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Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!godot!harvard!seismo!uwvax!crystal!bill
From: bill@crystal.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.auto
Subject: Re: U.S. auto head restraint designs
Message-ID: <369@crystal.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 31-Oct-84 18:22:23 EST
Article-I.D.: crystal.369
Posted: Wed Oct 31 18:22:23 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 3-Nov-84 20:14:49 EST
References: <538@watdcsu.UUCP>
Organization: U of Wisconsin CS Dept
Lines: 59

> I am curious about the U.S. auto manufacturer's designs for the head
> restraints, which were made compulsory in 1968.
> ...
> My question is: Why did GM/Ford/Chrysler/AMC design their headrests
> this way?  Did they save costs?  Did they want to preserve the
> aesthetic lines (!) of the bench seat?  Were they in a rush and didn't
> want to worry oo much about it?  Gives you something to think about,
> doesn't it (especially about the domestic automakers' concern for
> safety...)?

Their attitude seems to be "well, if you make us do it, we'll screw
it up".  I agree completely with the headrest/headrestraint comments
in the referenced article.  My feeling (from years of dealing with that
sort of stuff -- in a previous life I was a new car dealership sales/general
manager) is that they just didn't care, and did it the cheapest way.

The manufacturers were sure their customers didn't REALLY want something
sticking up from the seatback -- after all, it was a bit ugly, and
could snag hair, etc...

Recall that the same intelligent group were also sure their customers didn't
REALLY want 
	(1) small cars
		(in the early 70s, with oil crises, etc, you could get
		all the huge cars you wanted [speaking as a dealer].  Dodge
		Dart 4door sedans, the most demanded model, were handed out
		one to three a month, if you took the pigs.  Sure, it was
		possibly illegal tie-in sales, but if you wanted
		ANYTHING to sell...
		)
	(2) decent quality control
		( any american car owner knows about this one
		)
	(3) usable seat belts
		(My 73 Dodge Dart has almost unusable seat belts; before
		inertial reels, the belt locks when you stop pulling it
		out.  It has a 3-point anchoring system, but the shoulder
		belt has to be clipped to the tip half of the lap belt
		-- a clumsy arrangement at best.  At the time, Chrysler was
		(along with the other manufacturers) trying to convince the
		American public that they didn't want these silly shoulder
		belts, and made them as difficult as possible to use.
		)

It must be pretty obvious that it would take an awful lot to get me to
buy another American car.  My next car will probably be a Saab, Peugot,
or Volvo...

	William Cox
	Computer Sciences Department
	University of Wisconsin, Madison WI
	bill@uwisc
	...{ihnp4,seismo,allegra}!uwvax!bill
-- 
	William Cox
	Computer Sciences Department
	University of Wisconsin, Madison WI
	bill@uwisc
	...{ihnp4,seismo,allegra}!uwvax!bill