[ad_1]
That’s nearly double the posted speed limit of 85 mph on the highway in Texas. Why does our speedometer extend to illegal speeds that are only reached by race car drivers?
Toyota spokesman Paul Hoggard said the automaker wants speedometers to be easy to read, so it makes sense to place the top of the speedometer, which is the easiest to set the operating speed of typical U.S. cars between 45 mph and 70 mph. Speedometer to read the driver. To do that — while still waiting for a visually appealing, symmetrical speedometer — he says he needs a gauge that shows past operating speeds.
So vehicles, like some Toyota Corollas, have a 160-mph speedometer though. Coming nowhere close to reaching such speeds.
According to Bruce Woolsey, president of Bob’s Speedometer, a Michigan-based auto parts supplier, in the early 1920s, cars could buy speedometers that went up to 120 mph.
After Ford and Chrysler introduced the Thunderbird and 300, respectively, in the 1950s, speedometers changed to high-end, Woolsey said. He said their speedometer reached 150 mph and the 160 mph speedometer was a stepping stone to popularity. The first 160 mph speedometer he knew of was a Cunningham C-3 from the 1950s.
Such high-speed measurements, however, have a controversial history.
Some car safety experts say remote speedometers will normalize high-speed driving and contribute to people traveling at dangerous speeds above 100 mph.
Joan Claybrook, who served as administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration from 1977 to 1981, told CNN Business that she was “absolutely outraged” by the high speed limits during her tenure.
Therefore, in 1979, NHTSA issued a rule that speedometers should not indicate speeds above 85 mph.
“The auto industry was screwed,” Claybrook recalled. “I won’t budge, I put my body on the line.”
Claybrook said high speed limits are dangerous and can cause young people to test their car’s limits.
“For 16- to 25-year-olds, they always want to try,” Claybrook said. “It’s really challenging for kids to challenge and go at a higher pace.”
There were speedometers. It was revised to comply with the 1979 Act. But this was for a short time.
After the Reagan administration took office and Claybrook left, the restriction was lifted.
Joe Young, a spokesman for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, told CNN Business that he was not aware of any research examining the relationship between speedometer design and travel speed. He said the relationship is not out of the question.
Some consumers may see a high-end speedometer as a selling point, suggesting that the driver has a particularly powerful vehicle.
Many speedometers have moved to a digital display, which only shows the vehicle’s current speed. Apple includes such a potential layout in its CarPlay demo. Apple declined to comment for this story.
Following Claybrook, auto safety leaders turned to other strategies to address the problem of speeding.
The NHTSA launched a campaign this week called Speeding Rex Lives that aims to change perceptions about speeding.
It includes $8 million in media ads and targets drivers ages 18 to 44 who are most likely to be involved in speeding-related fatal crashes, NHTSA reported.
In the year In 2020, 11,258 people died in speeding-related crashes, according to NHTSA data.
[ad_2]
Source link
