Safety and the EA82

[bratman2]

The best thing to do is be aware of what people are doing, a T bone accident in the side of a Brat at 45 or so would be terrible. No side impact reinforcement. There is so many variables involved with car accidents that it is really hard to look at a few old ea81 or ea82s in the junk yard and claim them as being safe. I have known of people being seriously injured with what I consider to be minor damage to their car and others walk away from some that you couldn't even tell what it was they were driving. Air bags are a big inprovement in surviving a terrible accident but first generation air bags caused alot of injuries in low speed 20-25mph crashes, broken noses and busted lips being the most common.

[Sweet82]

So, I'm thinkin maybe

 

Exocage!

 

A cage would rage!

 

Prolly not practicle :-\

[calebz]

Get a Volvo?

 

Doug

 

Got both:D

 

The subaru is for fun.

 

The volvo is for the idiot texas drivers

[BlueTrain]

I've seen 50 or 60 wrecked EA82 wagons and sedans since I've been livin in Fairbanks. I could climb into and sit in Any of the seats of a front and rear collision cars. The maintained the passenger/drivers space.

 

Side impact is another story. There is 4 inches of braced sheet metal between you and the car hitting you. In a side impact, I wouldnt want to be wearing a seatbelt because I'd rather be thrown across the car then be held in a crumple zone.

 

We have 4 subarus in the yard that are rolled. 3 EA82s and one Legacy. All of them, the roofs held up pretty damn good. maybe crumpled down 2 inches or so. None of them had the entire roof smashed. They smash to the B pillar to the front of the hood at a 45 degree angle. The windshields stayed in the car, cracked up pretty good, but solid enough you could still stand on the windshield.

 

I saw a EA81 wagon at an auction last weekend that hit a moose. I'm guessin at about 40 or 45. Smashed the roof back, but It still had enough room to get in and sit down without having anything hit you. the windshield was popped out, but I'm guessing it was Butyl Tape from the factory window

 

Anyways, just my expirences (my spelling sucks.. deal with it.. lol)

 

yep, ive noticed this too.. the drivers compartments seem to maintain good space.. ive been told the spare tire design forces the motor down to the ground instead of the driver/passenger area in a head -on, but not quite sure if thats true or not..

[mtsmiths]

Air bags are a big inprovement in surviving a terrible accident but first generation air bags caused alot of injuries in low speed 20-25mph crashes, broken noses and busted lips being the most common.

 

Yeah, well my next door neighbor had her arm broken by a later generation airbag in a brand new '00 Outback sedan. She drifted across the yellow and hit some poor young girl head-on.

 

Why did the airbag break her arm? Because she was holding a cell phone to her ear ... twit.

[backinbrat]

i cant provide a direct account of an EA82, but i can sort of judge how good they are,

 

well, back in 2001, i was involved in a catastrophic accident in my dads 99' impreza estate (that was an EJ20T if you want to know, lol) well, anyways, long story short, i was 11 and i survived, the combined impact speed was around 110 MPH, passenger to passenger (thats left side to left seeing as this is an international fourm!) well, the scoob was toast, but the MK2 golf GL we hit was barely exsistant, our scooby, was pretty unrecognisable and the airbag put 14 stiches in my head, i got a broken pelvis, broken leg in 3 places and the femer (bone above your knee) poped out the side, cant of been nice, glad i dont remember, and alot of internal brusing, and as for the passenger in the golf, he sadly died at the scene, what probably saved me was the 4point semi race harness, anyways,

 

this aint a life story so i shall push on, well, last summer i was over at my mates house, and we were bombing around his fields, we agreed to all go clockwise to avoid and accident, but my mates little bro, who was 11 didnt listen, went the wrong way, and hit me and my 2 mates head on in an SJ410 (which is ironically now owned by me!) at around 20 MPH, well, we were all fine, no seatbelts though, but i did have the bullbar on it, which considerabley saved it, i had to get another bonnet and pull the bit where the rad mounts out a bit, so without the bullbar, it would have probably screwed it, so hmmm, dunno that the EA81's are that strong, so judge it from those 2 accounts, and wow thats a long post!

[GeneralDisorder]

Yeah - I know this is an old thread, but this incident occured since it fell out of use.....

 

If anyone has doubts about the EA81's - ask Jerry (Bratsrus1) for pics of his nephew?'s coupe. I beleive it was an 83 or 84 2 door coupe. I know he rolled it.... several times..... at a obviously good clip. I saw the car in person and can attest to it's complete destruction. There wasn't a straight panel on it, and the roof got flattened a bit. He told me the kid walked away with only one scratch on his nose. His mother was so impressed they bought him another soob as a replacement.

 

Also - one good aspect of the EA81/EA82 design is the placement of the spare tire - it forces the engine down and under the passenger compartment in a crash.

 

They probably aren't the safest cars ever made, but unless you drive like a total idiot you aren't likely to be in any great harm. At least the doors don't jam shut and the fuel tank rupture in a rear impact

 

GD

[DaveT]

Yeah - I know this is an old thread, but this incident occured since it fell out of use.....

 

I've wondered when is a thread "too old" to bring back.. I've unwitingly added to a couple of old ones that were resurected by others..

 

Anyways, No airbags for me.

http://www.airbagonoff.com/dr_smock's_research.htm

[mikeshoup]

I think before dismissing air bags, people should look for some statistics. I tried a quick search and couldn't find any.

 

When I searched them previously, I seem to think that the conclusion was airbags were safer.

 

Statistically, if you were wearing your seat belt, you were safer with an air bag than without. If you weren't wearing your seat belt, you were safer without an air bag.

 

I remember working at Craig Hospital (a spinal and brain injury rehab hospital), they were explaining to us that the number of patients they cared for due to car related injuries dramatically dropped with the requirement of airbags.

 

I'm still a firm believer that air bags are safer, as long as you are wearing a seat belt. Though, I'd like to stay away from the side impact air bags, etc. One airbag in the steering wheel is plenty.

[WoodsWagon]

If you ever have the quarter panels off of an EA82, you'll see the safety measures in place. The front of the framerails where the bumpers mount is meant to crush. The whole upper frame support running from the base of the windshield forward to the headlights is rippled to crush. There is hooks in the hood hinges to stop the hood from going through the windshield. All sorts of safety measures.

 

But on to the anecdotes. A friend had the front of his loyale crushed to the engine block by a pickup. Pulled out into traffic, took the hit in the drivers front wheel. He was fine, car was toast.

 

I've taken a tree in the drivers B pillar. Dented up the rear door, bent the rear edge of the drivers door, tweaked the hinges, but didn't shift the pillar.

 

I rear ended a ranger at 15mph. Wearing lap belt and auto sholder. I was fine, the front was shifted around a bit, but I had a seriously custom bumper on it, so the results aren't valid.

[Reveeen]

Having visited this planet for over 1/2 a century, and having lost friends, relatives, and loved ones, over the years to many different causes, there is only one conclusion I can come up with.

When it's your turn, it's your turn, there is absolutely nothing you can do about it.

It's kinda like being in the check-out at the super market, we are all in the same line, it's just some are a little bit ahead of you, some are behind.

Now, I'm not anti-safety, but somehow I have it figured no amount of BS mechanical devices make up for "proper" driver education and training, the forgotten element it seems, in every safety discussion.

[Prospeeder]

who ever said that they wouldnt want to wear a seatbelt in a side impact, thats stupid! if you were in the drivers seat, and u got slammed into on the drivers side, the car would go flying away from the impact, correct? so if your not belted down, you go towards the impact because your still stationary. thus slamming into the imact area casuing alot more injury. if your belted you stay put your much better off for sure. Also same goes, if your on the drivers side and u get hit on the passenger side, guess where you fly to, all the way accross the car into the impact area causing injuries. I dunno if these cars are safe or not, i dont feel unsafe when i drive it or anything tho.

[daeron]

This is gonna be kinda long.. By the way, backinbrat.. the secret to a long post that is still easy to read, is to hit enter once in a while to insert a pause..

 

Kinda like that. Anyhow, in october of 2001, I rolled my little brother's civic..I had been out very late the night before, gone to sleep at about 3:30-4:00 AM, and awoke just before 6 AM to drive my little brother to his bus stop, 2 miles away. I normally did this on my way to work, but due to the concert the night before, I had arranged to have that morning off from work. So, when the choice came to get in my car (legal, registered insured 75 280Z complete with missing exhaust and plenty of leaks) or his car (out of state registry, uninsured 90? civic hatch, but with AC and a nice little radio, easier to drive half dead as I was) I chose his car. Since I did that, i did NOT roll down the window, and did NOT light a cigarette.. I was going back to sleep, dammit..

 

The neighborhood we lived in was a rural one (rural neighborhood.. its contradiction only possible in south florida) and it was DARK.. We get to bus stop, wait five minutes for bus.. I kinda get a little sleepy. Bus comes, bright f***in lights, I arouse and say bye, put the car in gear (fivespeed) and drive down the road. I've had my license for about three years at this point, pretty confident I can handle myself..

 

Anyhow, I am only going two blocks on this road, for a total distance of about half a mile. Somewhere past the first road, I drifted off. Top speed while awake couldnt have been more than 45.. in fourth or fifth gear. When I fell asleep, I drifted to the right, and into a shallow ditch that ran alongside the road. Then I encountered a culvert where someone's driveway went over the ditch.. my driver's side wheels were on the level, but the passenger side impacted at some point of the angle and I destroyed his mailbox, and flew spinning on two axes.. end over end, AND spinning around like the driveshaft.. eventually land on the roof, but mostly leaning up against a guardrail in between the sidewalk and a canal... about 165 feet down the road, as measured by Google Earth. Must inspect this number further by a revisitation of the premises on foot.

 

The instant of impact jarred me awake, and stole all my light from me. (battery cable got popped) My seatbelt was on, no airbags. I just reacted with an instinct to hold tight on the steering wheel and hold my arms tense. I didn't lock my elbows quite, but they were rigid at least. My dad has told a story of rolling a VW van end over end, with a broken leg, my infant oldest brother in passenger seat, and no seatbelts for anyone.. so his one hand on the wheel held him in, while his other hand on my brother, held HIM in.

 

The guardrail I spoke of, was the deathknell of the windshield; the only place it broke was where the corner of the guardrail went through it. That spot, is the spot on the windshield that you can just reach with your right hand while sitting back in the driver's seat.. somewhere between the rearview mirror and the top inside corner of the gauge pod on the EA82s.. Basically, the vicinity of where my head would probably have been, had I not been belted down, AND locked to the wheel.

 

This car was utterly totaled. My only injury, was a slightly bruised ribcage, from the seatbelt. Naturally I was sore all over the next day.. but two days after that I was back to normal. Granted, I was 20 years old at the time.. even now I doubt my body would recover THAT quickly but I still feel that as long as I have ANY clue what is happening to me, I can hold my own behind the wheel in case of a car accident. I also agree very very highly with Reveen's comments above. In the end, I feel that if I cannot hold my own, the way I think I can, then it is basically my time.

 

All that being said, the same control that I had behind the wheel, is TOTALLY absent for someone in the passenger's seat. The back seat at least has the front barrier of the seats, but the front passenger is very vulnerable. I would prefer having a vehicle with no driver airbag, and one for the passenger. Like THAT would ever occur to the folks in washington....

 

I didn't even read the whole thread, and since it was a civic, maybe my long story was TOTALLY off-topic.. but that is my take on vehicular safety.. thanks for reading it.

[SakoTGrimes]

The bottom line is that the brake pedal is the only safety tool that matters. Air bags are poor compensation for bad driving and dead weight.

[testy]

These cars a tin cans, crash it and its toast. But... Its like a giant crumple zone around you.... takes alot of the impact. Just dont get impaled.

[86BRATMAN]

EA81 story...

 

My brother had an 82 2wd sedan quite about 12 or so years back. He was going to a bowling league thing one night after work, about 10 pm. He came up to a t-intersection and began slowing down because he had the red at that time. Before he came completely stopped the light turned green, so without really looking he went ahead though the light, turning to the left. Just as he was out into the other road a lady in a late 80's early 90's mid size sedan was running her red light at 40 mph.

 

According to him he was probably going no faster than 10mph. The sedan hit his car dead on the drivers side front corner with the middle area of her car. Shifted the front of his car over pretty good, maybe 4-6 inches, bowwing the hood and spidering the windshield. Both of the cars were totalled, her front end pushed leanly into the engine, which at that point resided in the firewall.

 

Both walked away with minor bruising and soreness.

[heartless]

been driving my EA82 wagon for 5 1/2 yrs now and my only real safety concern is hitting a darn deer dead center and having it come up over the hood & thru the windshield!

This is the same car i went in the ditch with back in November - dropped off the edge of the road about 7 ft down - hit hard, barely missed a telephone pole and took out a couple of fence posts (speed was originally only about 35 mph - slick roads) stiff and sore for a few days afterward, but the car got pulled back up onto the road and I drove it home. had to replace some glass and do a lot of cleaning (20 oz of coffee makes a big mess!) and a little cosmetic fixing, but all in all the car came thru just fine

I drive about 100 miles a day, 5 days a week going back and forth to work. I regularly have idiots pulling out in front of me & doing other stupid stuff - being aware of what is going on around you is the #1 safety rule in my book. (#2 is wearing the seatbelt - even tho i dont particularly like them - uncomfortable) just yesterday i had some dumb broad nearly take off the front of my car when she changed lanes without looking - I nearly let rage get the better of me on that one - my bad - if only i had one of these >

[RONAN]

yep, ive noticed this too.. the drivers compartments seem to maintain good space.. ive been told the spare tire design forces the motor down to the ground instead of the driver/passenger area in a head -on, but not quite sure if thats true or not..

 

Just to verify what I heard. The Service rep at my local Scoob dealership told me the exact same thing. He said it`s designed for frontal impact safety and you don`t want to drive without it in place. Unless you FEEL LUCKY:cool:

[backinbrat]

This is gonna be kinda long.. By the way, backinbrat.. the secret to a long post that is still easy to read, is to hit enter once in a while to insert a pause..

 

yeah, sorry, need to work on that!

[backinbrat]

This is gonna be kinda long.. By the way, backinbrat.. the secret to a long post that is still easy to read, is to hit enter once in a while to insert a pause..QUOTE]

 

yeah, sorry, need to work on that

[backinbrat]

This is gonna be kinda long.. By the way, backinbrat.. the secret to a long post that is still easy to read, is to hit enter once in a while to insert a pause..

 

Kinda like that. Anyhow, in october of 2001, I rolled my little brother's civic..I had been out very late the night before, gone to sleep at about 3:30-4:00 AM, and awoke just before 6 AM to drive my little brother to his bus stop, 2 miles away. I normally did this on my way to work, but due to the concert the night before, I had arranged to have that morning off from work. So, when the choice came to get in my car (legal, registered insured 75 280Z complete with missing exhaust and plenty of leaks) or his car (out of state registry, uninsured 90? civic hatch, but with AC and a nice little radio, easier to drive half dead as I was) I chose his car. Since I did that, i did NOT roll down the window, and did NOT light a cigarette.. I was going back to sleep, dammit..

 

The neighborhood we lived in was a rural one (rural neighborhood.. its contradiction only possible in south florida) and it was DARK.. We get to bus stop, wait five minutes for bus.. I kinda get a little sleepy. Bus comes, bright f***in lights, I arouse and say bye, put the car in gear (fivespeed) and drive down the road. I've had my license for about three years at this point, pretty confident I can handle myself..

 

Anyhow, I am only going two blocks on this road, for a total distance of about half a mile. Somewhere past the first road, I drifted off. Top speed while awake couldnt have been more than 45.. in fourth or fifth gear. When I fell asleep, I drifted to the right, and into a shallow ditch that ran alongside the road. Then I encountered a culvert where someone's driveway went over the ditch.. my driver's side wheels were on the level, but the passenger side impacted at some point of the angle and I destroyed his mailbox, and flew spinning on two axes.. end over end, AND spinning around like the driveshaft.. eventually land on the roof, but mostly leaning up against a guardrail in between the sidewalk and a canal... about 165 feet down the road, as measured by Google Earth. Must inspect this number further by a revisitation of the premises on foot.

 

The instant of impact jarred me awake, and stole all my light from me. (battery cable got popped) My seatbelt was on, no airbags. I just reacted with an instinct to hold tight on the steering wheel and hold my arms tense. I didn't lock my elbows quite, but they were rigid at least. My dad has told a story of rolling a VW van end over end, with a broken leg, my infant oldest brother in passenger seat, and no seatbelts for anyone.. so his one hand on the wheel held him in, while his other hand on my brother, held HIM in.

 

The guardrail I spoke of, was the deathknell of the windshield; the only place it broke was where the corner of the guardrail went through it. That spot, is the spot on the windshield that you can just reach with your right hand while sitting back in the driver's seat.. somewhere between the rearview mirror and the top inside corner of the gauge pod on the EA82s.. Basically, the vicinity of where my head would probably have been, had I not been belted down, AND locked to the wheel.

 

This car was utterly totaled. My only injury, was a slightly bruised ribcage, from the seatbelt. Naturally I was sore all over the next day.. but two days after that I was back to normal. Granted, I was 20 years old at the time.. even now I doubt my body would recover THAT quickly but I still feel that as long as I have ANY clue what is happening to me, I can hold my own behind the wheel in case of a car accident. I also agree very very highly with Reveen's comments above. In the end, I feel that if I cannot hold my own, the way I think I can, then it is basically my time.

 

All that being said, the same control that I had behind the wheel, is TOTALLY absent for someone in the passenger's seat. The back seat at least has the front barrier of the seats, but the front passenger is very vulnerable. I would prefer having a vehicle with no driver airbag, and one for the passenger. Like THAT would ever occur to the folks in washington....

 

I didn't even read the whole thread, and since it was a civic, maybe my long story was TOTALLY off-topic.. but that is my take on vehicular safety.. thanks for reading it.

 

there you go!

 

one space!

[daeron]

yeah, sorry, need to work on that

 

 

No need to apologize.. I am just rather practiced at writing long long posts, and after a while you start realizing some ways to make them easier to read so you get more replies.

 

It also helps to have it pointed out, because ALL of us get a little fuddled sometimes. (thanks skip, for pointing the same thing out to me a while back!)