10 Dangerous Cars? I wonder how the Model T would be rated?

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Model T Ford Forum: Forum 2014: 10 Dangerous Cars? I wonder how the Model T would be rated?
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mike Conte on Saturday, December 13, 2014 - 12:53 pm:

When I think of dangerous cars I think of the Corvair and Pinto yet according to this article the Explorer is responsible for 250 deaths and 3000 injures.
I got a set of Pirelli tires in exchange for Firestone's free charge

The car should not be blamed for defective tires.

http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/10-startlingly-dangerous-cars.html/?a=viewall &ref=OB


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Henry Petrino in Modesto, CA on Saturday, December 13, 2014 - 01:10 pm:

In the case of problems with Explorers some years ago, I always believed that although the tires were flawed, a well designed car should typically not experience a catastrophic event due to a tire failure. For example, I once had a 1993 Acura Legend that had a blowout at about 70 MPH. I barely noticed it. The car handled just fine until I got it to the shoulder and stopped.

Yes, the tires were the primary problem, but also the car responded badly.

Judy my $.02 worth.....


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Henry Petrino in Modesto, CA on Saturday, December 13, 2014 - 01:12 pm:

"Judy" is a result of auto correct flaws. It should be"Just". :-(


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Burger in Spokane on Saturday, December 13, 2014 - 02:17 pm:

Well, Judy ...

I just replaced my deep-sixes Mac on Black Friday and in spite of multiple attempts to disarm the auto-correct spellcheck, I am
continuously annoyed to discover the computer has changed all sorts of words and spelling in my work, requiring I then go back
and correct all the "corrections" (insert angry icon here).

Some people desperately need an infusion of grammar and spelling, but most times I know exactly what words I want and how I
want them spelled (even if it's wrong !) Aaarrgghhh !


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Burger in Spokane on Saturday, December 13, 2014 - 02:18 pm:

See there .... I wrote DEEP SIXED and got "deep sixes" !


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Burger in Spokane on Saturday, December 13, 2014 - 02:26 pm:

All vehicles have design limitations. They also lack brains. This is where the part about DRIVER RESPONSIBILITY
comes in ! As the only factor involved that does have judgment capabilities, it falls on the operator to learn/know the
vehicle and not push it beyond those limits without expecting safety risks. But that isn't how Americans work. Build
a safer road, they just drive faster. Make something idiot proof, they just produce a better idiot ! It's human nature.

It is also the American Way to blame everything else and take no personal responsibility ! :-)


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bob Coiro on Saturday, December 13, 2014 - 05:50 pm:

The Legend:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT0J0rcJTLo


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Charlie B actually in Toms River N.J. on Saturday, December 13, 2014 - 07:55 pm:

In their day probably average. No worse/better that a similar size car. Today? Total death trap along with all the affore mentioned cars.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Norman T. Kling on Saturday, December 13, 2014 - 09:07 pm:

The Model T is not dangerous when kept in good mechanical condition. That would include the steering, the brake, the differential, the spokes, wheels and tires. And if the Model T is driven not too fast and good following distances are kept. Most of the problems people have with Model T's are caused by Mechanical things which need to be fixed, and by driver error. I would also recommend limiting night driving short trips in urban areas with good lighting and low speed limits. These slow moving vehicles are not very visible and not expected at night on highways.
Norm


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Burger in Spokane on Saturday, December 13, 2014 - 09:39 pm:

Adding other idiot drivers to the equation is an unfair assessment of a particular vehicle. That would be like saying
a Ferrari is capable of doing 200 mph and is therefore unsafe because drivers would not expect a 200 mph rocket
coming through.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Derek Kiefer - Mantorville, MN on Saturday, December 13, 2014 - 09:55 pm:

They should hire people that know something about cars to write their articles about cars. :-)

The Darracq was a one-off factory built race-car which never crashed. The Corvette and Mustang made the list because their owners sometimes drive like idiots, not because there was anything wrong with the car.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Fred Schrope - Upland, IN on Sunday, December 14, 2014 - 09:05 am:

That whole article was a crock. Period. I don't understand why anyone would reference it here - or anywhere for that matter.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By John H. Nichols on Sunday, December 14, 2014 - 10:14 am:

I do not use auto correct so any misspelled words are mine and mine alone. Sometimes like Benjamin Franklin, I spell Phonetically

I believe that in certain circumstances any car can be dangerous, depending on Driver proficiency,
road condition, Weather conditions, etc.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By G.R.Cheshire on Sunday, December 14, 2014 - 10:23 am:

Fred you are right and BTW it was laterproven that the Chevy Corvair was no where near as unsafe as Ralph made it out to be removing spring retainers and loosening lug nuts then taking sharp corners at unreasonable speeds will make any car flip over!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ricks - Surf City on Sunday, December 14, 2014 - 11:21 am:

Early Corvairs were my daily drivers for 20 years. What made them squirrely was more than the recommended 15 psi in the front tires. That was back when we had service stations that aired up your tires for free....

I installed an aftermarket camber compensator in our Lakewood wagon, which helped a lot. I had another wagon without the camber compensator, and had the rear end raise up to go around on a curve that was outwardly banked.

I came upon a fresh accident in 1969. A Lakewood wagon driven by a teenager on a wide fast curve flipped around and collided tail first into the front of - - another Corvair! Neither driver was hurt bad.

Instead of swing axles, late Corvairs had full IRS, and were safe as any other car. Mercedes kept swing axles well beyond the Corvair era.

Thanks for the memories. Oil leakin' Corvairs made me ready for the Model T..


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ken Kopsky, Lytle TX on Sunday, December 14, 2014 - 07:51 pm:

Corvette and Mustang are dangerous because they can go fast? That's about what I would expect from the Wall Street Urinal. There's no mention of the super cars that go from 0 to 100 in four seconds. That's along the line that guns are dangerous because "someone" has to pull the trigger.

I had three Corvairs (62, 64, 65) and enjoyed them all. The only bad thing was a cut finger trying to adjust the timing. Well, maybe one other when the rear of the engine dropped after the mounting bolt broke. But I was still able to drive it to a service station and they replaced the bolt. (Back when there were service stations.)


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By JohnH on Sunday, December 14, 2014 - 08:54 pm:

For those who haven't read it, Ralph Nader's book, "Unsafe At Any Speed" can be read here http://www.american-buddha.com/nader.unsafeanyspeed.toc.htm

It does amaze me that people still think car companies have some kind of godlike qualities - too blinkered in their love of cars I guess.
Fact is, car companies would still be churning out death traps if they hadn't eventually been restricted by legislation.
An unsafe car is far easier to manufacture (cheaper, more profitable) than a safe one. Easier to blame the drivers when something goes wrong.
Pointy chrome knobs along the dash get the customers in; seatbelts don't.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mike Conte on Sunday, December 14, 2014 - 09:59 pm:

“That whole article was a crock. Period. I don't understand why anyone would reference it here - or anywhere for that matter”

The article was post here because I thought people would be interested in reading it and curious to hear other opinions
I did not endorse it; in fact I said I did not agree with it. It was meant for debate
I did not know that articles or subjects related to classic cars were not welcome by some on this forum.
If I want that kind of input I would stick to commenting on YouTube or my local paper. It has nothing to do with being thin skinned but I was hoping to have a place to go on the internet that did not include those kinds of comments
Period!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By George Clipner-Los Angeles on Monday, December 15, 2014 - 01:42 am:

The T is a "DEATH TRAP" according to my brother. But that was according to my dad's driving skills in his later years (diabetic induced blind spots). Even with the added seat belts my brother,sister and mom would not ride with him. My brother rode with me at the wheel but would not let me out of low, he was terrified of the damn thing. However, my sis would let me drive her and son no prob.with me at the wheel. Sorry Dad .


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bud Holzschuh - Panama City, FL on Monday, December 15, 2014 - 08:55 am:

I always wondered about that Corvair thing. I owned one(spyder model) when I was 18.

The way I drove those days, if I didn't turn it over I don't see how anyone could.

It has a wonderful, totally predictable, oversteer that made drifting through a curve a sureal experience.

Still miss it.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Derek Kiefer - Mantorville, MN on Monday, December 15, 2014 - 09:28 am:

The problem with any well-balanced sporty car is the drivers' natural tendency to take their foot off the throttle as soon as they get scared.

When you lift off the throttle, it transfers weight from the rear to the front, and the back end comes around. Rear engine cars are just harder to recover once that weight starts to rotate.

Porsches are well known for this also.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Steve Jelf, Parkerfield KS on Monday, December 15, 2014 - 09:44 am:

I enjoyed driving many miles all over the West in a 1973 VW bus, but I won't pretend it's a safe design. If you're in a front end collision there's not much in front of you to absorb the impact. Everything's safe until it hits something or is hit. But some designs raise the odds of having a wreck or of injury when a wreck happens.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By James Chochole on Monday, December 15, 2014 - 09:45 am:

Independent studies done on the Corvair, at the time, suggest it didn't have much more of a tendancy to roll than many other cars of the period; earlier models may have been a bit worse than later ones, but remember that Nader was an up and coming personality at the time.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Charlie B actually in Toms River N.J. on Monday, December 15, 2014 - 10:58 am:

As usual Steve you're right. No matter how much maintenance is done to it once a T is hit or hits some thing the chances are it's all over for the passengers. It's possible to walk away from a 50 MPH crash today. In a T an accident at 1/5 th that speed means the hospital or the morgue. That's just the way it is. Actually it was true of all cars back in the day. It's simply the advancements in design & safety that make collector cars "dangerous". They weren't considered so years back.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Henry Petrino in Modesto, CA on Monday, December 15, 2014 - 11:46 am:

I agree with Charlie and Steve, and the theme is not limited to cars. Many "dangerous" activities and occupations that caused or contributed to accidental injuries and deaths have been made safer over the years. Certainly mining, heavy industry and all forms of travel are far different than they were "in the day". Many of us gripe and make jokes about things like OSHA and CALOSHA, me included, but over the years things relative to safety have moved in the right direction.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ricks - Surf City on Monday, December 15, 2014 - 11:55 am:

In my many visits to Iowa, I was struck by the number of older men in rural areas who were missing an arm.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Burger in Spokane on Monday, December 15, 2014 - 02:35 pm:

Consider this, where could a person get a T or any other car up over 30 mph in 1920 ? In my
part of the world, roads were dirt, rutted, and speed was limited not by the vehicle, but by what
it was passing through.

I think we forget this today. None of us were alive to know anything but mostly paved roads
and cars that easily handled highway speeds on smooth pavement and we just accept that it has
always been that way. That is just plain historically incorrect, and by extension, an unfair assessment
of taking a situation out of context and expecting it to somehow compare.

Ralph Nader and the Corvair are a textbook case of someone applying inappropriate rules to a
situation through a narrow set of guidelines that always seems to exclude the operator using common
sense. Remember that .... common sense ? We used to use that more. Today, it is about litigation
and fear mongering. When was the last time some idiot shot up a school across the country and your
local news presents it in terms of "Could it happen here ?" ???

I look at cars like I do driving in the snow. Been doing it all my life and pretty good at it. But it takes
slowing down and using your common sense about conditions from moment to moment. Driving any
vehicle SHOULD require the same application of operator awareness, but most people just want to
pretend they are Mario Andretti and read about unsafe cars later.

Yeah ...


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