Safety Features |
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Teenage Hotrodders #17
March 1966
Put a safe driver in a safe car and have a safe highway and then you have an unbeatable combination to reduce accidents and fatalities on our roads. I have before me the safety list of features as given by The General Services Administration for Federal Cars. The two most important and troublesome stipulations call for the installation of exhaust-fume control devices and a steering wheel that will not push back into the car more than five inches in a head-on crash at 20 miles an hour.
California, the nation's leading automobile market, with 10 percent of all American car buyers, has an exhaust control law. It becomes effective with 1966 models produced this fall. In New York similar legislation is being considered. The purpose of the fume-control system is to reduce the amount of unburnt hydrocarbons - the principal source of air pollution from cars - entering the exhaust pipe.
Besides the exhaust-fume and steering wheel requirements, the General Service Administration calls for the following features:
Stronger seat-belt anchorages for all seat locations, two in front and three in back; padded dashboard and sun visors; recessed dashboard knobs and levers; safety door locks and hinges; strongly anchored seats; safety glass in windshields and windows, and a "four-way flasher" system that simultaneously flashes tail and parking lights when a car moves onto a road shoulder.
Also, a dual braking system so if the driver loses two brakes the other pair will work; standard bumper heights; standard automatic gear shifts (park, reverse, neutral, drive, low-in that order); dual-speed windshield wipers and washers; dashboards treated to reduce glare; safety tires and rims; backup lights to warn pedestrians and approaching cars that the automobile is in reverse, and outside rear-view mirrors.
Some of the new requirements such as safety glass, are already standard on all American cars. Others, such as dual-braking systems, dual-speed wipers and washers, outside rear-view mirrors and glare reduction surfaces on dashboards, are standard on higher priced cars and may be purchased for cheaper models. Needless to say there will be an increase in the cost of cars but to my way of thinking it is a cheap price to pay for safety.
Let me just discuss a few of these items: Take the backup lights to warn pedestrians and approaching cars that the auto is in reverse. My wife and I were walking along a street fronting a park. An old lady decided to cross the street in the middle - not at the corner. So she did what a lot of people do from time to time - walked between two parked cars. But she never realized that the car in front was about to back up in order to get onto the highway. Several people screamed as they saw her about to be crushed. A young man dashed and pushed her to safety by just a fraction of an inch. Ever see a car backing up on a highway just because it missed the exit? This is illegal and can be the cause of a terrifying accident. Especially because you may not realize at your speed that the car is backing up.
Take the dual braking system which I feel is so important. I sat next to my friend as he drove his car to the seashore on a hot summer day. He was approaching a red light and pressed down on the foot pedal of his brake. Nothing happened! He went for that emergency brake just made it in time. Otherwise we would have smashed into a truck going in front of us. I call this item a sound insurance feature.
Take the matter of sun visors. All you have to do is to be temporarily blinded by that sun for just a second and you can lose control of your car. And if you have ever had to drive your car into the setting but still blazing sun you know how difficult it can be.
Take the matter of safety door locks and hinges. My friend almost lost his young one on a drive to a picnic area. The back door opened and the old grandmother just got her little charge in time. And let me add that I feel that every feature suggested is a good one. In addition I do feel we should continue research and experimentation to make today's automobile as safe as possible in every manner. I have seen some of the experimental steering wheels and it may be that we will have in the near future an entirely different kind of steering wheel.