Autoblog

Steven John Earp of Eugene, Oregon could never have imagined that the breakfast sandwich he was eating behind the wheel as he drove to work last week was almost his last meal, period. How so? Well, during the course of his meal on wheels, Mr. Earp began choking on his sandwich, and the situation was so dire that he blacked out behind the wheel. While unconscious, he plowed into another parked car, and for his sake, that's probably the best thing that could have happened.

Upon impact, Mr Earp's seat belt performed what amounted to be an unassisted heimlich maneuver on him, clearing the blockage that had caused him to lose consciousness and control of his car. No one else was hurt, and the only harm done was to the two vehicles involved in the crash. Mr. Earp, who collapsed after exiting the car when he regained consciousness, was taken to the hospital for observation and later released.

The lessons learned here are very simple:

1. Buckle up, because your seat belt can save you in more ways than one.
2. Put the damned sandwich down and wait till you get to the office to stuff your face. Capisce?

[Source: The Register-Guard]

According to What Car?, Porsche isn't immune to the recall woes that normally plague much larger automakers. The article states that 43 911 GT3s and their harder-core RS siblings are suffering from faulty seatbelts. The optional six-point belt's unlocking mechanism apparently won't come loose, causing concerns that if a crash were to take place, the occupants wouldn't be able to escape the vehicle without the belts being cut.

Porsche will be contacting the owners of said 911s to arrange a date for inspection. Unfortunately, the website What Car? referred to for further information, the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA), didn't have any details about what specific models were affected and in what part of the world the vehicles were sold. As soon as we get more information, we'll update this post.

[Source: What Car?]

Here is quite a hard-hitting image to remind people to buckle up, even in the back seat. We should all know the benefits of seat belt usage by now, but some people still seem to think they might be immune in an accident, should they choose the rear seat rather than the front, for some reason. This powerful visual reminder might help to convince them they're wrong.

Taking 3D billboards to a new extreme, the slingshot seems to dwarf the billboard itself, effectively conveying the force that will propel you forward in a collision. The one thing the ad doesn't replicate, however, is the variety of surfaces you'll impact after launch. Seatbacks might not seem particularly harmful, but anything you strike will be painful as you fly into, over or around them at those velocities. We're not quite sure where this billboard is located or who was responsible for it, but we like it a lot. Buckle up. Even in the back seat.

[Source: Carscoop]

Regardless of the cocoon of air bags surrounding the occupants of today's vehicles, Dr. Priya Prasad, Ford Motor's Technical Fellow for Safety maintains that "the single most important piece of safety technology in a car or truck today remains the safety belt," and Ford engineers are actively researching new restraint technologies, like the four-point belt system shown above.

Ford research showed that consumers who tested the four-point belts perceived them to be safer, more comfortable and (depending on design) easier to use than conventional three point belts. Ford maintains that thousands of testers of "all demographics and sizes" gave the racecar-like harness the thumbs up, and we're sure that the photo intentionally shows a female driver, but we're skeptical that women will really find the new system "more comfortable."

Still, we're all for efforts to adopt simple, comparatively inexpensive, and effective technologies to enhance safety, and there's no question that four-point belts are safer than today's three-point system. Just ask any racecar driver.

[Source: Ford]