[geeks] SPARC proprietary (waaaay off topic)

[wa2egp at att.net]

> Agreed.  In hindsight, it's pretty clear that Consumer Reports did an
> intentional hatchet job on the Suzuki Samurai, for example.  They were
> intentionally TRYING to roll it over, and you can roll *any* car if you
> try hard enough.
> 
> Still, even that's not as bad as whichever-TV-news-show-it-was blowing
> up a Ford pickup with explosives to support their allegation that it was
> prone to fuel tank fires.

If I remember correctly they found the perfect speed in which to roll a
Samurai and then tested all of the cars at that speed.  I never heard the
result of the lawsuit brought against them by Suzuki which was sparked by
a "leak" from inside CR about how they did the test.....including video.

The pickup thing was really stretching it.  I once saw a video on CBS news
many years ago by the American Insurance Institute showing how dangerous
the Toyota Corolla was when rear ended.  They claimed a 65% chance of fire
when hit by another vehicle moving faster than 35 mph and showed a video
clip.  What they probably did was remove the full size spare tire which was
between the bumper and the rear axle but left the tools in the well.  The
gas tank was vertical above the axle.  When hit, the tools became projectiles
which punctured the gas tank.  With the tire in place and the tools locked
down like they should have been, it was a damn safe car.  Of course, that
was the same year (1973) when Ford had the Pinto with the "blastomatic" gas
tanks which the AII never reported.  BTW, I had that Corolla, it was rear ended
and I drove it home.  Even the tail lights still worked.....from inside the
trunk!  :-)
Bob