| [ Total Views: 898 | Total Replies: 8 | Thread Id: 9716 ] |
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 himmell
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| posted on August 24th, 2003 at 05:58 PM |
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vw ejector seat? (long)
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."
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jenz58
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| posted on August 24th, 2003 at 06:04 PM |
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LOL
See what Melbourne weather drives us all too:o
Never seen an ejector seat at swap meets:jesus
Anyone??!! |
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Robo
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| posted on August 24th, 2003 at 06:07 PM |
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Be interesting to find out more, but personally never heard anything about this?
Rob......
Boxer Power
Member of DMLRK.....Die Mittler Lebuns Resto Komeradschaft
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jenz58
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| posted on August 24th, 2003 at 10:57 PM |
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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] |
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 Peter Leonard
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| posted on August 24th, 2003 at 11:46 PM |
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safety spring
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
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Mad Manx
A.k.a.: Travin C.
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| posted on August 25th, 2003 at 01:26 PM |
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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) |
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Oasis
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| posted on August 25th, 2003 at 02:13 PM |
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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'"
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Oasis
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| posted on August 25th, 2003 at 02:14 PM |
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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'"
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jenz58
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| posted on August 25th, 2003 at 09:57 PM |
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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 |
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whatnow
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| posted on August 26th, 2003 at 11:16 AM |
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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...
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Quickbug
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| posted on August 26th, 2003 at 02:25 PM |
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I was rear ended, enough to write off my car, and my seats did not break.
Welds on the seat frame have come loose from hard launches, but held fine in the acco...
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