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Rescuers Prep for Hybrid Car Accidents
mykepredko writes "I've driven a Toyota Prius for two years now and found this CNN article regarding the training required to rescue people trapped in hybrid cars to be slightly alarming. As an EE, I would expect that the electrical system is designed to be as well protected and fail-safe as possible in an accident, but if I'm ever in an accident, I'll make sure that any responders are wearing rubber gloves and boots and if any cutting is done, the roof is the only area they touch." Toyota has an accident guide indicating that if the airbags deploy, the hybrid battery pack should be automatically isolated.
"I can not bring myself to believe that if knowledge presents danger, the solution is ignorance" - Isaac Asimov
Is that this news is shocking.
Never mind you electric car drivers, what about we poor bicyclists and pedestrians who can't hear you coming?
I'd like to suggest new electric cars be equipped with Jetsons-style "whuwuwuwuwuuwu" sounds as a safety feature. Actually, this might very well be an untapped commercial opportunity: custom car sound effects. Drive a wagon train! Drive a steam train! Drive the U.S.S. Enterprise! Be ironic and drive a Hummer!
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
I have a lot of resistance to that sort of humor.
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
Copyright 2004 Exxon Mobile. All rights reserved. This material may be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
You're right, something is fishy. ExxonMobil probably wouldn't spell thier own name incorrectly.
But the big question remains: will the radio still work after an accident? Anyone ever notice in those shows you see about car accident rescues (Rescue 911, cops, etc.), everytime they arrive at the scene of an accident, the radio is NEVER on?
Was that a rhetorical question? :)
...these cars should be designed to humanely discharge the batteries into the passengers in the event of catastrophic crash. This avoids the pain of the accident and cost of long hospital stays and relegates rescue personnel to safe recovery.
That's it. You're grounded young man!
Explosive bolts! Every car could equipped with an RFID tag reader (which is on it's own hardened circuit). Then the FD can bring out it's disassembly wand and when it gets close to the car, poof, the bolts go off and the car shell splits like an orange! Oh, and instead of air bags and seat belts cars should deploy foam in the passenger compartment in case of an accident; like in "Demolition Man".
You know what would be great? If they engineered the hybrid to detect when it's being rammed by some twit in an SUV, and shunt all of its electrical charge through the other vehicle in the milliseconds after collision.
Sure, your SUV may smash my hybrid, but you'll be extra crispy. Especially if that voltage gets into the coils of the heated seats you got your ass planted on.
of a guy who felt the call of nature and went to relieve himself behind a hedge, as you do. Little did he know that there was an electric fence running through the hedge - he soon found out the hard way that water conducts!
Drill baby drill - on Mars
I never thought I'd be so happy to see something small and pink and wrinkly and wriggly
"but enough of what my wife tells me"
I think they should just start equiping them with ejection seats... If the crash is bad enough that the car starts to crumple, pyrotechnic bolts would cut the roof on the car and a charge would eject the occupents. Obviously a tip sensor would ensure you didn't get ejected into the pavement if the car is upside down.
Then a special sensor would calcuate the height of the other vehicle. If it looks like it might be an SUV, another charge fires the battery pack out the front of the vehicle.
Yes Francis, the world has gone crazy.
I have heard that electrical wiring in the new hybrids run through all sorts of places, including roof and roof posts.
:)
On the bright side, you won't need to carry a defibrillator to these accident scenes.
Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
"Hybrid Car Accident"? Is that where an SUV crashes into a mini, and the result averages out to a sadan?
Table-ized A.I.
Hopefully the responders are not only wearing rubber gloves but also skintight tight black leather pants and stiletto heels. Oh wait -- is this forum public?
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One time my tabby cat was in an airplane crash. Had there been a circus troupe on the flight, my tabby cat would have had a much better chance of seeing a clown.
That'll be tough; his comedy license isn't current. Besides, he's been charged with battery in the 9th circuit court...and though he's been conducting himself well, the outlook is negative and he'll probably end up extradited to his native Poland for incarceration. Luckily, he's an optimistic sort, so at least the cell's Pole will be positive.
Reality has a conservative bias: it conserves mass, energy, momentum...
I invoke the Kirchoff Voltage Law and declare this pun-ful thread to be dead.
Is there any resistance to this idea?
-Cyc
/.'s 10 Millionth
I'm an ELECTRIC car. I don't go very fast or very far, and when folks see you driving me, they'll think you're gay.
--
"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
I was working on a car powered by nitro-glycerin. It runs great, but blows up a city block if you get into accident. I originally deemed this as a feature. A sort of deterrent against tailgating. Better re-evaluate...