Agree, same with me. It's a matter of being prepared for the "other guy", not that your cobra is intrinsically unsafe. For those of us who do enjoy riding with our spouse, friend or sibling, this debate is silly. Either you care about your passenger's safety or you don't.

Right.. Drive safe and to your ability, especially with a passenger regardless of your roll bar configuration. Strange things can happen...and not always your fault.

Paul T.

I'm of the opinion - You're all kidding yourselves if you think 1, 2 or no roll bars is comparatively safer to the alternative. :cool:

When you're number is up, it's UP!

I'm with RodKnock... How many of you 2 roll bar preachers wear helmets when driving your cobras, or better still, have your passengers wear helmets?:rolleyes:
Do you guys ride bikes? Or how about take a pillion on your motorcycles?
Better go back inside and wrap yourselves in cotton wool.

Puhleeese... whatever helps you all sleep well at night.


FWIW: I've two roll-bars... One on the car, and the other brand new wrapped in plastic, sitting in storage.

I've 2 reasons for this:
1) Cos I cant bring myself to put holes in the aluminium
&
2) just b/c to my eye, there's seemingly a beauty and "balance" in the subtle asymmetry caused with 1 roll bar sitting over the drivers side steering wheel. Just the same as there is a beauty in "subtle" asymmetries in the banks of an FE engine (Fuel log side vs linkage side and Overflow tank and distributor side), and in the faces of beautiful people.

Ughhhh - Now I'm need of a shower for posting in this thread! :CRY:
I feel so dirty :p

If you truly care about your passenger(s), and being prepared for the other guy, then drive a new BMW, Mercedes, or whatever brand you prefer. One or two roll bars will not help anyone in a rear, front or side impact, which are the most likely accident types. No ABS, no air bags, you're kidding yourself. But if it helps you sleep at night, then it's worth something. Right?

Personally, I'd be more worried about stepping off street curbs, and getting hit by cars or buses as pedestrians. Even more worrisome is that our nation's school buses, which transport our children, have no seats belts or restraints. And there are more school bus accidents every year than accidents in Cobras.

I can neither confirm or deny that I have a wife. But if I did, and I loved her, then the Cobra would be the last car that I'd drive around with her in it. I'd think even an 1st Gen Miata would be far safer for her as a passenger. :D

So you would never take any family member in a convertible at all? I do not recall seeing convertibles with roll bars. Too dangerous? I assume that would rule out motorcycles on the street also?

FYI, U.S. law requires that the windshield frame on convertibles be able to support the weight of the car - why is that?

A quick look at sport convertibles (like Miata's, BMW Z4/Z6, Porsche Boxer, Cooper Mini's etc.) shows most have factory installed dual roll bars - why is that?

There's a track day event and you decide to go, no roll bar so you can't play - why is that?

Some tracks require instructor seat time 1st, no passenger roll bar, go home - why is that?

According to some, roll bars have nothing to do with safety (or increasing a level of safety), but I can't connect the dots as to why so they need to elaborate a little more. Why are these dual roll bars so popular on many sports cars, a factory installed item, and required for recreational track days?

I have always ranked the apparent safety (or lack of it) while riding in my Cobra, at about 1 notch or so above that of riding on a motorcycle (have owned 4 motorcycles in the past). :eek:

There isn't much in the way of energy absorption available in my Cobra. In fact, when sitting in the Cobra and looking around, there isn't much in the form of protection in any form.

I feel much safer when riding in my F350 4WD dually. It sits higher, has ABS, air bags and weighs 8,300 pounds.

The single vs. dual roll bar discussion for STREET driving seems somewhat....... misplaced.

I may have to search for some form of tranquilizer OR avoid this thread if I read about one more fella who loves his wife more because of having 2 roll bars. :rolleyes:

David

Bingo, I have two roll bars because my wife made me put two in. She loves riding in the car as much as I do. And since I like riding her, two roll bars!
Happy wife............

agree- i have one rollbar, I'm probably going to have to go to two: I cant get the wife to ride with me (doesnt make sense as she has a 56 T-bird with NO rollbars, but hey, who said the fairer sex ever made sense...

Now that's funny! :LOL::LOL::LOL:

would that be safe before sex foreplay? :LOL:

A Porsche 911 and Corvette do not. Are they unsafe cars? In fact, many manufacturers have moved to retractable hardtops for increased safety.

Do you see any open cockpits in NASCAR or the Nationwide series of racing?

Roll overs represent a very small fraction of auto accidents. The overwhelming majority of accidents are side, front or rear impact. In general, Cobras offer ZIPPO in those areas. No ABS, no crush zones, no air bags, no 5-star safety rating, no modern engineered reinforced structure that modern cars offer.

Dual roll bars in a Cobra are about as useful in those instances as a single roll bar. Zero.

You and your passengers are more likely to die from heart disease, stroke, cancer, dementia/Alzheimer's, etc. than a roll over accident in a Cobra. Do you and your passengers take care of your bodies with a proper diet and exercise? Do you tell your wife and kids to put the fork down and get to the gym? Do you and your passengers get screened for various ailments, diseases, etc.?

I'm talking about perspective. However, as I mentioned before, if the dual roll bar helps you and your passengers feel better psychologically, satisfies you and your passenger's emotional need for safety, and makes you sleep easier, then the dual roll bars have done their job.

Love your wife? Come on. Seriously? That's a load of hypocritical crap. Personally, I'd focus on a proper lifetime diet, rigorous exercise, medical screening, life insurance, a will and trust, putting money away for retirement and saving for your kid's education. And buy a 5-star crash-tested modern car. That will keep you, your wife and your kids "safer." :)

I think that the roll bars on these cars pose more threat of serious head injury from contact with the tubing on just a moderate incident than the possibility of them supporting the weight of the car in case of roll over!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BTW, if you told me that you installed two roll bars for symmetry, keeping spacial relationships in harmony and balance, bringing order to the Cosmos, then I totally understand that.

But then you would have to install a second steering wheel too. :LOL:

Roll Bars
 

Amen to that, my wife had a serious accident in her Miata about 8 years ago where a wrong way driver hit her and the car passing her head on. The Miata was hit on the left front and the guy passing her was hit on the right front.
Her car flipped and landed upside down. She was just scraped and bruised but sustained a serious closed head injury from the Miata's built in roll bar. She had to have brain surgery to relieve pressure from the bleeding. Thankfully, she has fully recovered but no more Miata's for her.

"Her car flipped and landed upside down."
Did the windshield frame hold up or was it smashed down?
Even better, post a pic if you have it - I'm sure many were taken for insurance purposes.

Because it is not enough for your neighbor to run his own life - he has an undying, insatiable appetite to run yours.

chr

I think you might need to do some research. Convertibles are exempt from this law.

Standard No. 216; Roof crush resistance; Applicable unless a vehicle is certified to 571.216a. - Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
Standard No. 216a; Roof crush resistance; Upgraded standard. - Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

Also, Europe really has no standard either. Certain manufacturers, like the ones you listed, have taken it upon themselves to create a rollbar type of safety device, but they are still not int he same league as a true rollbar. Most were tested by turning the car upside down and letting it rest on these supports. If you were moving down the road at 60 mph and the car flipped, all bets are off.

The fact is simple: If you are in a car without a roof or a full cage and it rolls over, you will probably die.

David Caldwell of Chevrolet on the Corvette -
"The car is amazingly strong" says Caldwell of the 2005 convertible. "The vehicle structure comes mainly from the center tunnel, which is intgral to the chassis. The aluminum windshield frame is very strong and, God forbid, if the car were involved in a rollover, the windshield frame would support the vehicle. We do not need the additional pyrotechniques found in other cars where a rollbar pops out of the back or some other safety system is required."

Porsche 911 Cabriolet, Mfg Info -
"A Rollover Protection System installed behind the rear seats is extended within fractions of a second if forces indicating the possibility of certain types of accidents are detected. The Rollover Protection System consists of two extendable assemblies which, together with the windshield frame, help maintain the space around the normal occupant seating positions, if the vehicle rolls over."

This discussion has to do with roadsters, hardtops were never on the table lol.