A Pretty Good Month

[NSTG8R]

Of course the seatbelt is over the left shoulder, just like any US vehicle. Would just be weird to have it over the right shoulder, this ain't Britain!

The seatbelt should retract towards the side the gas cap is on.

[duck and run!]

 

[Smitty901]

No seat belt . It should have a 4 part harness .

 

[RUCRAYZE]

No seat belt . It should have a 4 part harness .

were would you place the fire extinguisher ?

 

[Mike W]

The seatbelt should retract towards the side the gas cap is on.

[duck and run!]

Good thing they didn't put the gas cap behind the license plate in that case!

 

[pohutukawa]

Seat belts. Which side? Someone mentioned that moving the attachment from the right side to the left side would be confusing. Others mention the British way of driving... OK. I lived in New Zealand for 4 years, and drove around in a car with the driver the right. And it took me just about 3 minutes to get used to putting on the seat belt...from the 'wrong' side. Driving on the left ... I think in the 4 years, I may have made a turn into the 'wrong' lane twice. Traffic dictates what you are doing, and it simply isn't hard to make an adjustment. Given that - put me in a parking lot with straight (not angled) parking, and I'd move to the right further than Rush Limbaugh in a minute.

But all that has nothing to do with what I'm going to write about. My question, to be taken shots at by one and all:

WHY is the door on the Elio on the left?

Arguments against: Driving on a 2-way street, if someone is going to cross the center lane and hit you and doesn't plow you smack dab in the front - they are most likely to hit on the left side of the vehicle. One door - and it's now smashed. Gotta crawl out the window on the other side! Or - what if that was where the door was? Just open it and wait for the emergency vehicles. The side with no door on the Elio is going to the the strongest, structurally. A door needs to be engineered, the no-door side is a solid part of the frame. Yeah, at an intersection they can get you from both sides. Don't know what the statistics are for which side gets hit most, so I say that's a toss-up.

Parallel parking on a street. In a car, you have to open the door into the path of the traffic that is zooming by a few inches from you. And your passenger gets off on the 'safe' side. One door - why not get out on that same 'safe' side?

Are there any good rebuttals? Or anyone else with a reason that getting in and out on the right is a better plan?

 

[Bert]

I can give answers, though I'm not certain it's why it's on the left.
The Elio is intended for the good ol' US of A. Drivers are used to getting in and out on the left side.
It is designed with the shifter, manuel or automatic, to the right of the driver.
"Most" of the time people would park with the right side to the curb. The door on the left side takes away from curb scrubbing issues.
Our Country is designed for left door access, including drive throughs and ATMs.
The pedal system remains the same as well, allowing people to more comfortably start driving safely from the start.
Lastly, IMO, the door on the right side, for me, would be just too weird. I probably would have passed on it, should the door be on the right.

 

[WilliamH]

Seat belts. Which side? Someone mentioned that moving the attachment from the right side to the left side would be confusing. Others mention the British way of driving... OK. I lived in New Zealand for 4 years, and drove around in a car with the driver the right. And it took me just about 3 minutes to get used to putting on the seat belt...from the 'wrong' side. Driving on the left ... I think in the 4 years, I may have made a turn into the 'wrong' lane twice. Traffic dictates what you are doing, and it simply isn't hard to make an adjustment. Given that - put me in a parking lot with straight (not angled) parking, and I'd move to the right further than Rush Limbaugh in a minute.

But all that has nothing to do with what I'm going to write about. My question, to be taken shots at by one and all:

WHY is the door on the Elio on the left?

Arguments against: Driving on a 2-way street, if someone is going to cross the center lane and hit you and doesn't plow you smack dab in the front - they are most likely to hit on the left side of the vehicle. One door - and it's now smashed. Gotta crawl out the window on the other side! Or - what if that was where the door was? Just open it and wait for the emergency vehicles. The side with no door on the Elio is going to the the strongest, structurally. A door needs to be engineered, the no-door side is a solid part of the frame. Yeah, at an intersection they can get you from both sides. Don't know what the statistics are for which side gets hit most, so I say that's a toss-up.

Parallel parking on a street. In a car, you have to open the door into the path of the traffic that is zooming by a few inches from you. And your passenger gets off on the 'safe' side. One door - why not get out on that same 'safe' side?

Are there any good rebuttals? Or anyone else with a reason that getting in and out on the right is a better plan?

I thought about your question and since the shift is on the right hand side and it is a console mounted shift lever stepping over the console tunnel would be inconvenient. Since the standard (as compared to optional) transmission will be a manual transmission it will be easier for Americans to continue to use their right hand to shift rather that adapting to using their left hand to shift.
I could, of course, be totally wrong.

 

[RUCRAYZE]

Seat belts. Which side? Someone mentioned that moving the attachment from the right side to the left side would be confusing. Others mention the British way of driving... OK. I lived in New Zealand for 4 years, and drove around in a car with the driver the right. And it took me just about 3 minutes to get used to putting on the seat belt...from the 'wrong' side. Driving on the left ... I think in the 4 years, I may have made a turn into the 'wrong' lane twice. Traffic dictates what you are doing, and it simply isn't hard to make an adjustment. Given that - put me in a parking lot with straight (not angled) parking, and I'd move to the right further than Rush Limbaugh in a minute.

But all that has nothing to do with what I'm going to write about. My question, to be taken shots at by one and all:

WHY is the door on the Elio on the left?

Arguments against: Driving on a 2-way street, if someone is going to cross the center lane and hit you and doesn't plow you smack dab in the front - they are most likely to hit on the left side of the vehicle. One door - and it's now smashed. Gotta crawl out the window on the other side! Or - what if that was where the door was? Just open it and wait for the emergency vehicles. The side with no door on the Elio is going to the the strongest, structurally. A door needs to be engineered, the no-door side is a solid part of the frame. Yeah, at an intersection they can get you from both sides. Don't know what the statistics are for which side gets hit most, so I say that's a toss-up.

Parallel parking on a street. In a car, you have to open the door into the path of the traffic that is zooming by a few inches from you. And your passenger gets off on the 'safe' side. One door - why not get out on that same 'safe' side?

Are there any good rebuttals? Or anyone else with a reason that getting in and out on the right is a better plan?

 

[RUCRAYZE]

As mentioned, it's the American way, not necessarily the best i.e. 12 hour clock, inches, pounds etc., but it works in spite of itself.
The best i can relate is to try and sit in one. It was ergonomically "perfect" in my opinion. Controls, visibility, door opening and comfort, and that was just sitting in a mall! There has been "MUCH" discussion on this topic, the gas cap, and other threads. Early on the threads were true to the topic, recently after the first couple of posts, there is no way of knowing what gets discussed! Hang in there this is a very knowledgable group, (excluding me) I want to own and drive this cool machine, having given up biking after 50yrs.

 

[Mike W]

Of course we could put the shift on the column (3 on the tree anyone?) or in the dash like I know some Renault did (still does?). Then we could put the door on either side. Since it's targeted for the U.S. at this point, let's keep it on the left. We'll worry about switching sides should the need arise.