(Genuine honda parts) Automotive Engineers Help Save Lives And Cash
No commentsBy Mike Trudel
It turns out all those fancy automotive safety devices cannot only help save lives, they can also save cash. According to The Economic Impact of Motor Vehicle Crashes, roughly $230.6 billion was exhausted on motor vehicle crashes in 2000 in the U.S. Nearly 42 thousand people perished that year, and 28 million vehicles were damaged.
The same government report also revealed that 5.3 million individuals suffered non-fatal injuries, 39% of all traffic-related deaths were attributed to alcohol and such substance-induced accidents cost about $51 billion. Public tax revenues, amounting to $21 billion, paid the costs incurred by 9% of crashes. That’s $200 for each household in America.
But wait. There’s more. Lost market productivity was estimated at $61 billion, property damage at $59 billion, medical expenses at $32.6 billion and the cost of travel delays at $25.6 billion. Each fatality produced a discounted lifetime cost of approximately $977,000.
Active and passive safety systems developed by automotive engineers and their colleagues may be a bigger part of the answer than we might suspect. Systems currently being developed are addressing both the monetary and safety concerns of our roadways through devices that have automatic responses to dangerous conditions or events. For instance, adaptive cruise control adjusts the speed of the vehicle to maintain a preset time gap from the vehicle ahead. Active night vision uses infrared illuminators to help drivers to see better when driving at night and electronic stability control improves the safety of a vehicle’s handling, helping the driver maintain control of the vehicle.
Surprisingly, perhaps, these are just basic safety features - ranking amongst car navigation systems, keyless entry and hybrid cars as, yes, technological innovations, but old news to vehicle manufacturers. Lane departure and forward collision warning, pre-crash mitigation systems, side alert, pedestrian and road sign recognition systems are part of the new wave. These systems “read” the road using electronics, cameras and sensors. They alert drivers when they are drifting out of the intended lane, have another vehicle in their blind spots, are in danger of crashing or are distracted. These technological gems even respond to unavoidable crashes by enacting safety precautions, such as pretensioning motorized seat belts and applying brakes during the last 400 to 500 milliseconds before a crash, when there is little a driver can do to stop it.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 50% of all crashes involve “driver inattention.” It’s impossible to pinpoint how many crashes could have been avoided if there had only been some alert system warning drivers to pay more attention during critical moments. How many crashes could have been avoided by a single alert, some notification that another vehicle was in a driver’s blind spot? By shaving off four or five miles per hour before a crash by applying the brakes?
And while saving lives and preventing injuries is of the most concern, we cannot, in all reality, ignore the financial repercussions of roadway accidents. Billions upon billions of dollars are lost every year because of these crashes. Medical expenses, property damage and lost productivity are passed on to the average citizen in the form of higher taxes and insurance premiums. What if some percentage of this cost - even if slight - could be lessened by safety systems? One percent of hundreds of billions of dollars, after all, is nothing to scoff at.
Automotive engineers are critical contributors to advancing projects with aspirations of making roads safer. Without their expertise, none of the technology currently available would have been possible and neither would future innovations. What’s more, these talented individuals are integrating these devices so they are more affordable and, thus, more accessible to the masses.
In the near future, a modestly priced vehicle could have a myriad of safety features - forward collision and lane departure warning, road sign and pedestrian recognition, adaptive cruise control, pre-crash mitigation, electronic stability control, side alert. All of it. So kiss some automotive engineers today - hiding in their offices - and tell them you’re proud. They could just save your life … and at least a few bucks on your insurance policy.
Mike Trudel, Freelance Writer.
Delphi Corp. is a leading innovator of automobile safety equipment and technology. To learn about Delphi’s safety advancements, visit www.Delphi.com/4Innovation or www.Delphi.com/4safe
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Handling Soot in Antique Car Engines
By Peter Salmonford
In the course of running soot is formed in the engine, the quantity varying with the richness of the mixture and the facility for the lubricating oil to get past the piston. This carbonaceous deposit, combined with the non-inflammable constituents of road dust which are sucked through the carburetter, adheres to the cylinder walls and combustion head, causing falling off of power, and in time preignition. When the valve cap is removed it will be found that its underside is coated with soot, and sometimes even with a hard deposit, an indication of the state of the interior of the cylinder. To remove this carbon deposit, the usual procedure is to take off the cylinder so as to expose the parts and scratch off the deposit with a screwdriver or some similar instrument. From the tops of the piston the deposit can be cut away with a knife, and when removed the surfaces should be polished with fine emery cloth, as deposit adheres less easily to a polished surface. The deposit must be completely removed from all parts of the cylinder as well as the piston, a matter of some difficulty.
There have been one or two inventions evolved from time to time to remove the deposit without necessitating the dismantling of the engine. One of these is to insert a steel ball of about 5 inch diameter into the cylinder and then to run the engine, its action being to hammer the carbon deposit and so chip it off the surface. Another, and more promising, process consists in passing a stream of oxygen into the cylinder, lighting it, and so causing a chemical combination to take place between the carbon and the oxygen. As soon as all the carbon has combined the flame goes out, and it is known that the cylinder is clean. The writer has not tried either of these schemes, but mentions them as matters of interest. The ball process, however, would seem rather risky.
To keep an engine in good running order the valves, apart from grinding-in, require careful attention. In the olden days silence of running was not of great importance, but nowadays it is an essential, and to obtain it one of the most important points is to see that the clearance between the valve tappet and the bottom of the valve stem is small. As the engine runs it will be understood that the tappet rises rapidly and strikes the foot of the valve. If there is a large clearance between these two the impact between the tappet and the valve causes a clicking noise, which should be stopped by adjusting the tappet head close up to the valve stem. The usual distance or clearance is about 5 inches. The top of the tappet head is inlaid with fibre to reduce the noise, and in course of time this fibre becomes dented or recessed. The tappet should then be removed and its head filed flush so as to remove the indentation.
Peter Salmonford is a keen fan of cars, and likes to write about antique and modern vehcles. Take a look at his other articles on hydrogen conversion, the benefits of an electric car kit and using browns gas in your own car.
Handling Wear and Tear in Antique Car Engines
By Peter Salmonford
Loss of compression is also due to wear set up between the piston and cylinder. In engines that have done a considerable amount of running the cylinders may have worn slightly oval, and they should be carefully examined to see if this is the case, and if so, should be rebored. The trouble is usually, however, confined to the piston rings, and new rings are generally required on a water-cooled engine after 10,000 to 20,000 miles.
In good engines carefully looked after perhaps they will not be necessary until 30,000 miles have been run. To fit new rings is, though not a difficult matter, one that requires a certain amount of care. It is very easy to put a ring into the top slot, but to get it into one of the middle ones is not so easy. To do so the adjacent grooves should be temporarily filled up with some packing or, what is better, some strips of sheet metal or whalebone should be employed and the ring slid over these until the proper groove is reached. These strips will prevent the ring from fouling the adjacent groove.
Each ring after being in use must be bright the whole way round ; if this is not the case it shows that contact is not made throughout the whole length of the ring, and a new ring should be fitted. Piston rings should fit comparatively tightly in the grooves, and when compressed so as to lie nearly flush with the piston the slots should be closed.
The weak point in piston rings, as regards holding compression, is the slot, as a slight leakage is bound to take place along it. Consequently when two or more rings are fitted the slots should be arranged alternately on opposite sides of the piston, so that as long a path as possible is made for the escaping gas and leakage reduced. Thus when the cylinders are removed care should be taken to turn the piston rings into this position. In some cases the piston rings are pegged to prevent their taking up wrong positions.
After a water-cooled engine has run a considerable distance, say anything from 5,000 to 10,000 miles, it may be found that power is falling off, in spite of the compression being good, that when going up a hill with the throttle wide open the engine knocks and does not seem to run so well as when new, or that the engine preignites or continues to run when switched off. These are definite signs that the inside of the cylinders and the piston heads require cleaning.
Peter Salmonford is a keen fan of cars, and likes to write about antique and modern vehcles. Take a look at his other articles on hydrogen conversion, the benefits of an electric car kit and using browns gas in your own car.
Thursday, November 13th, 2008 at 2:50 am and is filed under automotive. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
