Quote:
Originally Posted by AMPowerJ
So here's a question ... and not to hijack this thread (to nowhere it seems  ), or throw water on this 'holy grail' of harnesses, but do we really want this harness anyway?
The more I read, the more I read that you really need a 6-point harness with a cage. Period! Anything else is doing it halfway and *may* cause more harm in an accident than just using the 3-point OEM belt and airbags.
I read about 4-point harnesses putting pressure on your internal organs (never good), etc. And the classic one about if the roof caves in your head gets to try to stop it. (not something I want to try).
This is very frustrating because I want to have my cake and eat it too. I want to be very fast, BUT safe, in a car I can still drive to the grocery store. I am beginning to think that isn't plausible.
Maybe a hybrid head/neck restraint that works with OEM belts is the best before gutting the car and installing seats/cage/6-point harnesses.
This weekend at VIR I am going to try the trick to lock the seat belt and see how that works out while using my Hybrid Pro Rage. |
It is all about the risk you want to take, and your preparations to mitigate them.
Modern cars are much more structurally sturdy than older cars (that might be the source of the urban wisdom - the pillar/roof weakness of old designs) and more sophisticated in design in terms of roll-over. In older cars, you could, in principle bend to the side in a roll over, but in ours, the pyrotechnic pretensioners hold you bolt upright if your car starts to pucker up on your behalf if it gets worried. Another design feature is the increased strength of the A-pillar, where most rollovers impact first unless you do a full pancake flip. To be honest, to have the physical strength and presence of mind while experiencing the G's felt during a flip is a feat in itself! Our cars are heavier for a reason, mostly crash survivability.
Outside of the car, most flips you see on TV are caused by car-to-car contact in races punting one car off at an unusual angle - which you don't see at HPDEs unless there are corvettes in the mix (
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