart, they arent getting these things made in the good old USA anymore.   Yes, the CD players crap out.    But that is because every year the BIG-3 manufacturers tell their suppliers to reduce the prices of the parts they make that are put into the cars.   So to meet these lower prices and keep up with rising costs of making them,  ie: payroll, health benefits, etc etc.  the materials going into the cars are crappier and crappier.     All just to keep getting the bid on being a supplier.   All so the car companies can make more money to justify the rebates and family plans.

    Back to the CD players.   Visteon lost the bid to produce the radios for Ford.  Delphi won the bid.    And yes, the Delphi made radios are much worse!    So the whole industry is screwed up.   Gm builds radios for Fords,  Ford makes DVD units for Chrysler, etc etc.      Everything is built to last for 3 years at best.   They want you to PAY to fix all this when the basic warranty expires.   Or get so frustrated with repairs that you trade it in . Even my 75 Caddy is too complex.  The Climate controls systems are a pain, the guidematic system works backwards, the autolevelers dont anymore and the plastic fender fillers turn to dust when exposed to sun or air.  Sometimes I think we would all be better off just driving a 1965 Bel Air.   Simple technology built to last decades.

David

[Bruce Reynolds # 18992]

David,

You are right-on with all of that.

When the manufacturers made their own stuff that went into their cars, the quality was far better.   Nowadays, it is just out-sourceing everything.   Nobody takes responsibility.

Bruce,
The Tassie Devil(le),
60 CDV

[Denise 20352]

  I agree with much of what youve said, but I doubt that the quality of the air bag system is any better.  Whether Ford makes the radios or not, they have demonstrated that they dont mind putting garbage into their cars.  Even if they did make a serious effort to put togther a quality air bag system, though, it is overcomplicated, has many points of failure, and cannot be tested or even exercised.  Whether it will blow your thumbs off while youre driving down the road, or fail to deploy in a collision, becomes more of a crapshoot as the car ages.

  I love the 70s Climatron system!  I wouldnt want to give it the freedom to detonate an explosive device in my hands, but troubleshooting is usually straightforward.  What kind of problem are you having with it?

  The 70s cars were a strange mix of quality and absolute crap.  The Guidematic, is that the auto-dimming system?  The one on my 78 had piece of cardboard with a hole on it in front of the eye that broke off.  Since that happened, it began picking up stray light and the dimming went nuts.  What in the world were they thinking, making it out of cardboard?

  A 60s car is definitely tempting.  I wanted a 66-67 3-way hearse when I bought my 76, but finding one with potential in this area could have taken years.

-denise