>
> At 08:36 AM 2/27/98 , you wrote:
> >> Chrysler Corp. spokesman Mike Rosenu [...]
> >> said the automaker already has implemented its new hydroforming
> >> technology in the 1998 Dodge Durango and 1997 Dakota
> >
> >> It makes the vehicle lighter by taking out the unnecessary weight - thus
> >> making it safer for car drivers if involved in a collision - but does not
> >> affect its strength, he said.
> >
> > The sounds like a line of BS to me. They want to cut weight for CAFE
> >and cost reasons, that I can understand. But this safety bit is all
> >politics. If anything, cutting mass from the vehicle will actually make
> >it more UNSAFE in a collision for that vehicle's driver & passengers.
> >
> > CC is just trying to deflect all the crap people are spouting about SUVs
> >being menaces on the road, and unsafe because they are bigger. Could that
> >be because they are actually descended from trucks? No duh!
> >
> > Ron "Take That Econobox And Shove It" Rader
> >
>
> I wouldn't be too quick to pass this off as just BS. There is a lot of
> concern in the gov't (DOT, NHTSB, etc.) about SUV/pick-up vs car
> collisions. Seems the occupants of the cars come out on the worse end of
> the deal in almost every case. Unfortunately (from the point of view of we
> truck owners) the gov't's answer is to make the SUV/pick-ups lighter and
> more equal to a car thus doing less damage to the car in a collision. We
> may not like this solution (I know I don't) and it is arguably not the best
> solution, but the fact of the matter is that the vast majority of the
> vehicles on the road are cars and you know what they say about majority
> ruling. This solution may wind up doing more damage to the SUV/pick-up
> driver in order to do less damage to the car driver, but as long as they
> are in the majority, they are going to make the rules. Gripe all you want,
> but the way things look now SUVs and pick-ups are destined to be drug down
> to the car's level. That's why I'm doing everything I can to make my Dak
> last as long as possible.
>
> --
> Mike Crumley mcrumley@airmail.net
> 97 Dakota Regular Cab Short Bed
> 3.9L V6 3.55 Auto
> DDBC Bug Shield Mud Flaps
>
>
It seems illogical to me to make one vehicle less safe so it does less
damage to an unsafe vehicle, why not increase the strength of the unsafe
one, it makes a lot more sense to me....
Bruce
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