Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 exptools 1/6/84; site ihuxl.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!floyd!harpo!eagle!mhuxl!ihnp4!ihuxl!seifert From: seifert@ihuxl.UUCP (D.A. Seifert) Newsgroups: net.auto Subject: Re: seatbelt statistics Message-ID: <899@ihuxl.UUCP> Date: Wed, 8-Feb-84 08:08:19 EST Article-I.D.: ihuxl.899 Posted: Wed Feb 8 08:08:19 1984 Date-Received: Fri, 10-Feb-84 01:40:54 EST References: <797@hou5d.UUCP> <427@pyuxn.UUCP>, <174@opus.UUCP> <539@pyuxa.UUCP> <1900@ihnss.UUCP> Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL Lines: 37 I remember the great '74 experiment in behaviour modification. I would occasionally catch a ride home from school with the owner of a shiny new '74 Vega. Being designed and built by the wonderous firm of *GM*, it took a good 5 minutes to get the stupid belt buckled. Pull the belt too fast and it locks, pull it too slow and it locks. Once the belt comes to a stop you cannot pull it out any further unless you let it a l l r e e l b a c k i n a n d s t a r t o v e r . The procedure is: pull out *lots* of belt, at the precise speed that the system likes, hold the reel end with one hand to keep it from retracting back in, and use your other hand to fasten the buckle end, then let the slack retract. Meanwhile, my friend is sitting there leaning on the ignition key glaring at me for being so slow (I guess after a couple thousand times you learn to do it a little faster). Moral: you can kill any idea (good, bad, or in-between) with a sufficiently lousy implementation. On the other hand, Volkswagon has a fairly reasonable passive restraint system. One end of the shoulder harness is fastened to the door, the other end (with inertia reel) is next to the handbrake lever. There is no lap belt. (There is a knee-bumper thing to prevent submarining.) Open the door, get in, and *poof!* the belt is there. Real convienant for those times when you're jumping in and out of the car a lot and normal belts are a pain. The only real disadvantage is that there isn't a lap belt, so it doesn't hold you in place as well during high-g activities. Seems like they could do the same thing with a lap belt? -- _____ /_____\ from the flying doghouse of /_______\ Snoopy |___| ____|___|_____ ihnp4!ihuxl!seifert