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vw ejector seat? (long)

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himmell Seriously Crusin Dubber

115 posts · joined May 2003 ·

#78000
A cold and crappy day in melb. = wasting time on the puter.
I came across this article from this site http://www.autosafetyexpert.com/seats.html , anyone had any experience in this interesting phenomenon?. just curious as i had a prang in an early beetle a few years back with no major probs.

"Volkswagen Beetle "Ejector Seat" Epidemic The Volkswagen Beetle, through the 1971 model, had a notoriously weak seat design, including floor-mounted tracks and seat-mounted runners that were like the letter "C" facing the letter "C"... like hanging on by your fingernails. In a rear-impact collision accident, the seat would typically fail at its anchorages, and come completely loose and tip over backwards... "ejecting" the driver and passenger rearward within the forward-accelerating car. Over the years, this VW "ejector seat" has caused many fatalities and quadriplegics. Byron Bloch has inspected many VW accident vehicles, and has testified about this issue to a U.S. Congressional Hearing in 1973. He also brought this story to the ABC News "20/20" newsmagazine program, which televised the major report "VW Beetle: The Hidden Danger" in 1979. (The report won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Investigative Journalism.) Mr. Bloch was crash test coordinator for some VW Beetle crash tests, including one in which the 1967 Beetle, with a seat-belted driver dummy, crashed rearward into a pole at 30 mph. The weak front seat failed at its anchorages, the driver was "ejected" rearward, and he severely impacted his head adjacent to the rear window. "

cheers, chris

"Son, your ego is writing checks your body can't cash."


🙂

jenz58 Postal Menace

9,121 posts · joined Aug 2002 ·

#78003
LOL

See what Melbourne weather drives us all too:o

Never seen an ejector seat at swap meets:jesus

Anyone??!!😎

Robo Compulsive Aussie Vee Dubber

4,491 posts · joined Feb 2003 ·

#78006
Be interesting to find out more, but personally never heard anything about this?
Rob......
Boxer Power
Member of DMLRK.....Die Mittler Lebuns Resto Komeradschaft

jenz58 Postal Menace

9,121 posts · joined Aug 2002 ·

#78147
Ouch, I've just had an image of me smashing my head as the seat tries to eject me out of a beetle with a roof!!!!!

Notice it did say the seat ejects rearwards, does that mean out through the back window? So lucky Bel's a '58 with the larger rear window😀😎:thumb

Can you imagine it.....?

I'm sure I didn't miss the word convertible in there:jesus

[Edited on 24-8-2003 by jenz58]

Peter Leonard Moderator Volatile

1,456 posts · joined Apr 2003 ·

#78155
luckily my 71 super has a factory installed safety spring to stop this from happening. 😀
never heard of this phenomenon before, but then i also don't know too many people who drive around backwards into poles at 30 mph... :jesus

ironic that we need an engineer to okay different seating rails...
let sleeping dubs lie

Mad Manx KombiKroozin

456 posts · joined Aug 2002 ·

#78270
I had a frontal accident in my '63 doing 60 km/h and the seat held up just fine (cant say that bout the rest of my beetle) so this must be just a rearward problem. Easy fix- only crash driving forwards:thumb


- '71 Kombi (Died 24/11/05😢 ) - '65 manx (smick) -'63 beetle (bent) -'73 Singlecab (new to the stable)

Oasis Going alone...

1,806 posts · joined Jul 2003 ·

#78287
I think someone driving into the back of you at 30MPH would resemble reversing into a pole at 30MPH. Same effect anyway.
I'll have to remember to only crash into things going forward next time I go out for my Crash drive... and make sure I'm not being followed too closely by any telegraph poles.
"Tell him 'We've already got one'"

Oasis Going alone...

1,806 posts · joined Jul 2003 ·

#78288
I think someone driving into the back of you at 30MPH would resemble reversing into a pole at 30MPH. Same effect anyway.
I'll have to remember to only crash into things going forward next time I go out for my Crash drive... and make sure I'm not being followed too closely by any telegraph poles.

That reminded me of a famous old court case quote: "The other day I drove into a driveway that wasn't mine, and crashed into a tree I don't have".
"Tell him 'We've already got one'"

jenz58 Postal Menace

9,121 posts · joined Aug 2002 ·

#78447
Doh, am I really that slow?? OK yes:jesus

Saw the word ejector seat and my imagination went wild:o 😀

Found this today with pics which made it all much clearer

http://www.autosafetyexpert.com/seats.html

Hmmm, think I used to have some dodgy seats like that in Bel (not her original, and now changed, thank goodness!!!) They were so uncomfortable the way they leant back

whatnow Custom Title Time!

1,000 posts · joined Jan 2003 ·

#78663
i have never heard of seats breaking in an accident but in the time i spent on the cal-look forum i saw quite a few posts about people breaking the seat rails in thier early cars through doing drag launches on slicks with high hp motors etc.
hmmm maybe i'll run different seats/rails...