Time for Safety Features on Motor Homes?

[mweiner]

K- Great video... thanks for sharing.... I personally replace my tires every 5 years regardless of mileage... And, after purchasing my RS Adventurous, I replaced all 7 tires, yes, 7... spare included with brand new

Michelin Defender LT tires...215/85 /16 - the exact size required.. plus the Truck Systems Technologies monitor system.

You can't fool around with safety... and I noticed that the video and several other posts above say that they ALWAYS use their seat belts.. good for all of you. 

---MARK

[mweiner]

K- 

Saw your Greyhound bus conversion in another post...WOW...

What a magnificent vehicle..can you please post an inside picture.. how difficult was it finding this gem... paint and exterior look immaculate. I'm sure that the inside is just as nice.  You could easily be living in it, but, know you don't. 

MPG- 7 ? 

[rfsod48]

Maybe it would be one of the new latex mattresses!

Yes, California is a land unto its own with a different mentality towards government.

[kaypsmith]

Mark, will take a few new shots when it's daylight, and start a new thread. I bought this jewel on ebay in 2009, and have been very happy with the end results. 7.5 on last 680 round trip towing my little Geo Tracker. And thanks.

[mweiner]

Guys- Regarding CA, yeah, we have a lot of regulations here.. BUT, let me tell you that I'm a native Californian and remember the "smog alert days" from the 1960s...it was really BAD. 

Today, the air quality is much better and EXCEPT for the mass of humanity that is here in Los Angeles where we live, it sometimes gets a bit overwhelming. LA has the dubious distinction of being "Number One" in traffic congestion...no kidding. 

SO, we enjoy VERY much traveling out of town and visiting smaller towns. We're taking a cross country road trip with the RS Adventurous this fall. It will be a 7,500 miles journey around the United States.. good thing we're getting 18 plus MPG. 

As we'll be on the road touring, you bet that safety is a very high concern of mine. 

Jim, as I stated earlier... we're all entitled to an opinion.. especially where to live, what type of vehicle you want to have, etc. BUT, there's only one set of facts.... There's incontrovertible evidence that seat belts, air bags and other safety equipment saves lives which is why it was mandated by the Federal Government in 1975...

YES, it's still daylight in Los Angeles ...it's 7:05 PM here. 

 

[wildebill308]

I want the memory foam mattress.

Bill

 

[mweiner]

Jim , yeah, that was a bad example.... what I should have said was...you can have an opinion about anything you want...but , things like 2 plus 2 equals 4....NO, you can't have an opinion about that.

Facts are facts, and proven evidence shows that seat belts and many other safety equipment in vehicles despite the fact that it's government regulations has been an accepted fact for a very long time.

[thestoloffs]

Mark, I think you may need to reread the NHTSA statements on the effectiveness of seat & shoulder belts and air bags.

These facts are quite true, but only for passenger vehicles (cars, vans, light trucks). 

Elkhartjim, kaypsmith and others are trying to indicate that, where your Class B & our Class C are included within that group -- and, therefore, are required to have belts &/or air bags, Class A's and other vehicles built on bare chassis (school buses in most states, public transit buses, fire apparatus, etc.) are not similarly required. These vehicles don't have air bags because the distance between dashboard / steering wheel and seat is too far for a rapidly deployed air bag to be effective in a collision meeting NHTSA's testing criteria. Also, unlike passenger vehicles where the steering wheel is primarily vertical, the steering wheel in these vehicles is closer to horizontal -- so a standard air bag deploying from the wheel center would be less effective.

If you are so concerned about safety in these vehicles, ask why aren't school buses -- the vehicles transporting our future generations -- required by most states to have passenger seat belts?

(Disclaimer - I worked for Chrysler - Sterling Heights and Highland Park, and GM - Ren Cen.)

[jleamont]

Jim, didn't know you were another Jeep guy! We love the flexibility of the Wrangler also. Off roading adventure, Convertible, easy to tow, I can hang the bikes off the back in the hitch or my firewood rack and bikes.

When I draft up the Queen mattress air bag I will post it for approval, I want to make sure its eco-friendly also, got it, ill make it out of Bamboo, back to the drawing board

[obedb]

The video of the class A blowing a tire has been on this website before. Could be wrong, but I think the  driver and passenger walked away from it. 

[jleamont]

26 minutes ago, Elkhartjim said:

Heck yeah....2005 Wrangler TJ, lifted and all that stuff for off roading and a 2016 Wrangler JKU for mall crawling.

UGH, sold the 03 TJ with the 3.5" lift and 35" tires under it. DW bought a 14 JKU Polar edition in Hydro blue. She got worried when I started to measure the engine bay in the TJ for a Cummins 4BT or a Hemi. I told her they both will fit in the JKU, don't worry about it! Now when I open the hood on the JKU she's all over me  

Next time onto CA I will have to turn up the Fuel on the DP at their little Frutti inspection point make some friends as I drive through. Between the 6" low flow exhaust, Engine brake and the smoke it wont take long  Already sounds like a thunderstorm off in a distance slowing down.

Headed to NJ this weekend, almost as bad

[mweiner]

thestoloffs-. Thanks for this....I understand that it's currently NOT REQUIRED.

BUT, is that the best answer here.   You wrote

"These vehicles don't have air bags because the distance between dashboard / steering wheel and seat is too far for a rapidly deployed air bag to be effective in a collision meeting NHTSA's testing criteria." 

Should they be retrofitted or redesigned?  YES, they should..

You wouldn't fly on airlines that don't have safety equipment would you? Maybe the airbag needs to deployed from the sides and ceiling?  I think all of these things need to be questioned and just saying it's not effective is not an effort to make these vehicles safer for everyone.  YES, I understand that a "standard airbag" may not work... isn't it time to ask whether a solution is possible?  We've found a way to land on the moon...I'm sure there's a solution for this too.   My two cents. 

Will it be expensive? Sure..all new technology is.  Where would we be if no one ever asked about seat belts in cars?  Now, 40 plus years later we have seat belts, airbags and other standard equipment in cars.  I'm sure that plenty of people prior to the mandatory seat belts in cars would have benefitted from them in the 40s, 50s, and 60s.

Look, if people don't actually die from these accidents, they might well be hospitalized, rack up high medical bills, maybe declare bankruptcy, if their insurance runs,  out  and guess who pays for all of that... yes, we do.  

 

[obedb]

Picking fly specks out of cow____ aren't you. Logged many miles as a career trucker. Have seen some spectacular crashes involving autos, and a some involving 18 wheelers, but oddly, in spite of a very good memory, I don't recall many involving Class A units. My dad started RVing in the late 70s and we started with a rental unit in 1986. Because of that I had an interest in RV happenings. Still shaking my head about all of the concern on the OP's part.🤔

[desertdeals69]

I was once told by a trucker if you see a car headed toward you head-on just raise your feet and let them go under.

[obedb]

1 hour ago, desertdeals69 said:

I was once told by a trucker if you see a car headed toward you head-on just raise your feet and let them go under.

😎😂. Always said I wouldn't hit the ditch and maybe not make it,  because of another's stupidity. That is dark but very funny.

[obedb]

46 minutes ago, Elkhartjim said:

Mark, have you ever been in a class A diesel pusher? If you haven't then I understand you not getting it but if you have you are clueless on how airbags work. Stop trying to regulate a class of vehicle that you have no experience with and its evident you have little to no knowledge of.

I'm finished with this foolishness. You guys enjoy the thread; I'm going to work on a biodegradable mattress to be used for driver and passenger protection. The people in the back of the bus are on your own.

Regulate on....

Great.😊

[rfsod48]

Glad to see some intelligence! I totally agree with you Jim. Enough babble. 

[obedb]

3 hours ago, obedb said:

Picking fly specks out of cow____ aren't you. Logged many miles as a career trucker. Have seen some spectacular crashes involving autos, and a some involving 18 wheelers, but oddly, in spite of a very good memory, I don't recall many involving Class A units. My dad started RVing in the late 70s and we started with a rental unit in 1986. Because of that I had an interest in RV happenings. Still shaking my head about all of the concern on the OP's part.🤔

Shoot. I get no credit? 😎

[rfsod48]

Byron,

A total mistake on my part to not include you in the intelligent group😁. I think that the OP likes to pontificate about things he might not be well versed in. This forum is a great place to learn and hopefully he will avail himself of that.

Roland

[kaypsmith]

Makes me think of the bubble boy movie, all we need to do is put all passengers in a bubble while riding in the class A and tie a rope to the most rear wall. I know several school bus drivers that tell of videos that they have been shown concerning seat belts for students being crash tested with dummies (no pun intended), the dummies suffered much worse damage with seat belts than the ones without. The ones without were more able to escape than the ones with, no one could get to the ones with to cut them loose to avoid fire consuming them, or keep them from drowning. Safety test are done on a very regular basis to try to improve safety for common and commercial carriers. When better ways are perfected, I'm sure they will be deployed. To my knowledge air bags are not installed on any commercial airlines, seat belts are, as well as drop down oxygen masks. One of the most effective safety devices in a class A or C, is the egress options, make sure that you and all passengers of where they are located, and how to use them in an emergency, also prominently placed fire extinguishers, kept up to date. If you use LP gas, make sure that the LP detector  is working properly, as well as the CO and fire sensor. In over 30 years of RV experience, I have only seen one person killed in an RV crash, but I cant count the people that have been killed or suffered severely from burns, or carbon monoxide poisoning. Please make my order a memory foam, much softer than latex.

[Gsmith53]

On 7/19/2017 at 1:54 PM, desertdeals69 said:

I was once told by a trucker if you see a car headed toward you head-on just raise your feet and let them go under.

When I was in the Army, in Germany, I had a drunk driver go right under me while driving a 5 ton truck. It was like a fly hitting a brick wall. He survived somehow. I didn't have a scratch.

[richard5933]

We were involved in a head-on collision last fall while driving a 1964 GM bus conversion. The driver of an oncoming Honda Civic fell asleep and crossed the center line, waking at the last minute he tried to swerve back but didn't do it in time and hit us in an offset head-on striking driver side to driver side. He died instantly on impact and we both walked away. (We were buckled into our seats with lap belts).

Our bus was built from heavy-duty aluminum construction in a uni-body style. The bus was over-built and designed to offer protection to passengers. It sustained extensive damage and the impact took out our steering and brakes. The impact rippled the body all the way down the side, and when the nose of the bus caught the other side of the ditch it pulled the entire front end down a few inches and formed a crease across the bus (roof line down to floor) from side to side. Though the damage was extensive, there was only minimal intrusion into the passenger compartment. Had the oncoming vehicle been taller I suspect I would have sustained injury to my legs, at least.

The insurance adjuster spent many hours with us a few days later going over the damage. She said that had this been a modern Class A they would still be picking up the pieces of both the RV and of the two of us. She said that the fiberglass front caps on most newer vehicles offer no protection and that the vehicles tend to just shatter and explode open. The Roadmaster video posted above is missing one very important thing - where is the crash test to show just how it will hold up in an accident. Their engineers can talk all they want about safety, but without a crash test I'll consider it just talk. They may be safe, but I'd like to see the evidence.

When we were shopping for our first Class A it broke down to being more comfortable once we got to where we were going in a modern Class A or being in a vehicle more road-worthy while driving (a well-maintained bus conversion). Since we spend far more time on the road than in a campground, we chose to be in a vehicle whose design and features were aimed for safety and control on the road. This is why we chose another bus for our current rig.

At the Milwaukee RV show this winter I talked to the Tiffin factory rep. I showed him the dash cam video from our accident and the photos of the damage to our bus. My question was how would the Tiffin vehicles hold up in a similar collision. His opinion was not that well. While there is some minimal steel caging in front, there is not even the most basic front bumper or crash protection. After this 30-minute conversation we decided that we'd continue driving our new bus conversion and not trade for a Class A until there is additional effort made to provide front-end collision protection.

 

[hermanmullins]

Richard,

You'll were very fortunate. Thank the one above.

Herman 

[ispjs]

Seat belts are a good thing in larger DP rigs.  It will keep you in your seat during an emergency.  I suppose air bags couldn't hurt if they were added.  But if you have ever seen the aftermath of how large Class A RVs come apart when they roll over in an accident you will forget about many other safety features.  Most of them if they are traveling at 60mph or above totally come apart when rolling over.

All the extra expensive safety equipment isn't going to do you any good when that 18 year old is texting at 60mph and runs into the side of your coach, or that DUI driver crosses the median at 80mph without his/her lights on and hits you head on.  

You can't fix stupid as the saying goes, and in today's world there are more and more stupid driver's out there.  The government can mandate more and more expensive equipment but until they get serious about some of the laws and enforcement it won't change.   How about first time DUI you go to jail for 5 years automatically and can't get your license back for 20 years?  First time caught texting while driving is an automatic $5,000 fine and your license gets suspended for a year?  Now we're talking!

[mweiner]

Richard, thank goodness, you're very fortunate for walking away from that accident... there's no question at all that physics and weight play a vital role in vehicle safety... but, the introduction of air bags and crash zones in vehicles have made a tremendous impact in saving lives.. 

Take a look at this surprising video between an old 1959 Chevrolet that weighs considerably more than the newer model....it's astounding. 

Again, thank God you walked away from your crash...it's NEVER a good thing to have an accident...

Because our rig is closer in size to a large SUV...I'm grateful that it has the air bags up front...we need everything we can... and, you're absolutely correct..you can't predict what other drivers will do on the road..

---Mark

http://bgr.com/2016/01/26/car-crash-test-viral-video/