Just been thinking about this awhile now. Besides the inconveinience is there any other reason not to put them in always? I would think with all the safety features they put in cars now this would be the safest of all.

Just wondering??? any thoughts.

 

- Cost
- Safety concerns
- Convenience
- Weight

Those all conflict with the actual "need" for that level of protection.

 

The RUF 996 comes with one installed.

 

After seeing some cars that have been plowed into by SUVs I'm a little scared to get on the highway. They just rip through them. So I'm just a little concerned.

So maybe that level of safety is needed.

But what are the safety concerns?

 

hitting your head on a bar thats 2-3" closer to you than it normally owuld be

rollcages are not advised for street cars.
rollbars are.

 

hitting your head on the exposed beam

 

A rollcage is not designed to protect you from this type of impact. It has reinforcements and doorbars to help protect the driver from this type of hit but it is by no means the purpose of a cage to do so. Cages are designed to prevent the roof from collapsing.
There is no padding material out that can adequately protect a bare head from a hard impact with a steel tube. If you were to get into an acident there would be 2 impacts. The first would be the car-car hit. The second would be the hit of your head onto the tubing as a result of the first impact. Anything much over 50MPH could easily crush your scull enough to permanently veg you or even kill you.

 

would suck a fat one!!!!

 

LMAO......

 

Especially when the people behind the wheel of the SUVs are attending schools like these...
http://www.coneslayer.org/lpds/

 

love that site

 

you'll learn LPV-specific maneuvers including The Plow, in which you take advantage of your LPV's mass to transform smaller cars into a crush zone.

Today's LPVs practically drive themselves, freeing you to concentrate on other important tasks. We'll teach you how to talk on your cell phone, apply makeup, watch television, or prepare breakfast while operating your LPV!


...... I hope thats a joke.

 

read the cadillac article that's linked to from that page. it's even funnier than the LPV driving school page.



[Modified by lanceh, 5:15 PM 9/20/2002]

 

That's why the C&D writers get paid the big bucks and I don't!

 

street cars today are designed with crush zones that absorb the force of the impacts you are talking about. Putting a full cage in a car would significantly reduce the crush zone thereby transfering that force to you. Causing more injuries. Not to mention all the additional problems mentioned above. The reason they work better in a race environment is the drivers have additional means of protection to reduce the cage exposure issue, ie helmet, full harness, neck brace, properly mounted and braced race seat, etc.

 

Here's another reason. When you put your car on track, you are subjecting it to speeds and extremes that the manufacturer NEVER intended for the driver to face.

NO manufacturer designs a car to protect someone going through turn 4 of Summit Point at 95 mph, registering 1.2 lateral G's, losing it and plow into the tire wall... upside down.

Roll cages are meant to protect the driver at EXTRA legal speeds and the EXTRA grip a "race" car has.

Andy

 

The last reply answers part of this. Has anyone really thought about the LEGAL issue. I'm sure some insurance underwriter out there would not understand why you would have a need for this level of protection in a "street driven/legal" car.

 

actually rollcages are illegal in a lot of states on the street simply for the reasons mentioned earlier.

 

The McLaren F1 has an integrated roll cage.

 

its also the fastest production car in the world.
not to mention a 1,000,000$ pricetag
0-60 in 3 secons, 0-100 in 5 seconds has 660hp and goes over 230mph.


[Modified by KAMiN, 4:08 PM 9/21/2002]