passenger issue, is it safe? Options

[TROJANMAN]

my 2 year old is itchin' to go for a ride in "daddy's new car." this morning on the way to daycare she said "daddy's new car ? (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/rolleyes.gif)" no sooner did she notice me make our way to the grocery getter when she spouted "no mommy's car, Daddy's car! (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/mad.gif) "
so my question is:
can i drive her to daycare safely without having to worry about someone plowing into me? i know, anything can happen, most accidents happen within 1 mile of your home, etc..... the risk probably won't outweigh the reward here, so i just wanted to hear a few opinions. thanks.

we spent $300+ on a car seat, so it has to be worth something, right?

[skline]

I would gladly take my kids in my car if they wanted to go. Mine are all grown up now but if they were little I wouldnt have a problem with it. The car seat should be more than adequate to protect her and hold her in. Its not like you are taking her out on the track with you. Unless of course you drive like I do. (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/driving.gif)

[TROJANMAN]

ya, but my concern is that the top of the passenger window is the same height as most SUV bumpers. and i live in CO (many suv's).

[Joe Bob]

Not up to me....wife has banned the kids from ALL my Porsches....it's the Dodge Dakota or the Stupoid Uglee Vehicle or nothing....

[mudfoot76]

Just heed all the safety advice others have offered up here for driving 914s in today's traffic. I think the best single line I've read is 'drive it like you were on a motorcycle and assume nobody sees you'.

That and proper safety seat or seat belt, you've gone a long way to minimize risk. I remember when I was really young (and little), I was sometimes allowed to ride on the parcel shelf in my parents' MG. When I see one of those driving around, I wonder how it was I never managed to fly away (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/wacko.gif)

[GaroldShaffer]

I take my 3 yr old son with me all the time. I just make sure the car seat is installed correctly, buckle him up and away we go. Yes, I do drive differently when he is with me, but I do that in any of our cars.

[aveale]

here is a funny one?!?!

Bought car and immediately put car seat in it for 1 year old.

Drove around and she loved it (the goal is that she owns it one day).

This winter, I had a 914clubber come by and take a look and both longs are shot. Infact, the belts were held on with a wood screw.

So, check your longs and how your belts are conected.

Cheers and have fun!

T

[balljoint]

One of the biggest dangers for kids in 2 seaters is the airbag. Probably not a problem in most 914s, but that is why my pickup truck has a switch to turn off the passenger side airbag. Next thing would be to make sure you can properly install the carseat so that it can do it's job.

[TROJANMAN]

thanks for the replies. now i just need to run this thread by the wife. you should have seen how excited my kid was when i brought my car home. (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/rolleyes.gif)

[bondo]

I wouldn't worry about it.. I went through al kinds of potentally hazardous vehicular experiences and I survived. (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/smile.gif)

My dad used to take me on rides on the back of his motorcycle, when I was like 8.. then my older brother got a dirt bike and I used to ride it around. Once when I was pretty young maybe 5 or 6.. I barely remember.. I was riding in the back seat of my parents caddy, and my dad was picking someone up (my grandpa maybe?) from the airport and on the way back I wanted to join them.. so I crawled over into the front seat, and somehow in the process, knocked the gearshift from D to 1 (on the freeway). I never heard a car make that much noise, I thought I was going to die. (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/smile.gif) I was rapidly thrust to the floor, as we went from like 60 mph to something more like 35. But the car survived, and so did I.

By today's standards, a 914 might seem dangerous, but by 1980 standards it's plenty safe. (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/smile.gif) At least you have a roll bar.

[TROJANMAN]

QUOTE (bondo @ May 3 2005, 01:16 PM)

At least you have a roll bar.

that's what i tell my wife when i take my kid in the jeep.

and it is funny how some of us older folk ever survived. riding around in the back of my dad's pick-up standing up, riding in a rear bike seat with no helmet or seatbelt, mom holding you in her lap in the front seat of the car, thorwing an infant seat in the back of a car unstrapped, etc....... (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/slap.gif)

but knowing what we know now, it doesn't make sense to repeat any of those past mistakes. even if this was a car that was safe by 30 year old standards, driving something that is safer today is better. it's funny how priorties change when you have kids. she is part of EVERY decision i make.

[lapuwali]

QUOTE (bondo @ May 3 2005, 01:16 PM)

I wouldn't worry about it.. I went through al kinds of potentally hazardous vehicular experiences and I survived. (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/smile.gif) My dad used to take me on rides on the back of his motorcycle, when I was like 8.. then my older brother got a dirt bike and I used to ride it around. Once when I was pretty young maybe 5 or 6.. I barely remember.. I was riding in the back seat of my parents caddy, and my dad was picking someone up (my grandpa maybe?) from the airport and on the way back I wanted to join them.. so I crawled over into the front seat, and somehow in the process, knocked the gearshift from D to 1 (on the freeway). I never heard a car make that much noise, I thought I was going to die. (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/smile.gif) I was rapidly thrust to the floor, as we went from like 60 mph to something more like 35. But the car survived, and so did I. By today's standards, a 914 might seem dangerous, but by 1980 standards it's plenty safe. (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/smile.gif) At least you have a roll bar.

This is really a pet peeve of mine, and it's a hard subject to discuss rationally, because most people just aren't rational about it. The level of danger involved in driving a small, light car is almost certainly higher than it is driving an SUV, but the odds even in the light car of actually being injured are incredibly low. People simply have no rational idea of relative dangers. An example: you are six times more likely to be seriously injured riding a horse than you are riding a motorcycle. Yet, how many mothers who'd happily allow their daughter to ride a horse would be horrified at the idea of her riding on a motorcycle? That statistic, btw, was given to me by a woman mathematician who rode both horses and motorcycles.

The relative danger between driving a 914 and a Civic in SUV-choked traffic is, IMHO, about the same. Plenty of parents seem perfectly happy to buy their teenager a Civic.

[aylanco]

QUOTE (lapuwali @ May 3 2005, 01:40 PM)

The relative danger between driving a 914 and a Civic in SUV-choked traffic is, IMHO, about the same. Plenty of parents seem perfectly happy to buy their teenager a Civic.

Not to be a downer, BUT...the Civic probably has a crash rating of four stars while a 914 would probably get a 1 star rating in todays standards. Safe for 1973, but not good today. And last I checked, we are driving these cars today in today's environment.

I drive with my young daughters in all of my cars and recognize the risk. I think if you get in a bad accident in a teener, you are in trouble. But the same goes for horses, swingsets, rollerblades and airplanes. We gotta live our lives...

[lapuwali]

QUOTE (aylanco @ May 3 2005, 02:23 PM)

Not to be a downer, BUT...the Civic probably has a crash rating of four stars while a 914 would probably get a 1 star rating in todays standards. Safe for 1973, but not good today. And last I checked, we are driving these cars today in today's environment.

That may very well be true from formal crash tests. The real-world is often rather different.

Last year, my wife, driving the Explorer she had at the time, hit the passenger side of a recent Civic driven by a woman who turned left in front of her. Impact speed was about 30mph.

In 1975, my father was hit by a jacked-up K5 Blazer while driving a 1971 Bug, also in the passenger side (he was crossing an intersection, and the Blazer ran the light). Impact speed was about 30mph.

The two cars (Civic and Beetle) looked remarkably similar post crash: passenger side crushed all the way over to the driver's side. Both drivers got out with basically no injuries. The SUVs were lightly damaged in both cases.

Now, this doesn't prove anything, as accidents are always different. However, for my money, all of the extra technology and expense poured into the Civic did nothing useful relative to the Bug in a very similar accident. I'm sure NHTSA would say the Bug was far less safe than the Civic, and have plenty of perfectly legitimate statistics to prove it. Physics is all that matters in the real-world, though, not crash statistics.

The SUV v small car problem is also obviously not new. We lived in Alaska at the time, which was FULL of vehicles that are called SUVs today, but were just called trucks then. I'd not be surprised if the situation was similar in Colorado at that time, too. Driving a Bug in America in the 50s would have been about the same thing, except it was you v. nearly every other car on the road, as they ALL weighed 3500-4500lbs then.

[nebreitling]

strap 'em in safely and go. if it was just around town with light traffic, i'd feel comfortable taking my nieces.

[mihai914]

Speaking from experience and pictures that I saw, 914 protect you very well in front and rear impacts impacts, the car doesn't usually survive but you do. If it's a post 73 car then the doors have those reinforcements which are probably very effective.

If you do get t-boned in a pre 72 car by a SUV chances are he will hit you in the front fender, rear quarter panel or straignt in the middle at which point his front bumper will go beyonf the door itself.

What would not be good is if you were by the corner of the SUV at a perpendicular angle and in the middle of the door, that's pretty unlikely to happen.

I haven't seen a 914 that split in half from an sideways impact, many Civics do and that's because the structure is weak.

My $0.02

Mihai

[redshift]

AFAIK, it's perfectly safe to have a female up to the age of at least 24 stand up topless, with the roof off, so I'd imagine as long as you don't get hit by a semi, probably ok.


M