The steering wheel is in a odd place.
>It's almost impossible to drive it to
>drive it with one hand resting on the
>window sill. You have to use 2 hands
>either @ 9 & 3 o'clock, or 10 & 2 o'clock.
I read in a motoring column a couple years ago where a guy said 10 & 2 hand over hand steering was old school, and no longer the recommended method. He claimed the standard now is 8 & 4, with your hands pushing the bottom 1/3 of the wheel during turns. He claimed having your hands up at 10 & 2, and especially with hand over hand, could lead to nasty results if the airbag goes off and your arm smashes into your face. He further claimed that almost all cars have cut-outs at about 8 & 4 to accommodate holding the wheel.
On a related note, my car has side airbags, and there is a warning in the owners' manual not to ride with your arm resting on the window sill. The same sort of thing I guess, if the air bag goes off, it can rip your arm clean off at the shoulder. Okay, maybe not, but seriously, the manual does say not to ride like that.
You mentioned the side curtain air bag option. Looking at the Vibe option sheet, I am a little confused on what it takes to get this option. I have a
2005 Vibe in the body shop. It was T-Boned by a Chevy Tahoe where the Tahoe hit the Vibe on the drivers side near the front door hinges. My wife was driving, and she was hurt from busted glass (busted by her head). My Vibe did not have the side curtain air bags. So far she has a concussion, and daily severe headaches. As for the Vibe it will survive. It survived the accident pretty well considering the Tahoe was also towed away. The front left fender, drivers door, left passenger door all get replaced along with the pillar where the left drivers door attaches.
My suggestion for those considering buying a Vibe is to get the side curtain air bag option...don't blow that off like I did. The Vibe is expendable, but I nearly lost my wife over the lack of this option.
Question, Can you upgrade a 2005 Vibe by getting the side curtain airbags installed? What would that cost?
BTW, consider the Mazda 3 hatchback. It has similar features as the Vibe, but with more "standard" equipped accessories such as:
17" alloy wheels
4-wheel disc brakes ABS Breaking Side curtain airbag for all 4 side doors
2.3 liter 160hp motor with balls yet mileage is similar to Vibe's weak 1.8 liter. All for about $18,000
I bought a Mazda 3 the day before my wife's Vibe was wrecked. The Mazda was for me, but now I think she will take that Mazda, and I will drive the Vibe whenever they get it fixed.
My 2 cents.
Regards, Jim
I read in a motoring column a couple years ago where a guy said 10 & 2 hand over hand steering was old school, and no longer the recommended method. He claimed the standard now is 8 & 4, with your hands pushing the bottom 1/3 of the wheel during turns. He claimed having your hands up at 10 & 2, and especially with hand over hand, could lead to nasty results if the airbag goes off and your arm smashes into your face. He further claimed that almost all cars have cut-outs at about 8 & 4 to accommodate holding the wheel.
On a related note, my car has side airbags, and there is a warning in the owners' manual not to ride with your arm resting on the window sill. The same sort of thing I guess, if the air bag goes off, it can rip your arm clean off at the shoulder. Okay, maybe not, but seriously, the manual does say not to ride like that.
I checked today with a Pontiac dealer. They say that this option cannot be installed after the car leaves the factory. Another way of saying it is that this is not a dealer installed option, or a DIY option. The good news is that even without this option, the Vibe is structurally pretty strong. It's not making my wife's concussion headaches go away though..
Yesterday my wife creased the fender of my two week old Mazda 3.... :-(
The side airbags have their own sensors and all the sensors are tied in with the onboard computer. Besides being not possible, DIY installations would be a liability nightmare for the automaker. Side bags are worth it...too bad they're not standard equipment. I'm sure someone will argue that point, but everyone has an opinion.
I really like my 5 speed 03 vibe, but everybody wants something different from a car. (Anybody looking at buying any new car needs to take a serious test drive.) fwiw, I've gotten a lot of good Vibe info from forums.genvibe.com, I think the Vibe is still the best rated mpgs in the entire GM lineup ( a side effect of the Toyota powertrain)
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