Car Design as we know it could be dead

[danno]

im hoping to get into car design eventually (im doing industrial design at uni next year) and it seems to me like many governments have begun to hate cars (britain and australia especially) with billions of speed cameras, big brother systems to tell whether your car is speeding, ridiculously low speed limits in some areas, and these pedestrian safety measures.

dont get me wrong, im all for making it safer, but it can be done in better ways than this. things like proper driver education for instance. lessons on how to avoid obstacles/small children etc. as well as teaching basic safety rules in school. also, cars can be fitted with safety devices to detect if there is a person on the road ahead. a scanner for instance, to detect all humans around, their activity, etc. and warn you if someone looks like theyre about to cross the road. the technology exists, and wouldnt be that hard to implement.

[Matra et Alpine]

For sure danno, education is best.

I think EVERYONE shoouold be made to ride a motorbike for a year.
Self-preservation is a great educator

Also, on automatic danger detection, the problem is false alarms.
Any system that warns of something which doesn't seem a danger to the driver will soon be ignored and forgotten about

[Coventrysucks]

Kevin Rice, of BMW had this to say on Pedestrian Safety Legislation:
Are they going too far?
It will have a "massive impact" on design, "the whole industry is suffering together".
"We haven't found a way round it yet", it will be "difficult to produce a good looking car"*.

* - They have that problem anyway.

[quattro_20v]

As long as people are driving the car it will be dangerous I think. If they come with some system where u can press ur destination and it auto goes there it would be the safest I think, but also quite boring.
And I encounter a lot of people who just dont seem to get it how to drive decently. I also see an accident like every day. One time, some old man crashed with his car on the highway, it had happened for just like 1 minute, there was a 40m trail of car parts and the man in it was all red of blood, he was still alive tho. There were 2 ppl already to help the man. I cleaned up the road some, there were really big parts on it and it was dark too... After about 10 mins the first emergency vehicles arrived, at the end when I went home, there were 13 emergency vehicles.
But when u see these things, it just makes u realize that it can always be dangerous in a car, even when ur a good driver...

[Innotech]

I think it is really stupid legislation and I hope it never makes it to hte Us. Of course, htis is hte LAND OF LITIGATION.

[Coventrysucks]

Originally Posted by Innotech

I think it is really stupid legislation and I hope it never makes it to hte Us. Of course, htis is hte LAND OF LITIGATION.

All vehicles that will be sold in Europe will have to adhere to the legislation.

So that will be all of VAG, PSA, BMW, Porsche, FIAT group, a significant chunk of Ford group and GM aswell as the Daimler half of DaimlerChrysler. And then there are the global cars from the Far East, some of which are sold in the USA.

Also if you think it is stupid to try and save lives, you're an idiot.

[gtrjazz]

Honda are the leaders in pedestrian safety their civic was the first car to take it seriously before any laws were passed. The front wings are not mounted to the inner wing but on brackets that absorb impact. The wiper assembly is designed to break on impact and drop under the bonnet. The bonnet was also a soft zone. Do the other OEMs really care about such things or just pay it lip service when it suits or when they are made to?

[Coventrysucks]

Originally Posted by gtrjazz

Do the other OEMs really care about such things or just pay it lip service when it suits or when they are made to?

Car manufacturers have no obligation to make cars safe, they simply have to comply with whatever laws are in place.

They are not there for your benefit, they are there to make money for themselves.

A few companies put a lot of effort into making their cars safe, as that is part of the appeal to that brand's core market.

Obviously if a car is percieved to be "unsafe" and gains a bad reputation, that would hurt sales, which the manufacturers don't want.

But you can be sure that they are definately not doing everything within their power to make cars safer.

[bullen]

hi, im currently writing my dissertation title: Is legislation changing the design of cars?? and would be very greatful if you could e-mail me any information on legislation which would affect the exterior styling of a car, such as headlight height, windscreen rake angle etc....................

many thanks, dan

bullenuk@yahoo.co.uk

[Matra et Alpine]

bullen, you shold go check out the NCAP sites and the European Pedestraian safety regulations which come in in (I think) 2007. It is having a LARGE impact () on the front end design for all manufacturers. Sorry I've no direct links, go google

[Mustang]

take a look here

http://www.cardesignnews.com/feature...ry/index7.html

[Coventrysucks]

The legislation you are looking for is the 1958 Agreement.

I don't know which bit exactly, but it is in there somewhere.

1958 Appears to cover just about anything to do with cars btw.

[Matra et Alpine]

Slightly plainer English on the pedestrian tests are in http://www.euroncap.com/downloads/te...ocol%204.1.pdf

If you are suffering insomnia you can see the workings of Euroepan committees at http://www.eevc.org/ for ALL the details on the Enhanced Safety Vehicle proposals

[Lotus_Luva]

Do u think the megane's arse is safety feature for when reversing?

[Matra et Alpine]

Originally Posted by Lotus_Luva

Do u think the megane's arse is safety feature for when reversing?

Oddly, it may well be ( just not for reversing ).
THE common flaw with people carriers and "big-inside" hatchbacks has been their poor perfomance when rear-ended

Personally I think the Megane just reflects the fetish the French have for the female form