Here in the real world, they're shuttin' Detroit down.

Yup, leave it to government regulators to regulate even more. If they worked then, they'll work now. I drove a drum brake car only 2 years ago daily, and my wagon now has no air bags. If they build 'em big and metal like they used to, air bags aren't as crucial. Padded dash'll do you fine. They should be an option, not a law.

 

AAAHHHH, the air bag. Overall people go nuts over them, I'm still in the middle about them. When I worked for Volvo, there was a recall on airbags in S70 (sedans) C70s (Coupes) and V70s ("V"agons) for the pass side airbag. At random they would deploy, sometimes just sitting in the driveway or even at a slow speed without hitting something.

The claim was, anytime a pass. would move in the seat, it would create static electricity and send a small enough charge to the airbag module, thus sending a signal to go "boom".

Also people forget its recomended that airbags be replaced by a spicific date, from the chemicals that deploy the bag just breakdown. I could only imagine the cost for replacement of 6 airbags in a European car.......:banghead3:

As for the "Smart Car".......I hit a deer with my wagon at 65 miles an hour, I popped a headlamp and crushed the grill. My dog and I where just fine, no damage to us. My question is, since here in the midwest, what would happen here if you hit a deer in a "smart"? Its awesome you can get 40 MPG but is your life really worth it?

 

AND We've got a paraplegic MP to remind us, right? He hit a moose in an airbagged car.

 

Since the Days of Ralph Nader attacking the Corvair, we have had public safety fascists demand that we mandate certain safety features, no matter the cost or effectiveness in North American cars. It goes along with the mandated CAFE standards in the US and such. It does not take fully into account the cost or consequences of mandating such equipment or design by people who have no understanding of how to design and build cars.

 

Just look at the top echelon of GM and Mopar - ex-beancounters. Ford keeps running their store with Automotive engineers and designers.

It all started when GM made a patent deal with Volvo for its 4-wheel Disc brakes on the Corvettes. When Government got involved in adding engineered safety, they made the industry into a state-designed lab. They made them dependent on government funding. We got tupperware obsolescence, crazy complexity on simple mechanisms. Can you imagine what a Frying pan would look like if the Government got involved? :banghead3:

 

I was so much happier with the cars of my youth. Five of my first seven cars were land yachts. '75 Cutlass Supreme sedan, '79 LeBaron T&C, '65 Biscayne sedan, '75 Gran Torino, '80 Caprice Classic sedan. The others were an '86 Lynx hatchback and a '87 Turbo New Yorker. I also had a few more cars during this time but they either didn't run or were only driven once or twice. I fell in love with big cars and stuck with it. I suppose that's why I now have a '76 Gran Torino, '88 Buick Estate, and a 3/4 ton Suburban. I like a lot of metal around me, a big pushrod V8 to move me, and cushy soft interiors with thick carpets and lots of little chrome buttons and switches.

Now to get the Buick running smoothly enough for my wife to ride in it more often...

 

Yup, that's why my mom loves my car, she thinks it's uglier than sin, even though she had one and drove her grandpa's forever. But she loves the fact that there is that much metal surrounding me, which is how all my cars have been.

Y'all lived with them designs all those years, I'm sure they'd be fine now.

 

Also, because they wouldn't stand up to the unions, how much money they are spending on pensions and medical bills for old emplyees and thier families. I remember back in the 80's watching Dan Rather on the CBS news reporting on how the automakers, specifically GM trying to get out of their contractual abligations when it came tho retired employee's and thier families. I remember it failed in court and them saying that the descision will kill the auto industry within 20 years.

They were right.

 

In the past 2 years, I have had more problems with the computerized, fuel injected cars than I have had since I bought my first '54 Chevy in 1964. I am trying to go back to the older, simpler cars without all the bells and whistles. My wife got rid of her money-pit '93 Cadillac and replaced it with an '89, which has a carburetor and no computer. I have a '94 Chevy G-20 van. I have been looking for a replacement for it without FI. As for my Custom Cruiser, I haven't decided what to do with it. I guess I could change intakes and install a mechanical fuel pump, but so far so good. I really like the car, so it will be a keeper for now, anyhow. I worked at a taxi cab company for several years as a mechanic, and learned that electric fuel pumps are not very reliable. Not too bad if they are external, but having to drop the tank is a hassle. Whenever I go on a trip, that pump in the tank is in the back of my mind as a possible problem that could strand me on the side of the road.

No vehicle is reliable anymore. even the quality of Toyota has gone down, probably because they are being built in the USA now. Americans do not put quality into what they build like the Japanese do. All most of them want is a paycheck and let the customer and dealer worry about shoddy workmanship. You see where this has gotten them, along with the unions outrageous demands. I, too, would like to see a low priced, full size vehicle with only PS, AC, heater and disc brakes.

 

Yup, Exactly. And with the technology all these years they could have put into the old school carbureted engines and everything, we'd relaly have great runners. I mean, mine starts in -30 weather, which is a big concern with carbs. But if they'd put the technology into making the simpler mechanisms work better instead of making them less reliable and more complicated, I think the industry would be doing considerably better right now.

 

It'll never happen again.
Cars need to meet too many other mandated requirements besides being transportation. Safety(don't get me started), emissions, recyclability and the fact that virtually no one will buy a car without all the comforts and more of home.

 

I just like basics. Power windows, door locks, heated rear glass, cruise....all are nice, but just something else to go wrong and cost money. I like the plain Jane models that just do what they were meant to do..get from point A to B. They are always talking safety.......what about the newer cars with complicated radio and heater controls. Back in the 60s and 70s, you didn't even have to look at the controls. Take the radio, off/on/volume controlled by the left knob, (not pushbutton). The right knob scanned the stations manually or the 5 presets did the job for you. You had a tone control behind the switch knob and a balance control behind the selector knob. Now, if you don't look at the radio and push the wrong button, God knows what will happen and you'll have to reset everything. How does this make a safer car?

 

ha ha ha! my wifes focus has a separate owners manual just for the radio and sync system!