siegen wrote: I think Honda's ACE body structure adds a good deal of weight and length. It's too bad the IIHS doesn't rate vehicles on their pedestrian hit safety or car-SUV crash worthiness. I wonder if Honda's ACE structure would shine in those situations.
I don't know about weight but it does add to that blocky looking front end. ACE does shine and was made for those car-suv crashes along with properly channeling crash energy around the passenger compartment. IMO Honda is a leader in safety and should make changes to the roof structure to pass the IIHS test. Properly done it should not add weight.
oh great. Just as automakers are talking about trimming weight, something new pops up that will not only add to the bulk of every vehicle on the road, but it will likely further lift the roll centers of each affected vehicle, so countermeasures will likely have to be taken so as to not worsen rollover risks (yeah, ballast on the bottom?). It must suck being a product planner/vehicle engineer these days.
Or, it might have the opposite effect. The test measures the strength-to-weight ratio of the roof. So, the lighter the car is, the less the roof has to hold up. We could see cars with higher strength roofs and no overall weight gain, or even weight loss, due to reductions elsewhere.
siegen wrote: I think Honda's ACE body structure adds a good deal of weight and length. It's too bad the IIHS doesn't rate vehicles on their pedestrian hit safety or car-SUV crash worthiness. I wonder if Honda's ACE structure would shine in those situations.
I don't know about weight but it does add to that blocky looking front end. ACE does shine and was made for those car-suv crashes along with properly channeling crash energy around the passenger compartment. IMO Honda is a leader in safety and should make changes to the roof structure to pass the IIHS test. Properly done it should not add weight.
I don't believe ACE adds all that much weight. The TL's body in white is 20lbs lighter than the last gen, despite being larger.
Oh hell with this roof stuff.. I mean, how likely is the damn Accord to roll over? It ain't like it's a SUV like, like, like that... Crosstour, huh?
Just give me a low to the ground Civic with a nice Gatling Gun.. should some visibility challenged vehicle like an Escalade tries to cut me off and hit me ( with the presumed concomitant roll over episode), I'll just use the new Kinetic Auto Vehicle Avoidance System (KAVAS, which is hooked up with TCS) to shoot a few bursts of depleted uranium shells into the oncoming behemoth. That should keep that heavy momma from running into my Civic.
I call it the Patton Approach to Vehicle Safety! ;-D
PGH wrote: A little on the defensive side Daniel. So what if there is a strong pro-American push. It's about time they got their act together.
[...]
To be honest, "nothing is wrong with that".
Personally I've always found "normal" that each country tries to protect their business, their power, their interests, their jobs, their people, etc.
The funny thing about it is that the US has been lecturing the world about "free anything" for decades when they actually sat at the undisputed n1 position, and now that they fear losing that status here and there suddenly everything changed... So, all I did was "notice it", "good" or "bad" is up to each person to judge, because I'm sure that opinions about this matter may be very different.
Daniel,
A point to note is that in the North American market is that the "native" companies are exporting jobs overseas while the "foreign" companies are hiring ever increasing numbers of north americans.
The truth is, however, that the owners of the "native" american companies are part of the US Ruling Class and they don't give a shit about the state of the american people. They could give a rat's ass if the US becomes yet another Mexico with a very rich ruling class and a very poor everyone else, so long as they make their money TODAY. It's an extremely shortsighted endeavor but since these folks have turned "globalists" in search of their ever increasing fortunes (go read Alan Greenspan's memoirs from last year) they figure that as the US goes bankrupt they'll be making their money selling to the Chinese.
I know, I know, this is a ridiculous stand, as we all know that most countries will not allow themselves to be sold to outsiders as the US has. Yet, any right minded thinking american should trust the long term interests of Honda and Toyota far more than GM, Ford, GE, Boeing, etc....
Yep, even Boeing.... ( I no longer work there. They are selling their business to their competitors... hopefully the likes of Northrop and Lockheed will reenter the commercial airliner business because Boeing is selling itself to the Chinese.. to the ever lasting glee of Obamapelosi).
Daniel, what I can I say? I may have to exercise my birthright to a EU passport for my family one of these days and move to a country where the Gov. and the ruling class work for the betterment of their people.
The US Ruling Class has sold the US to the highest bidder.
Hell, I figure with my experience I could pull a big paycheck at Airbus. And my wife might find a job at Honda of Europe.
Hopefully, it won't be England, though. I hate their food.
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