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A Small Car Such As This Should Have Advanced Active Safety Systems

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johnsnownw

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Jeff Miller said:
Are you honestly advocating that people should rely on technology so that they can sleep in their car instead of driving it???

I'd suggest that these people should wise up and drive their car. If they are too tired or lazy then take a bus, taxi, train, anything other than getting behind the wheel and sleeping.
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I believe he's implying that a vehicle that can remain in control during driver impairment is safer than one that cannot. Not that its okay to sleep in a vehicle that has this ability.
 
Truett Collins

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alfred_chicken said:
It seems that engineers have structurally designed the Elio to protect passengers very well. However, the laws of physics cannot be beaten. If a small car hits a large car, the passengers in the small car are more likely to be hurt or killed than the passengers in the large car.

Given this fact, it seems that the Elio should have an option for a forward collision warning system that can automatically apply the brakes if needed. A system like this could also be used to add adaptive cruise control to the car.

Even low-cost cars like the Honda Civic have an option for this type of system. In five years, I am sure that it will be a standard feature on almost all new cars. While I would like to buy an Elio, I think I will hold out until more advanced active safety systems are added.
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The biggest problem is too many people today rely on tech instead of driving ability, and actually paying attention to what they are doing.....and in those cases even tech is not going to help.
 
Sethodine

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I skipped a couple pages, so I don't know if this has been mentioned, but...

The Elio is tandem seating, not side-by-side like the Smart.

This matters, because in a side-impact collision, the occupants of the Smart will be knocking heads together as they are rattled around in that little can, while Elio occupants heads will be completely cucooned. The driver will have the front airbag, side curtain airbags, and the seat headrest. The passenger will have the seat headrests in front and behind, and also the side curtain airbags.

Also, the Elio is longer than a Smart, and has lower static inertia (three wheels instead of four). This means that more side-impact energy will be spread out over the length of the frame, and the Elio will more easily absorb impact by being pushed (spreading out the impact force over distance/time).

It is true that the Elio places both occupants equally close to the impact point, instead of just one of them (either the driver or passenger, in a traditional two-seat setup) but I believe the other advantages outweigh this disadvantage.
 
Jim H

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Gas-Powered Awesome said:
Bad Drivers -> "We must have More Automation! Think of the Children!" -> Worse drivers -> "OMG how could that happen! More Automation Now!" -> Even worse drivers. Repeat until most people don't know how to drive at all. Declare victory?

I predict within 20 years there will be roads/highways in the USA where it will be illegal to drive your own car. Automated cars only. Likely they will convert the HOV lanes first. Traffic deaths will decline, but the total reliance on technology may bite us in the ass.

For those who've never read it, The Machine Stops was written in 1909 by E. M. Forster. He predicted the Internet, Fraudbook, Youtube, and the possible perils of total technological reliance and loss of skills. Amazing, considering flushing toilets were still a novelty in 1909 America.
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I probably won't be around to see that. Hopefully, I will be able to enjoy my Elio before then. I know PATIENCE, PATIENCE, PATIENCE
 
Frim

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alfred_chicken said:
It might bounce away, but the forces on the passengers in the Elio would be very high.

See here:
http://www.iihs.org/iihs/news/deskt...results-are-relevant-to-fuel-economy-policies

Relevant text from the above page:
"After striking the front of the C class, the Smart went airborne and turned around 450 degrees. This contributed to excessive movement of the dummy during rebound — a dramatic indication of the Smart's poor performance but not the only one. There was extensive intrusion into the space around the dummy from head to feet. The instrument panel moved up and toward the dummy. The steering wheel was displaced upward. Multiple measures of injury likelihood, including those on the dummy's head, were poor, as were measures on both legs.

"The Smart is the smallest car we tested, so it's not surprising that its performance looked worse than the Fit's. Still both fall into the poor category, and it's hard to distinguish between poor and poorer," Lund says. "In both the Smart and Fit, occupants would be subject to high injury risk in crashes with heavier cars." In contrast, the C class held up well, with little to no intrusion into the occupant compartment. Nearly all measures of injury likelihood were in the good range."
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Welcome Mr. Chicken. We appreciate your input.
 
aknaten

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Safety is of primary importance to me. That's why I gave up my two wheeler. The Elio should be about as safe as one can be without driving a Hummer. Accidents happen, even to the most careful driver. Local person hit a turkey buzzard yesterday and it killed him. On the same page, there is another report of someone going too fast around a curve. http://assets.mediaspanonline.com/prod/13046962/pcn-2016-06-06-0-001.pdf
 
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