Roll Bar in a street car discussion Options

[Scott S]

Hi All. I posted this over on Pelican, thought it might be relevant here too.

I know there have been many discussions on the safety putting a roll bar/cage in a street driven car. I am not a racer, so it really didn't pertain to me at all. However, yesterday I saw first hand the injuries that can occur.

16 year old girl driving her dads Miata with him in the passenger seat. There is speculation that she was driving on her permit, practicing for her drivers license. She was driving at a slow speed, simply making a right hand turn on to a side street. She clipped the curb - something we all have done. Curb was tall enough that it shook the car pretty good (again, speculation, but knowing the corner I would guess a wheel would have been bent and the car knocked out of alignment ).

Both are in the hospital with concussions, one of them needed several stiches from injuries caused by their heads impacting the roll bar.

I don't know if the dad autocrossed the car or what, or if the bar was just for looks. I do know the car had stock seat belts.

Scary stuff.

[Cracker]

Its certainly nothing to do flippantly. I rebuilt my roll cage to eliminate the possibility of contact while strapped into the 6-point harness. I wouldn't risk riding in a caged car on the street otherwise. Padding or not - a bar could cause catastrophic injuries. Not worth it.

PS: Scott - I see allot of Miatas with roll bars (I believe they generally are for looks) and it does cause me some concern too. Funny how you can take the "girliest" car ever made and put so many bars in them...

T

[jd74914]

I see allot of Miatas with roll bars (I believe they generally are for looks) and it does cause me some concern too.

Miata roll bars are much scarier to me than almost all 914 cages/bars. To fit under the soft top they need to be very low/close to the driver. One of my friends bought a Miata with one so low I could hit my head on while buckled in without the added force of a collision, etc. That's my definition of dangerous. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)