Gas Prices

So when are you moving to Europe, more specifically Germany, since it
suits you so much better? Ah, I thought so...


Matt

 

I have to laugh when I hear "fixed income." Like I can just walk in and
tell my boss I want a raise and get it. Although, your
"semi-fixed" income sounds intriguing.

Matt

 

Structures that don't deform perform terribly in crash tests.
Crashworthiness is largely about managing deceleration. Rigid
structures that don't deform impose unsurvivable G forces on the
occupants. You need crush zones to get crashworthiness and a car that
is 12' long simply doesn't have room for a decent crush zone. This is
simply physics.


Matt

 

Maybe the German government believes Darwin's theory of evolution, The
strong and smart will survive, The stupid will perish.

Well, The government does sort of set the emission standards, but only
because the tree huggers whine and moan so loud and so often.

Aha! You must be a Democrat, Tax by weight or horsepower, just like Europe!
Tax everything that people enjoy, Cigarettes, Liquor, and now car size and
horsepower. This is NOT Europe. If you want to change the way things are,
Run for political office. If you think everything is better in Canada or
Germany then by all means MOVE to Canada or Germany. They have better laws,
they are smarter, they have better cars.
I wonder why so many people are willing to risk life and limb to GET to
America. No one is forced to stay in this country, the simple solution is go
somewhere where they know how to do things better than we do.
I'll give up my V10 Ford pickup truck when they pry it from my cold dead
hands.
It's not a southern thing, It is an American thing. <G>.

Jack Cassidy

 

I'll rent you Matt. He seems to be chewing and spitting out everything I
write!! )

 

Tell that to MB, who designed it. I think they know a thing or two about
protecting occupants. Maybe, just maybe, more than you.

 

I think in this case that the structure absorbs the impact by deforming but
then returns to its original form. So I guess in the traditional sense it
doesn't really absorb, it captures and releases the energy of an impact.

Eric

 

I'm sure they do know more than me, just as I know a lot more than you.
The little cars may protect you adequately in a 25 MPH city accident,
but get one on a road going 55 (assuming they even go that fast) and it
is a different story.

Also, consider that even MB makes mistakes. One of their cars, it may
well have been one of these little city cars, had a serious roll-over
problem when it was first released and MB had to recall and redesign it.
MB isn't the company they used to be. Just look at their quality
performance of late. They suck.


Matt

 

Well, you could be right about the car, but what about the occupants? I
would think rebound would make some nasty and complex acceleration forces.

 

US or Imperial? A US gallon is 3.79l, the English Imperial gallon is 4.55l.
Your 50 mpg on diesel might translate to 42 mpg in US gallons.

The Cobalt gets abysmal mileage, comparatively speaking. It's a compact that
gets the same highway mileage as the midsize Toyota Camry.

Highway mileage is irrelevant for many people anyway. For those of us who
spend time in rush hour traffic, frequently sitting idle in traffic getting
0 mpg does bring the average down a tad.

Chris

 

Oh boy, you are a cocky one, aren't you? Yes, they can go 55. Of course,
no US maker of cars had problems with rollovers, did they???? What exactly
makes you think you know more than me? Education? Experience? You're
probably still in High School chasing some skirt. )
You're almost too easy.

 

Simply reading that you think that a car that is 12 feet long can be as
crashworthy as cars of more typical dimensions. It is simply a = dv/dt.
A car with a shorter crumple zone will incur a given velocity change
in less time, hence dv/dt will be higher and thus the acceleration will
be higher, often much higher. Human survive best when they are
decelerated at as low a rate as possible.

I don't know your education or experience, but I'm fairly well qualified
to discuss basic, and even not so basic, physics and engineering
mechancis. How about you?

It seems easy when you are wrong.

Matt

 

Of course, a smaller car will necessarily have to stop quicker since it has
less length of crumple zone. That is true. The effect on the driver is
also obvious. That's what Nascar and Formula One has been addressing for
the last few years. That's how the HANS device was developed. The problem
is the same one that the American mentality has been living with since the
50's. 'I want a lot of iron around me so I feel safe'. Accident avoidance
is also key to survival. A smaller, nimbler car has that advantage over a
behemoth.
The sudden deceleration phenomenon happens when two Cadillac Escalades hit
head on. An interesting discovery during the Smart Car testing was that the
car 'glanced off' or ricocheted off of the other car, thereby avoiding
sudden massive deceleration. Perhaps the shell is bullet shaped. In any
case, we are now talking less deceleration with a vector to the side, which
necessitates side air bags. The key to all of this debate is the fact that
we have to have more smaller cars and less floating yachts on the road. In
Europe, there are very few large cars because the tax and charge the living
crap out of them. Also, they make the drivers spend several thousand
dollars to go through REAL driver training so they are more capable.
The Smart Car, if you take the time to look at it, is a very well engineered
car. It has a sequential 6 speed gearbox, very nimble handling, all sorts
of dress-up features, and just plain fun to drive.
As for me, I have a degree in Physics and Math plus a year of nuclear power
training thanks to Uncle Sam. After serving my country for 6 years during
Viet Nam (and EARNING the right to question what the idiots are doing to my
country), I spent the next 36 years in engineering design, product design as
well as manufacturing and engineering management.
Since we really aren't getting anywhere with this whole thing, it makes
little sense to continue. Good luck in your jobs, for surely there will be
more than one employer in your future. I suggest you join the military to
serve the country you live in and learn to work with people cooperatively.
It's a great experience for all young men and women.

Tom

 

Heh heh heh. Well, ah... no, I better not go there.

Just look up Montaigne's most famous quote and you'll know what I was
thinking.

 

WRONG! They do it to get the tree-hugger vote!

 

Take it easy on him Matt. He did say you was probably in high school chasing
girls. I'll take that over brains any day.

 

Your smarts and credentials are impeccable Tom. If you lose the "oil company
conspiracy" thing, you're right on target.

I don't think anyone disputes that it will become necessary to drive smaller
cars. Smaller cars are inherently more prone to higher G forces on impact,
but that can be partially compensated for by clever design, as you mention.
Small, light cars have their charms. I owned a 63 Karmann Ghia, and I could
take my hands off the wheel at 70 mph and change lanes by nudging my body
weight. I could pull (I guess) a full G in a tight corner and never could
break the tires loose. I loved that car. Here's a twin, exact color.
http://tinyurl.com/ztoxb

It's harder to compensate for is the girth and taste of the average American
driver than the Euro's. We love to travel, and small cars, long trips, and
arthritis just don't mix. As the Boomers disappear and Generation X begins
controlling America (ak!), I guess the doodle bugs will become more widely
accepted.

The bottom line is, you can't force rapid change on old farts. Not even
changes for the better. It just ain't happening.

RVN 1970

 

I've lived my life by 'Our own peculiar human condition is that we are as
fit to be laughed at as able to laugh.' When you can't laugh at yourself,
you are lost.

I assume you are talking about 'These examples, though foreign to us, are
not strange, if we consider, as our experience often tells us, how custom
dulls the senses.', which fits the situation perfectly.

)

Thanks, Bob

 

Very funny, Bob. I owned a 1963 Porsche 356B Super 90 that I truly loved.
Like a fool, I sold it for nothing. Now they are priceless. That was a
helluva car!!! The KG is cute, too, but my bright red Porsche with the
stinger exhaust was GREAT.
You're right about a slow, almost evolutionary, change that will take place
in car sizes.

Also, I really don't know if I could totally believe in an oil conspiracy,
it's just that, with that much power, they are prone to misuse it.
Congressmen are easy targets.

Tom

 

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