Carl F. Thelin

MY HAND BEATS YOURS

            George Christian is an instructor of the AAA Triple-A Driver Improvement Program. He explained the features of two Ford cars at a recent program for Older Drivers in New Mexico. I interviewed him later to ask about some of his recommendations. One that I had never heard before seemed at odds with my experience of reviewing hundreds of crash tests with dummies.

            George told the crowd of people looking at those cars that they should never place their hands at the positions that they had been taught earlier. Why? A steering wheel air bag is in most cars today. George explained that if your hands are at the 10 and 2 o’clock positions or even higher at 11 and 1 or both at 12 o’clock – you could have your hands thrown back into your face in event of a crash that deploys the air bag. Instead, he advised, drive with your hands at 9 and 3 o’clock or even lower on the rim.

            I asked George if he had ever seen car crash test films. When a vehicle crashes, every element of the driver is thrown forward toward the front, including his hands on the steering wheel. Unless the driver has an iron grip (the dummy has masking tape holding them there) the hands slam into the instrument panel, and fall back onto the driver’s lap.

            George’s hands-down warning might apply only if the driver was sitting in a stationary car, at a traffic light perhaps, when another car crossed the center line and hit him head on. How critical is this? Assume that the striking car weighed as much as the struck car. The hitter would have to come at about 30 mph or more to cause the airbag to deploy. Such a crash is equivalent to striking a fixed solid barrier at about 15 mph. This is the test used by industry and the government alike to measure the crash severity that would justify the rapid expansion of the airbags. Assume that the driver would see the threat and either grip the steering wheel firmly so they would not fly forward, or guard his face with his hands.  The hands placed above the air bag might be thrown up and back.

            That example is a rare occurrence. So why not let people put their hands where they are comfortable?        I prefer the 10 and 2 hand positions. If your car is rear ended, it is pushed ahead violently. You and your hands do move rearward with respect to the car. Your left knuckles might hit the B-pillar, near your left ear.

            Now, please know that many test car drivers, including me, have made violent simulated accident avoidance maneuvers (AM) thousands of times. That is, we make a very quick left turn to avoid hitting an imaginary child who darts out from between parked cars. Then, we snap back with a right and left turn sequence to get out of the oncoming lane before an imaginary eighteen-wheeler hits us. Believe me; I know that the 10 and 2 o’clock hand positions are a whole lot better for car control than having my hands near my lap, as suggested by someone as a means of avoiding the knuckles-in-the-face problem.

            The 10 and 2 hand position might cause shoulder fatigue. Generally that is a problem only on the interstate, where the AM is seldom required. Drop your hands near to our lap but do not get slumped and relaxed too much. Stay alert. “Accidents” are not accidental. They are mostly the result of inattention of the driver to his situation.

            Most cars today do have power-assisted, rack and pinion steering complete with today’s road-gripping tires. Better yet, the steering system generally is speed sensitive; so that a rapid turn of the steering wheel has a smaller effect at high speeds than it does are maneuvering speeds.