Hey guys, I have a customer who was asking about crash standards or statistics with kei trucks and with regard to import markets (ie Canada). I was curious if anyone had any real hard data from places like the UK where they have been sold for much longer and coincide with LHD cars. Thanks, Matt
I wouldn't mind knowing how these minitrucks fare in the stats myself. I am reasonably convinced they should be better than a riding a street bike but only marginally one way or the other. The biggest factor that "should" make them better than a cycle would be that you are more " physically imposing " on the road in a mini ( if it's all possible to be physically imposing in a mini LOL ) which makes you straight away at least more visible ... lots of factors to consider. Personally I feel quite safe and secure in my crunchy frog ... then again I felt safe and sound on my suzuki 360, I got cut off at about 50 mph and dumped it on the 401 in Whitby Ontario ... nothing but bumps and bruises, not even road pizza. Messed up my bike some, but not unfixable by any means. Good question rightdrive! I'll be looking for stats now, trouble is not everywhere keeps stats like north americans ... let the hunt begin! z
I figure the best bet to find something will be the UK and other parts of Europe since they are a little more prominent there and coincide more with LHD vehicles (bigger mixes of RHD/LHD).
If its a good crash, its gonna hurt no question. But hey that golf cart, utv,smv,gem car,ford think ect.ect. is gonna hurt worse. I did some searching sometime ago and found a crash test online somewhere. They were putting these trucks though the ringer. I think it was on www.yahoo.jp The japan yahoo. Use the search and type in crash test kei.
Just my 2 cents ..but I think crash test data should be available for consumers to make a decision on buying,but should not be mandatory...I ride motorcycles fully aware of my vulnerability if I have an accident. I think I should be able to make that same decision in a car or truck...If our safety was such a concern motorcycles would be illegal.....
Really the idea is to establish a minimum safety standard for a passenger vehicle. They don't want companies to be making vehicles that are death traps because people would buy them, crash, die or get hurt, lawsuits bla bla bla. I like the idea of having everyone have the info at their disposal... but I also think there should be a bare minimum crash standard (which I think Kei cars fit well within). Everyone knows if you crash on a motorcycle you're a lot more likely to get hurt. Everyone SHOULD know if you drive a smaller vehicle you're more likely to get hurt too... but the safety standards are to protect consumers from corporations. I agree with the sentiment, however it sucks that they apply modern standards to older trucks. I'd imagine a Kei car is as safe or safer than a rusted out '89 Honda Civic or Ford F150... so I don't see why we shouldn't be able to drive them too. Really it's just a matter of having someone go through the process of testing them, and that's a long, painful and expensive process. I'd bet they would pass... I mean if a Geo Metro passes...
They actually would not have to pass. They just have to be tested. It is up to the consumer to buy or not buy. They would probably get something like a two star rating without additional bumpers and reinforcements. They also need to be tested to a much higher standard for emissions than an off-road vehicle is. I believe it is 3000 hours on a dynamometer at $85.00 an hour. OBDII also needs to be beefed up and reprogrammed to reflect all of the additional sensors needed for over the road classification. Much work! I estimated several million dollars from beginning to end. I am only short by several million dollars. Can I have a loan? Anyone?
Take a check? I'm good for it honest ^_^ Damn, "only" several mill eh? No wonder nobody's done it in the past... does the dyno time have to be in a specific facility? I'm guessing so... but just wanted to ask because I know a few guys who have dyno's and might be willing to donate some time or else do it at a reduced rate in exchange for a truck or something. I still think it's retarded that I can go buy a 1980 Ford F150 that belches black smoke with a hole in the exhaust manifold and drive it perfectly legally wherever I want but I can't buy a mini truck that gets 2-4x the efficiency and has 10x less emissions because it hasn't been "certified"...
Govt. vs. Common sense. We loose. They know whats good for us, just ask them. Don't get me wrong, I think we live in the best country in the world, but I think there is always room for improvement. I guess I already have my slice of the pie and am eating it too.... I drove mine through the city yesterday and went up the canyon to play in the snow. So I do not have a lot of room for complaining. But I think more of the pie should/could be shared, these things are a riot!
Iron, the dyno is just one element and probably the easiest. I didn't list everything, just enough for you to get the idea of the roadblocks in front of the trucks. I hear you loud and clear. I think the trucks would be perfect if we could use them for say up to 50 mph. They are way overbuilt for the low speed market and just a tad under built for the standard road vehicle market. I know, I know, I have heard it a thousand times. I can drive a motorcycle blah blah blah. Not relevant. When you put the truck in the same cage as all the other vehicles it is not up to the standard without some substantial (expensive) changes. The biggest obstacle is the fact that if somebody did go through all of the hassle and cost and finished the trucks to meet NHTSA rules the next person could just import them by only doing the EPA testing because the "class" of vehicle would have been previously proven to meet the standards. Hence, he who goes first gets screwed.
But when you put a mini truck in the same cage as, say an Arctic Cat side by side as far as safety etc is concerned the mini truck blows it out of the water. That's why I don't understand the speed limiting thing; the "Offroad only" thing is fine; if they are going to be sticklers for the crash test results for it to be an "on road" vehicle then whatever... I actually don't have a problem with that. What irks me is that they insist it's TOO SAFE to be classified as an "off road" vehicle due to safety regs and therefore must be speed limited in order to meet that status. Instead of making a different classification for them they have arbitrarily stuffed them into a hole that they don't fit into. Not only that but they have deliberately pigeonholed them while intentionally avoiding targeting other vehicles (like dune buggies... as if that was a classification) for some reason. It makes absolutely no sense.
I'm not sure I follow you on the last few posts. Is "R" or "D" for retard and dumb? I will consider myself the dumb part, because I don't know I am retarded. Is that what you are talking about?
