After more than a year of driving my '86 street car, I just realized something that has me concerned. I am about 6 feet tall and normally use the acrylic top on my car because it has more headroom clearance than the hardtop.

The other day I hit some large bumps in the road going pretty fast and banged my head on the top. No big deal, but after thinking about how limited the headroom is, what would happen if the car was hit from the side? Seems to me that a tall person's head would hit the hard steel framework of the roof panel. If hit hard at all, the resulting contact of a person's head against the roof panel's structure could seriously injure or kill them!

I was just watching a program on vehicle safety a while back and the recent emphasis on side impact air bags. The program stated that the reason they are so important is that it takes very little side-to-side movement of the brain inside the skull for an injury to cause death. I love my Corvette and wouldn't consider not driving it because of this, but maybe there is something that can be done that would minimize the risk of this type of injury in a collision?

I guess the reason for this rather depressing post is to make other tall drivers aware of the risk and to brainstorm ideas to make our cars safer. I'm considering using some type of foam tape on my roof in this area, but that wouldn't look very good and probably isn't dense enough to do any good.

I'm surprised Mid-America, Ecklers, Corvette Central, and the others haven't come up with something to address this, they seem to have every other accessory you could possibly want (and many more you don't) for a Corvette!




[Modified by vetracer, 11:30 PM 12/26/2002]

 

Lower your seat. I mounted mine to the floor (6'7) and i never hit my head on bumps. :)

 

I would be interested to know how you were able to lower your seat. It seems as if the seat is already fixed as low as it can go. :confused:

 

That must have been one heck of a bump, wear a seat belt. I am 6 feet also and have never hit my head on the standard roof. And I still have a bit more room on the adjustment to lower the seat a little more. I never use the seat belt either.

 

I took the seat (rails?) out.
then i bolted two metal straps front/back on the bottom seat bolts

i drilled a hole in the right spot (4) through the straps, and placed a bolt going upward from that. To level it out, i put another bolt 3/4 the way down the back one, half the way down the front one, wtih a washer on top. sat the seat on that, bolted it down. PLENTY of room now/

 

I ALWAYS wear my seat belt. I am wondering now if maybe my seat is broken and won't go down as far as it should. at 6 feet, my head barely fits under the roof with the acrylic top. With the hardtop, I'm constantly touching it.

 

Interesting.. I could fit in my car (.25" to roof) BEFORE lowering the seat, now i've got an inch on it easy.. with the solid top

 

Sounds like your seat isn't going all the way down vetracer. Another thing to think about while driving the vette, look at the stock height of most 1/2 ton pickups. If I pull up next to say a chevy 1500, my face is right about level with the trucks bumper. If the vette is ever in a serious side impact, I don't think it would be good any way you look at it. If I ever rear-end a truck, I'll be going under it, at least to the windshield frame. If I ever get rear-ended, I hope the driver behind me has enough sense to offset the impact to the passenger side. One of the things that I have become ultra-conscious of since I bought my vette is the height of other cars and trucks on the road.

Keeps me on my toes at least, lol. Be careful out there :eek:


[Modified by JCAIRE2, 6:22 PM 12/26/2002]

 

I'm 5'9" and my head hits the roof sitting still. With a helmet on, I need to tilt my head, so I went with the acrylic top, while the helmet still hits, I don't need to tilt anymore.

 

Take your door panel off and look at how the door is made. hitting your head is the LEAST of your worries if you are side impacted in a vette. Of course, if you leave the window rolled down while you drive, you can double the impact resistance. :lol:

 

Well, now that I've taken the forum's advice and checked out how far my seat goes down, it looks like I've found a good part of the problem. The seat was not going down all the way. The switch was broken, as the seat would go up but not down. It appeared that the seat was down all of the way, it was not. I scavenged another switch from the harness I pulled from the #47 race car (I figured it would help to save all of those removed parts for when I need them) but now it goes up but not down so I guess I'll see if GM still offers the switch.

One thing I learned is that it isn't that easy to replace. I ended up taking the seat out and removing the side panel from the console, as the switch is somewhat permanently connected to a 2' long harness.

Once I get the part and put it in it should be much more enjoyable to drive. Then again, it was kinda nice to be able to keep my head from rolling from side to side in the turns just by trying to sit up straight!

Hopefully it will put my head in a better position in relation to the structural steel support for the top. As it was before it wouldn't take much of a side hit to split my melon pretty good. It would still be interesting to hear if anyone else has head clearance issues.





[Modified by vetracer, 11:32 PM 12/26/2002]

 

I'm 6'3" and wish I could do something about the installed height of the seat. Want it down about another inch. I have the power driver seat, so maybe that is why. It goes down all the way, I checked it without the bottom cushion in place. Tried the remove the seat bottom straps, but didn't like the feel. I would go to a Corbeau Forza II, but then the wife would complain. The vette doesn't like going snowboarding with me, so I swap vehicles then.

 

Ive pretty much accepted that if i was ever nailed on the side or got into a major wreck in my vette that i would die.

Im 6'6" and do it the acrylic top when i go over a big bump at speed, no other times though.

 

Besides getting hit from the side, I recently removed my rear bumper cover and front bumper cover to take to work and paint. All that is keeping a rearended vette from smashing the gas tank is a thick piece if styrofoam so I immediately concluded that any impact in the rear will see me bail from my car as fast as possible!!!

 

hmmm, i donno how much this will help.. but when test driving cars to buy, it seemed that the non sport seats went lower then the sport ones.


[Modified by NightRyder, 12:12 AM 12/27/2002]

 

I'm 6' 5" and I've done several modifications to gain clearance. My next design is a bracket that fixes the seat position but will gain nearly 2" of clearance. Currently it is laid out on my CAD screen to match the seat angle and hole locations and just needs to be welded up. I'm planning on having the prototype done and installed by mid-March when I roll again. If anyone is interested let me know. :steering: :seeya

 

Well, I'm only 6' 2" and I always drive around in anticipation of bumps so that I now lower and tilt my head when I see a bump that I know is going to bounce me up.

The C4 door design, except for the '96, doesn't meet current Federal side-impact standards. You can read about it in ACAR. The '96 cars have doors that are heavier due to a semi-successful attempt to add reinforcing bars.

 

I am 6'0", but long in the torso and even in other cars have problems. I also worry about the rear end hit, but not because of fuel tank. My head is only about an inch from the rear of the acrylic top and that would probably leave a large divit in my head. Side impact....haven't seen a vehicle yet that I would feel safe in if someone hit the drivers door. Lotta them ole pickup trucks have the same or less side impact protection.

What to do about it??? I will probably try to find some rollbar padding and fit it to the back and may side to at least offer a little cushion. I am definitely interested in some way of lowering the seat some more. My problem is the wife will drive it occasionally and she in only 5'2", so the seat would have to move. I probably need to look at different seats as the head rest hits me right below the neck and between my shoulder blades.

 

Well, I have been following this one for a bit and see a lot of good stuff. As Matt said only the 96 meets side impact requirements, the rest of us are screwed. I don't really have a head room problem at 6 feet as I have the seat lower and tilted back. I have maybe 3 inches. To some degree I think these cars can hold up to a pretty sizable amount of impact, it really depends on the angle of the projected vehicle that is about to cream you. I don't let my wife drive this thing so that's not a problem.

I keep 2 things in mind on the road, the first is defensive driving, many drivers avoid being close to corvettes out of courtesy for those who appreciate cars. Then there are the other idiots you need to avoid at all costs, as they are the poster children for the right to abortion.

The other item, is the fact that these cars are made of glass and they will fall apart rather rapidly on impact. As careful as you think you can be, there is always the potential for something out of your control. If it is serious, just get the heck out, if there is fire (been in this) roll on the asphault. Most of the time you have perhaps 1 maybe 2 seconds to react, as you see it coming. Duck your head toward the center console and then get out, even if the car is still rolling. Grab your passenger by the back of the neck and throw their body toward the center as well. If you're unconscious, then you might be toast.

Just watch out for the other guy, if you can. Been rear-ended in this thing 3 times which is one of the unavoidable situations. Other drivers just don't think.

 

I agree with you, I'm 6'4" and was recently rear-ended at a low speed and hit my head bad enough for me to go to the hospital to get checked out.

Seat belt will help some, I'm thinking of adding a harness anyway for autocross (I take the top off to race), that should help more than standard lap/shoulder combination.

Youse takes your chances and youse toss the dice.