FreeLists / arachne / [arachne] Re: O.T. Panel beaters

["Eric S. Emerson" <wildrice5@xxxxxxxx>]

Arachne at FreeLists---The Arachne Fan Club!

Hi Greg M.,
                       The bumpers are 100% plastic over
a steel framework (a veneer), that is why you see
the split or shattered "bumpers", really a half of the
front or rear of the vehicle, scattered around on the
roadways.  I didn't mean a thin well attached veneer
like on wooden veneer furniture.  There is a steel or
metal supporting framework from which they become
detached when their strength is exceeded.  They are
not designed to protect the car.....they are designed
to be disposable along with the other parts that are
destroyed when the bumper fails to protect them.
In my opinion, it is one of the greatest failings of
today's automobiles. Anything on wheels and that
moves is going to contact other objects during it's
lifetime.....IT'S THE WAY THINGS ARE.....it is a fact
of Nature but we design and act as if it isn't going
to happen.  And when it does happen, it is a sin!

Eric  

On Tue, 07 Feb 2006 11:04:39 +1030 "Greg Mayman" <gmone@xxxxxxxxxx>
writes:
> Arachne at FreeLists---The Arachne Fan Club!
> 
> On Sat, 4 Feb 2006 16:23:10 -0500, Eric S. Emerson wrote:
> 
> > The bumpers are not really plastic...
> > the plastic is just a veneer over a steel bumper.
> 
> Maybe they are where you live, but not here on most small to
> medium size cars. They use 100% plastic which splits or shatters
> in a collision.
> 
> > Also, most plastic deteriorates much faster than
> > steel that is not allowed to rust. Most plastic in
> > use in cars today gets more brittle with age so
> > that the plastic parts are deteriorating even
> > though they aren't rusting.
> 
> But the manufacturers don't want the cars to last too many years,
> so the disintegration of the plastic is considered by them to be
> an advantage.
> 
> >  We cannot get by
> > without plastic but it isn't a cure-all. And is often
> > misused to replace parts that need to be made
> > of a stronger material, but that can be made more
> > cheaply and lighter with plastic.  The engineers
> > design the parts for the stresses that the parts
> > are supposed to receive
> 
> The engineers design the parts in the "crumple zone" to collapse
> at a controlled rate, rather than to resist the stresses of a
> collision.
> 
> Not only does it protect the people in the car, but it adds to the
> number of parts that have to be replaced after a collision. 
> 
> .   ,-./\      from Greg Mayman, in Adelaide, South Australia
> .  /     \     "Queen City of The South"    34:55 S  138:36 E
> .  \_,-*_/
> .       v     homepage http://users.tpg.com.au/gmone/index.htm
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