Classic Fords

[Mr. Dazzle]

SUV bonnets are much higher so they don't need any of that. Makes no sense, to me. Surely hitting a sloping windscreen is better than the flat front of a faux 4x4?

Windscreens are a killer (literally!) 'cause you're head gets sorta 'whipped/flung' on to them as your feet are knocked out from under you. That's precisely the injury the windscreen airbag in the Ovlov is designed to mitigate.

[ChrisW]

flat front of a faux 4x4?

Apologies upfront - I've nothing to contribute to this discussion, just that from now on I'm going to refer to them as faux-by-fauxs

[Mussels]

My saloon struggles to comply with pedestrian safety rules, because it doesn't have that high bonnet it has to have an active safety system than pops the bonnet up if it hits someone under 30mph. It's so when someone's legs are taken out they don't smash their head so hard on the engine.
Not sure if that's better or worse for children.

[KungFooBob]

My saloon struggles to comply with pedestrian safety rules, because it doesn't have that high bonnet it has to have an active safety system than pops the bonnet up if it hits someone under 30mph. It's so when someone's legs are taken out they don't smash their head so hard on the engine.
Not sure if that's better or worse for children.

Mines has the pop-up bonnet too. It can be manually reset after being fired by solenoid. Be glad you don't have a Nissan GTR, the rear hinges have explosive cartridges in them to pop the bonnet that have to be replaced at great cost. If you want to piss off a GTR driver, go kick his bumper until they fire.

[Mr. Dazzle]

My saloon struggles to comply with pedestrian safety rules, because it doesn't have that high bonnet it has to have an active safety system than pops the bonnet up if it hits someone under 30mph. It's so when someone's legs are taken out they don't smash their head so hard on the engine.
Not sure if that's better or worse for children.

Mines has the pop-up bonnet too. It can be manually reset after being fired by solenoid. Be glad you don't have a Nissan GTR, the rear hinges have explosive cartridges in them to pop the bonnet that have to be replaced at great cost. If you want to piss off a GTR driver, go kick his bumper until they fire.

All these things ahve loads of tests to make sure they don't go off unless absolutely necessary. They're quite dangerous, you have to move the bonnet very quickly to make it worth having, which basically means you're firing it into the air! It's the same with airbags, they're actually pretty dangerous and can do you a mischief, it's just the fact that kissing the steering wheel at 70mph is even more dangerous.

It's a pretty fine balancing act to make a system which only goes off when it's needed.

[Mussels]

My saloon struggles to comply with pedestrian safety rules, because it doesn't have that high bonnet it has to have an active safety system than pops the bonnet up if it hits someone under 30mph. It's so when someone's legs are taken out they don't smash their head so hard on the engine.
Not sure if that's better or worse for children.

Mines has the pop-up bonnet too. It can be manually reset after being fired by solenoid. Be glad you don't have a Nissan GTR, the rear hinges have explosive cartridges in them to pop the bonnet that have to be replaced at great cost. If you want to piss off a GTR driver, go kick his bumper until they fire.

All these things ahve loads of tests to make sure they don't go off unless absolutely necessary. They're quite dangerous, you have to move the bonnet very quickly to make it worth having, which basically means you're firing it into the air! It's the same with airbags, they're actually pretty dangerous and can do you a mischief, it's just the fact that kissing the steering wheel at 70mph is even more dangerous.

It's a pretty fine balancing act to make a system which only goes off when it's needed.

I've heard stories of the Jag system going off because of speed bumps, always on my mind as the nose hits the ground pretty easily. It went in under warranty for a pedestrian sensor fault, I'm hoping they cut corners and just disabled it as I don't fancy the reported £4k reset bill.
The other thing I often think of is if I hit someone I need to do it over 28mph to keep the repair bill down.

[KungFooBob]

I don't fancy the reported £4k reset bill.

Sounds like you've got exploding hinges too

There's a page in my owners manual explaining how to push the rear of the bonnet back down.

Superior German engineering!

[gremlin]

Not sure how Ford have the temerity to bin off the Fiesta, a car that was so good it had a wank-mag named after it.

Mind you, they did with the Escort as well.

Just a shame the Ford Plumpers-Jugs never made it to production.

[wheelnut]

It's being reported they're binning off the Fiesta next year. They've already canned the Mondeo and the Focus. I know it's the way things are going, but I will miss hatch backs and saloons. Big 4x4 things are just so well...big.

Although there is definitely a higher demand for SUVs, I'm not sure that's whats driving the demise of the Mondeo and Focus.

Ford and vauxhall have allways been the staple of the fleet market - with the way co car tax is structured now, that's in serious decline if not totally gone. The most popular way of funding a car purchase (much to the manufacturer's delight) is PCP. PCP depends heavily on residual value and the residuals on Fords are very poor compared to their german rivals.

Hence no private buyer is buying fords anymore.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Not sure how Ford have the temerity to bin off the Fiesta, a car that was so good it had a wank-mag named after it.

Mind you, they did with the Escort as well.

Just a shame the Ford Plumpers-Jugs never made it to production.

The Sierra was going to be called the Ford Razzle, but the European management said no.

[KungFooBob]

The project name for the Ecosport was Shaven Ravers.

[gremlin]

I see we've hit a rich seam of Ford model name-related puerile humour.

[wheelnut]

The Sierra was going to be called the Ford Razzle, but the European management said no.

They managed to get Kuga past them though.

[Mr. Dazzle]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_Pajero



https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pajero#: ... lazy%20ass

(Spain, Latin America, colloquial, vulgar, derogatory) wanker, tosser (someone who wanks)

[cheb]

The Sierra was going to be called the Ford Razzle, but the European management said no.

They managed to get Kuga past them though.

And the Probe.

[Slenver]

Fortunately for me, it's much easier to make a saloon efficient than an SUV, so industry pressures will probably force SUVs out and saloons back eventually.

I had this discussion with a friend recently who's a senior exec at one of the car groups. We were discussing the move to EVs and how the SUV trend has been quite fortuitous as they're a more natural shape for stuffing a bed of batteries underneath. Maybe the trend will start to move back again as battery tech improves, but I dunno.. people can't get enough of them big, tall cars for some reason.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Most EVs use the skateboard idea now anyway - the great majority of the driving aspect of the vehicle is below the tops of the wheels. To a large extent it doesn't really matter if you plonk an SUV or a Saloon on top, hence why you have the Tesla Model S/X and the Model 3/Y replationship.

I reckon the main reason you get electric SUVs is more basic - people associate SUVs with being both heavy and expensive, two things EVs naturally are anyway at the moment!

[gremlin]

That one levitates. Impressive.

[Taipan]

SUVs were always going to be a success. Just the ergonomics of most of them make them easier to get into for giffers and at the other end of the spectrum, easier for putting kids seats in. Many years ago we were saying, removing the 4x4 mechanics and putting the body on a car chassis would be a winner. How right we were...

[Taipan]

I'm about to swap my convertible for a 4x4 for that reason. Well that and my spazzy knees!