Do You Have A Glove Box?

Are we talking about a SAAB here?

-meld

Valjean wrote:

My 1995 9000 CS doesn't have one. It has an airbag where the glove box is supposed to be. That's probably just in the US and undoubtedly in compliance with some regulation on passenger side airbags.

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My European 1995 9000 2.3 CSE lpt doesn't have it, either. Nice car, but limited storage space (apart from the trunk, of course :) I think the non-airbag-model references to 'fuses in/behind glove box' should be 'behind panel below pass-side airbag' on later models

/Per Laursen

Strange. Can't quite imagine a car without the glove box. My 1993 9000 CSE has illuminated glovebox with a separate appartment inside that flips down for the fuses.

The glove box disappeared on models from 1994 that were equipped with passenger side airbags. IIRC there was an extra pocket (with much less room) on the centre console "gloves" etc.

Yeah - I was kinda disappointed, too. Fortunately outweighed by rest of characteristics :)

I suppose it's a fair swap. Glove boxes might be nice, but they're no good at keeping your face away from the dash...

Cheers,

Colin.

Indeed, this is very true. But as they say: You can't have everything. So I tend to drive more carefully, especially keep distance. Distance is like a bank balance - something you wish you had when surprises turns up.

Neither is a _passenger's_ air bag, I'm driving from the other front seat :)

Jokes aside - I agree. Storage space is a bit like salaries and desktop space - you'll use up whatever amount's available....

/Per

So true. The guy behind me in an ABS-less Nissan (?) a couple of weeks ago learned that the hard way, when I had to stop to avoid kissing the car in front of me. His mid-front ended up somewhat closer to the block than originally manufactured, and the headlights were no good after leaving a few scratches on my rear bumper. Towaway.

I'm afraid my wife will never let me drive anything but SAABs :)

/Per

UK models lost the glovebox in the 9000 around that time too for the same reason. I doubt that Saab would regionalise safety features.

Shame - since it's such a handy space.

Graham

Hah ! Reminds me of the time a BMW drove ( at slow speed thankfully ) into the rear of my towbar equipped Vauxhall Cavalier.

Made a nice wrap round dent in his bumper / fender. No damage to me.

On the subject of ABS - it was raining quite hard today - and following the advice in the Saab owner's handbook I tried to brake my 9000 unusually hard at one point ( safely ) to check adhesion. The ABS didn't even kick in despite a rapid stop.

I've only ever known it operate on snow.

Graham

Agressive braking on a wet road with a small amount of sand, mud, gravel or whatever will usually do it (DO check the rear-view mirror first...)

/Per

You didn't brake hard enough then. It will activate even on dry roads given enough input on the binders...

-Fred W

Yes they do. My '97 9000 CSE doesn't have a passenger side airbag and AFAIK there were no or very few 9000 cars sold here in Sweden with passenger side airbags. That was mainly introduced with the 9-5.

The main reason for this I guess is that, in Sweden, most people having child seats put them in the passenger seat. Not having an airbag there improves safety. In Sweden this far there has been no child killed by an airbag while in US there are a couple of hundred children killed by airbags and a few children in the rest of Europe (statement by a researcher from the Swedish National Road and Transport Reseach Institute,

in Swedish only, sorry). Probably the increased use of passenger side airbags will eventually result in children being killed by airbags here as well as somewhere between 5000 and 10000 children are sitting in front of an airbag.

The research institute site,

, is quite a good source of information as many classical thoughts on good and bad in traffic get real data here. Did you know that using a hands-free mobile gives no better driving performance than with an ordinary mobile!

The passenger side airbag in my 9-3 5d Sport Edition 2002 is an option ordered by the original owner of the car (I'm the second owner).

/Bengt in Gustavsberg, Sweden

[snip]

I've heard that one other reason why the US has a comparatively high occurrence of people (not just children) being killed by airbags, is that US airbags are much bigger than european ones. European ones are designed to work alongside the seat belts. US ones (I think) have to be able to protect people who aren't even wearing seat belts.

Cheers,

Colin.

I don't think so. An airbag can only function if the person is in the expected position. With as much as people move around in crashes, it would be impossible to keep 'em in a location for the airbag to help, no matter how big the airbag was. I'm also not aware that there are different airbags for different markets.

If anything, it's probably a combination of population sizes and, ahem, a lower likelihood of Europeans doing stupid things.

Most newer US cars allow the airbag on the passenger side to be deactivate or it comes with a bag that doesn't expand so forcefully. US cars also carry warnings that children under 12 years old should only ride in the back seat. More on airbags from National highway traffic safety admin. (U.S. government)

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