Coroner that thinks he's a vehicle safety expert

partyguinness

MYOB wrote: »

Why has the coroner become a woman in the past few posts? "Terence Casey" might not be impressed...

Yeah I know its Helen Lucey is the coronor for N. Kerry..so maybe thats the mix up.

itarumaa

Johnny Utah wrote: »

A new car built by my company leaves somewhere travelling at 60 mph. The rear differential locks up. The car crashes and burns with everyone trapped inside. Now, should we initiate a recall? Take the number of vehicles in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one.

This quote is from movie Fight Club and if it would be true in real life, I cannot say that I would be suprized.

fricatus

partyguinness wrote: »

Very well known case of Ford in the '70s adopting that attitude. A problem was discovered with ones of its models that caused the fuel tank to catch fire.

I cant think of the model, but there were millions of these cars produced...

It was, funnily enough, the Pinto!

owenmakken

partyguinness wrote: »

Point taken...but come on...did you read the last paragraph by the OP?:eek:

What was wrong with it? it was more coherent than yours and is a good point - so many people love to deem themselves experts in fields they have little experience.

Fiat obviously could take legal action but their obviously not going to and the Irish independent know this like newspapers do all the time, its sensationalist bullsh1t

Zube

partyguinness wrote: »

As I have said already, the suggestion that carhire firms should not use Puntos was extreme but his comments are more informed than any of our opinions whether we like them or not.

Well, no. There are these things called facts. When someone expresses an opinion which is contradicted by facts, that opinion is what is technically known as "wrong".

When the coroner said "driving these vehicles provides no protection whatsoever" he was wrong, as you know perfectly well.

Saying that in his capacity as a coroner at an inquest is not just wrong, it is stupid and irresponsible.

peasant

I'm closing this now.

Let FIAT and the coroner sort it out between themselves if they wish.

peasant

just to add some more to this (and this time it sounds slightly different)
http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0127/coroner.html

Garda O'Brien wrote to Fiat afterwards to complain about the design.

And the Coroner recommended that such cars not be rented to tourists in the future.

But FIAT says the car will not be re-designed.

FIAT Ireland's Managing Director Adrian Walsh said the Fiat Punto had a five star N-cap safety rating, the highest in its class.

He said he was surprised by the coroner's comments and that as he was not an engineer the issue of safety was outside the coroner's area of expertise.

Dan Dooley Rentals who rented the car in question described the comments from the coroner as a scandal.

Owner Dan Dooley said he would continue to rent the FIAT Punto because it was the safest in its class.

The Car Rental Council say its members have no current plans to stop hiring the car.

thread re-opened

biggus

If you hit that bus in a new S-Class merc you'd be in serious trouble.

Guy:Incognito

partyguinness wrote: »

:D:D:D

Thats explains the touchyness...:)

What about replying to the specifics of his post?

alias no.9

This is a strange one and highlights how little understanding some people have of the energy dissipated in a crash like this. From the Irish Times, it says that the bus driver was doing 80kmh, he came round a bend and saw the car coming across into his path. It also says there was evidence of breaking and evasive action. It makes no mention of any evidence of breaking or evasive action by the car so it's probable that there was none, this woman didn't see it coming. If the bus had slowed to 50km/h before impact and if the car was doing a modest 70km/h, that's a combined 120km/h. Imagine driving at 120km/h, motorway speed, head on into an immovable concrete barrier (car against bus, the bus is an immovable object). It doesn't matter what car your driving, getting out alive would be a miricle. The other key point from the IT was that the engine and gearbox were torn from the car, it was a massive impact.

For reference, the frontal impact test in the NCAP is done at 64km/h, so we're talking about nearly double that speed, albeit the NCAP crashes into an offset barrier which would concentrate the impace but the barrier is deformable allowing it to absorb some of the impact, lessening the impact on the car.

The thing most people need to take from this is that regardless of what car you have and how many airbags are fitted to it, if you end up in a head on collision on the open road, even within the speedlimits, your chances of survival are slim. You don't even need to crash into a bus. Think about that the next time you consider a risky overtaking manouver.

x in the city

If you crash a car like a punto at 70km/hr into a solid object your history.

Even a uber safe Phaeton was rendered a mess by that neo nazi austrian guy and he was not travelling at such an excessive speed (given the car).

galwaytt

x in the city wrote: »

If you crash a car like a punto at 70km/hr into a solid object your history.

Even a uber safe Phaeton was rendered a mess by that neo nazi austrian guy and he was not travelling at such an excessive speed (given the car).

I have a problem with the 'a car like a Punto' statement, tbh. That car has a 5-star rating for occupants, the highest there is, irrespective of car size.

Now I've just searched the NCAP site, and the Phaeton isn't even listed. To me then, the Punto is proven to be safer.

There is simply zero truth in the bigger is better theory. The A-class proved that years ago.

Not only was the coroner out of line, so was the Garda. If the Garda in question thinks that a side-of-the-road assessment of a 'beam' in a car being a major contributor to the outcome of an RTA the subject of an 11 tonne vehicle hitting a 1.1 tonne vehicle, then he has no place on the RTA investigation team.

Put it this way, if he was to use the same logic in another instance, which resulted in a summons, I'd be fighting it all the way to the Supreme Court.

ninty9er

I have it from a source close to an involved party that legal action is pending against the state due to the coroner's remarks....time to close up here?

peasant

ninty9er wrote: »

I have it from a source close to an involved party that legal action is pending against the state due to the coroner's remarks....time to close up here?

indeed, thank you