Re: Must See! Beautiful Pre-Production Tango!

[Victor Tikhonov <vtikhono@lsil.com>]

Lee Hart wrote:
> 
> Victor Tikhonov wrote:
> > It is obviously safer for occupants in case of collision between
> > heavy SUV and light car. Think of the impact.
> 
> Victor, you are an engineer. It is not "obvious", because there are so
> many differences between cars. All things being equal, heavier is
> better; but all things are not equal. There are MANY factors that affect
> safety, and weight is only one of them.

Lee, you are right as practically always!

I was not speaking for myself, I was pretending to be a general
public with perception that bigger is safer because of
impact, this is the connection every simple minded driver can make.

Not all things are equal, and most unequal one is probably
particular driver's behavior.

So I'm speaking for myself now:

I know how I drive. We have SUV as a means of transporting
kids and we load it every year to go on long trips.
We go on the mountains skiing so once in a while we take
advantage of it being 4x4 although it could of been 4x4 van as well.

It has standard transmission and gets 26 mpg on the summer day
on the highway. I've measured.

Now: I know it more prone to roll over and less stable
(part of what you mean not being equal). It handles worse
than my small ICE Tercel I use to commute when ACRX is down.
So I make adjustment for its handling, not turning at as high speed
as other car allows etc. I never was tempted to show that I'm 
king of the road because of heavy SUV. My wife is even more 
conservative driver. We have this SUV since 1995 without single 
accident. I may be naive, but think that if I ever will have an 
accident that will be if someone runs into me, and in this situation
SUV has pure mechanical advantage being massive car. Other things
being unequal (so far) were not exercised in my driving life.

We're talking about particular driver, me. For average all things
are indeed not equal. I don't feel that, and the way I drive,
I feel like the chances to get in trouble *for me* are the same,
SUV or not - someone is running into my car.

SUV *in this case* will protect me better.

Other cases are not expected (but, yes, not impossible).

Hope you see my point, agree with it or not.

Victor