Those A Pillars - Dangerous!

[mongoose3800]

I got the opportunity to drive an SSV yesterday. Over all I was impressed with handling of the car and appreciate the safety improvements. There are couple things I didn't like - but they were cosmetic and I wont mention them here. My point here is that those A Pillars are just dangerous! They are huge and create a huge blind spot. So much so that I reckon they will directly contribute to accidents or pedestrian deaths. Vision through the door windows is also compromised. It's all a bit too claustrophobic sitting inside the car. I'm not saying this to work up you absolute die hards either. I know the professional reviewers have commented on these pillars as well. But, I don’t think they have considered the impact these pillars can have on real life driving in the city. i.e. When I was driving yesterday I slowed down at a pedestrian crossing, saw no one on the crossing and continued on. Then, all of the sudden a pedestrian appeared - quite literally it looked like they had appeared from behind the A-pillar. Pretty dangerous I think. One thing I know for sure is that when I see a VE on the road I am going to keep an extra eye on them for my own safety – especially when crossing roads..

 

[jack.mc]

Its nice to know this from another driver/pedestrians point of view, thanks for pointing it out. I notice the same thing in my girlfriends Honda Jazz (stop lauging!). It has Massive A pillars, you cant see a thing when your turning corners (ie turning right, cant see what you're turning towards...)

 

[vztrt]

Those A-pillars would be bigger as it helps in making the car more rigid.

 

[mongoose3800]

Those A pillars are bigger for no other reason than housing air bags. I don't think it has anything to do with strength.

 

[mongoose3800]

Straight from a review on drive.com: http://drive.com.au/Editorial/ArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=19584&vf=3


"Our drive home through the Blue Mountains also highlighted one of the concerns with the Commodore's design - its windscreen pillars. Tight curves force the driver to move the head left and right, looking around the massive pillars. Of greater concern: we also momentarily lost sight of a pedestrian while cruising at walking pace up to a pedestrian crossing."

I'm not the only one to notice this! This is exactly what happened to me! And, I can understand what they mean by navigating tight curves.

 

[maxy0987]

once you are aware of it though you adjust accordingly.
Like any new car you notice things that are different from your daily driver. I find the Apillar gets in the way of traffic lights sometimes (in my VY) compared to the car i learnt to drive in (vectra).
Once you get used to it you dont even notice it and change yoru habits (scan that area more often etc)

 

[blackahcdx]

Those A pillars are bigger for no other reason than housing air bags. I don't think it has anything to do with strength.

Then obviously you don't think too often or hard enough

 

[mongoose3800]

I understand your point. Those with good driving skills may adjust - to a degree. But, when professional drivers are caught out during a 3000km test drive you have to wonder whether there is something very wrong with the way they designed and tested this car. i.e. maybe there was too much track testing instead of real life testing. You would assume these professional drivers have previously learnt to overcome roll cages and the like in the past but still they were caught out by these huge pillars. These things really block your view. And, how do you learn to adjust to something you can’t' see? X-ray vision? Maybe you can adjust to a degree by giving your neck a damn good workout every time you drive the car. Sure all cars have blind spots - but they are usually to your side or rear vision, not to your primary field of view. In my mind this is just really bad design. If I were a Holden Boss I'd be looking to kick someone’s arse as my money says more and more people will become aware how bad this is and steer away from the car. It's wrecked my opinion of the car totally. And, when accidents are caused by this what will lawyers think $$$$$- anyway I digress. Imagine how dangerous this blind spot is to unskilled drivers! You know the sorts that run up gutters, bump into things, can't park and so on. How will they cope with their vision so badly impaired? Bit scary when you really think about it.

I've really thought long and hard about this because I really was trying to treat this new VE objectively. I really enjoyed the 1st couple of minutes of driving one until the blind spot became all too evident. From that point on the experience was destroyed as I felt like I had to be cautious of what I couldn't see. After that drive it bugged me all day, I wondered if I was being too picky. But, that night on the way home, in my old bomby VN, I was amazed at just how much visibility I had - it was like I was in a glass house. It was then that it really hit home just how badly the windscreen pillars on the VE obstruct your view. I seriously question anyone who could say it is at all satisfactory to have a car so focused on safety fail this badly. Even if someone gave me a VE I don't think I'd feel safe driving it. You be the judge, drive a VE, take particular notice of the blind spot. It will destroy your driving experience. That's my personal view.

Oh, and to those who think the pillars are thick because it adds strength, have a good look. It's all platic to house the airbags - not much thinking required to figure that out.

 

[Fnomna]

Those A pillars are bigger for no other reason than housing air bags. I don't think it has anything to do with strength.

Which airbags would those be?
The front ones come out from the steering wheel and dash. The side ones from the seats. The curtain ones from above the side windows as you can see in the videos.
A for strength.

Just look around them.
When I went from VH to VT, I thought I could see bugger-all out the rear window now. But I adjusted and actually became more cautious and aware - not a bad thing!
The VH SL/E has rear headrests which block half the rear window! Are they dangerous? NO.

 

[mongoose3800]

Which airbags would those be?
The front ones come out from the steering wheel and dash. The side ones from the seats. The curtain ones from above the side windows as you can see in the videos.
A for strength.

Just look around them.
When I went from VH to VT, I thought I could see bugger-all out the rear window now. But I adjusted and actually became more cautious and aware - not a bad thing!
The VH SL/E has rear headrests which block half the rear window! Are they dangerous? NO.

O.k. I have just looked at the videos and conceed that that the air-bags do not come out of the A-pillar. But, I think you will find that the mechanics for the air bags are in the A-pillars hence their size.

"just look around them" - Again I point out that you can not predict the moment that someone walks into a blind spot. If you were to you would spend all your time looking around the pillars.