Auto Safety Lab : Safety of Japanese cars

Archive for the ‘Vehicle Safety’ Category

Wearing a seat belt is extremely important. All vehicles come readily equipped with a seat belt for your safety. They are there to protect you, especially if you were to get into an accident. Wearing your seat belt is a law for a reason. If you would not put your newborn child in a vehicle without a safe car seat, then you should not ride in a vehicle without your seat belt on.

Wearing a seat belt can literally save your life. If you were to get into a wreck, God forbid, having a seat belt on can protect you. Wearing a seat belt at the time of an accident can decrease your chances of having a fatal injury by 50 percent. With that being said, you should definitely wear your seat belt at all times. You never know when an accident can occur as it doesn’t just depend on your driving skills, but the skills of the other drivers around you as well. Having friends and family who care about your well-being should be enough reason for you to wear your seat belt to decrease your chances of getting a fatal injury if you were to get into a wreck.

Not only can wearing a seat belt save your life, but they are also there to protect your body. The three-point restraints found in the front seats of vehicles protect your internal organs. Not only that, but they also control your forward motion. They help to keep you from going out the windshield in the event of a crash. Seat belts also keep your pelvis from rotating as your pelvis rotating can lead to a serious back injury.

Wearing your seat belt can also save you money. Hospital bills can be costly. People involved in car crashes who were not wearing their seat belts at the time of the crash spend 50 percent more than those who wore their seat belts. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has stated that wearing seat belts has save $585 billion in medical care and related costs since the year 1975.

Seat belts are meant to be worn. It is a state law in all 50 states with the exception of New Hampshire as of the year 2008. They can save your life, protect you, and save you money. Wearing your seat belt can also influence your children to always wear their seat belt. There is no reason to not wear your seat belt.

Precision metal punching is an exercise that demands a lot of skill and craftsmanship. Japan has a lot of small vehicles in use by its populace which require a lot of small parts before they can be manufactured. This is where precision metal punching steps in for the vehicles. Precision metal punching is basically an accurate procedure for cutting metals in shapes and sizes of desired dimensions. This particularl technique has been honed over the years as new equipment and strategies have become available as a consequence of extensive research into the process, for a better way of punching metals.

Japan has a large number of small cars that require accurately cut parts as parts of first manufacture as well as spare parts. Naturally, this cannot be possible without an excellent metal pressing manufacturer.  produces metals cut into shapes with an excellent cut that duly satisfies the demands of customers who are anxious to see quality cutting of their metals. Even a couple of centimeters of incorrect cutting spoils the broth. Any such part is designated as defected and cannot be used in the production process. Henceforth, this increases the cost of cutting as a whole; so, accuracy is a main feature in this exercise.

Car doors, mainframes, metal engine parts et cetera are all products of precision metal punching which does not only cut the metallic sheets into accurate shapes and sizes but also does so in a less amount of time relatively. Had the same amount of work been performed using manual mechanisms, the time taken to complete parts cutting for a single, although small vehicle, would have been very high. Therefore, today’s era cannot possibly survive without the use of precision metal punching which allows the production of various tools that run modern economies of the world.




Image Sources:

Rago & Son, Inc.

Marlin

In Japan, they take great pride in knowing the safety of the vehicles being sold. The National Organization for Automobiles Safety & Victims’ Aid, more commonly referred to as OSA, examines the safety performance of vehicles currently available in Japan. They choose a selection of Japan’s best-selling cars starting with models from the year 1996.

In 2001 OSA changed their rating system to a complicated six-star system. With this new system they now test the full frontal, frontal offset, and side impact. They then combine the results of all three tests to come up with the overall rating. The overall rating ranges from one to six stars, with six stars being the best rating possible to attain. They also evaluate each test separately. This is to ensure that any shortcomings of the vehicle are presented in great detail. With this new system, the newer ratings have proven to be much more accurate than the old system.

In the full frontal collision test, a moving vehicle with dummies in both the driver’s seat and passenger seat drives with great force into a concrete barrier at a speed of 55 MPH. This is to assess the impact on the head and test as well as see the consequential condition of the vehicle. This is done to denote a head-on collision involving two vehicles of similar weight traveling at a speed of 55 MPH. The full-width frontal impact aids in the evaluations of seat belts and airbags.

In 2001 OSA started testing vehicles by adopting the Euro NCAP frontal offset impact test. In addition, they also perform the full-width frontal and side impact test. These are both done to better ease safety concerns of drivers.

For the Offset Frontal Impact test, two dummies are placed in the driver and passenger seats. The passenger seat then hits a damageable barrier at a speed of 40 MPH. This helps to evaluate the impact on the head, chest, legs, and any damages to the vehicle. The representation of this test is comparable to a head-on collision between two vehicles of the same weight-class traveling at a speed of 40 MPH. However, since only a portion of the vehicle’s body endures the collision, there is less of an impact on the dummy than in a full-frontal collision.

Later on in the year 1999, OSA began testing vehicles using the side impact test adopted from the Euro-NCAP and NHTSA side impact tests. With this test, a motionless vehicle with dummies in the driver’s and passenger’s seat is hit by a 2,090 lb trolley traveling at a speed of 31 MPH. The impact is centered on the driver’s seating position.

All of the above-named tests that are performed on vehicles in Japan only apply in comparison to accidents where all parties involved are wearing their seatbelts. Also, the results of each test can only be compared with occurrences between two vehicles within the same weight-class. Also, keep in mind if the speed of one or both vehicles is much greater than the speed from the tests then the consequences of the impact from that occurrence is not comparable to the tests performed.

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Anyone who is familiar with K cars will probably know that TAF stands for Total Advanced Function. What does that mean? TAF is actually a comprehensive system of advanced collision-safety functions. The first car to feature the TAF was the Storia in 1998.

The TAF body type meets new Japanese safety standards as well as the latest European collision-safety standards by a comfortable margin. The features of the TAF are a shock-absorbing pad, front sub beam and reinforced body stiffness. It is also fitted with Japan’s first collision detection safety system that, in the event of a collision, unlocks all the doors, starts the hazard lights and illuminates the cabin.

One of the primary concerns when looking for your next car, particular if you have a family, is safety. Daihatsu utilizes the TAF collision-safety body to reduce occupant injuries. The platform for the “Move” and “Mira” models, launched in 2002, has been completely redesigned. The new improved lightweight body uses an impact-dispersion structure, combined with strong but very thin high-tension steel sheets to provide great impact absorption and a much more robust cabin. The TAF continues to evolve.

The TAF body goes above and beyond Japanese and European collision-safety standards, providing ample survival space during crash tests, involving a combination of the world’s most rugged testing methods.

In an effort to provide even greater level of safety performance, Daihatsu conducted various traffic accident scenarios in repeated vehicle-to-vehicle crash tests that simulate real-world traffic accidents.

Source:

http://www.daihatsu-aichi.co.jp/en/daihatsu-cars/