people dieing from steering?

[Hoffman65burb]

Hey,

The other day i was talking to the woodwork shop teacher(old timer), he said back in the day he always heard about people dieing from the non collapsible steering column if they ever got in a car crash................. anyone else hear this? haha

-Rhys

[Chevy Fleetside]

yep that is true. I now have a collapsable shaft in my truck.

[1974k5blazer]

im sure a solid shaft is not going to help anything!

[joeys66pickup]

Think when the Front end is Crunched...one Word comes to Mind, IMPALER!

[62 short step]

Yep that is true, I have a collapsable shaft also!

[Hoffman65burb]

man! thanks for the info, I should switch to power steering while i am at it

[GMC65Guy]

i dont have one.. dont care. This truck is a tank. People have been driving around for how many years w/solid shafts?

[Frizzle Fry]

Just get a dropmember so the shaft has a Z in it. It's all about safety

[Chevyman680063]

Will a 67-72 steering shaft work on a '63 with manual steering?

[jonzcustomshop]

in the 20's auto manufacturers used plate glass, the kind that breaks into big pieces and would stab you
there were other safety issues through the years, non collapsable steering columns one odf them.
like alot of this stuff, it just depends on the wreck.
yes we have big 4000 pound trucks. But there are no crumple zones on them, a 50 mph head on turns into you doing 50 mph straight into the wheel/column that is not going to give.
the bonus is that we are bigger than most stuff out there, and barring big trucks and solid walls, a seat belt should be enough to guarentee that you walk away.

[YOLO]

there are big differences between our classic trucks and newer trucks. I am a fireman, I have seen it all. I have seen seat belts CUT people in HALF. I have seen "who knows how many" bent steering wheels from heads and chests hitting the wheel. It really comes down to how you drive. Are you aggressive, or laid back? If you have the chance, I know this is going to sound dumb, take a driving class at a racing school. We have Bondaraunt (spelling?) in AZ. I took their 4 hour class and it has great strategies.
But if you can incorporate newer technologies in your classic, you should. It will only make it more valuable, in more than one way.

[joeys66pickup]

JESUS think of the force it takes to BEND a steering wheel with anything Let alone or Face or chest....i mean im looking at my Grant GT wheel right now and if this was coming at me attached to a Solid steering shaft i would be Pissed

[ol Curt]

I don't think I have ever heard of anyone getting stabbed by a steering shaft. Granted I'm only 50 so I'm sure I haven't seen or heard it all.

[YOLO]

I need to say, I have never seen a steering shaft impailed. I have seen a full length exhaust system through a pelvis. Ya, that was a bad accident. Ya, the guy was dead.

[jonzcustomshop]

probably what they are referring to with the steering shafts are the 20's and 30's cars they had long thin columns , and flimsy wheels. regardless it would take a lot of force to bend one of our frames enough to send the column through you. you are talking comperssing the left frame rail at least 2 feet, orsomethong freak , like shearing the box off the frame.
I think the impaling thing was always a bigger problem with stock cars than anything else, I think they might have been some of the first to utilize the collapsing technology.

[c10addict]

Sure it happened... It was not the shaft coming through the wheel or column death was due to the force of impact from your body hitting the wheel.. Solid shafts have no give.. It still happens even with collapsible columns/shafts.. Check out these stats... http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/18/health/18trau.html Heres a chevy van wheel! Had to hurt!

[joeys66pickup]

i can imagine your Face or chest playing catch with your steering wheel at 50mph....that would make me Very angry at my truck for one thing

[Prerunner1982]

We get claims on the intermediate steering shaft all the time. The grease migrates away from the splines and causes a clunking sound. Nothing really failed but just makes a bad noise due to lack of lubrication...

[c10addict]

Originally Posted by Prerunner1982

We get claims on the intermediate steering shaft all the time. The grease migrates away from the splines and causes a clunking sound. Nothing really failed but just makes a bad noise due to lack of lubrication...

My 05 Chevy crew cab I had I greased the shaft once every couple of months to eliminate the clicking noise..

[Fred T]

The solid shafts contributed to the deaths of some drivers. I don't remember any that were impaled from vehicles of this vintage. But there were crushed chests, broken ribs puncturing the lungs and heart. One guy I knew lost his spleen, but lived, which was unusual at the time.

[MotelCambodia]

Back when this was happing they did not have seat belts or belts with shoulder belts
I think seat belts with shoulder belts should be put in all classic trucks .
I don't think with my classics having the stock shaft will be a problem , no its not as safe as newer cars or trucks but my car and trucks more solid then the new cars and will use the new car that hits me as a crumple zone and crush it all up and I will probably drive away.
It mostly about how you drive ,how far you look ahead , paying attention to what your doing. Knowing when to let off the brakes so you can steer when most people have the peddle pushed to the floor .
I'm sure lots of you have seen the 200 or 300 skid marks right into a pole or some thing that if they just let off the brakes they could have easy steered around it.

I believe most accidents are 100% preventable . You have to look out for the other stupid driver.

Brian

[Tomsriv]

It doesn't matter if you don't know anyone who has been hurt by a steering shaft. So many people die in traffic accidents it doesn't always make the news. The fact is, 3000 people die every MONTH in traffic accidents. That is like Sept. 11 every month, year after year. Collapsable shafts came out in 1969 I believe so newer columns can be swapped in. Keep in mind most SUV's weigh just as much as our trucks. Plus, the point of crumple zones is to protect the driver, not the truck. So we will be worse off in our trucks without crumple zones.

Their are a couple other things I notice in my 65 that are very dangerous. The windwing latch could easily take an eye out, even with shoulder belts. Also, the rear view mirror is attached in a solid manner and could cause a major headache. That is why GM switched to those mirrors that glue to the windshield, they break away to keep from getting your skull impaled by the mounting shaft.
Oh, and the gas tank and doors. They stopped making push button doors because in a roll over the button is pushed and the door flies open. The gas tank filler would also get knocked off and throw gas everywhere as the vehicle rolled.
Not safe trucks, but we all take some risk in life. Just be aware.

[kizer]

Man its nice to know my wife doesn't read these forums she'd never get in my truck again. Maybe thats a good thing huh?

I never thought about the gas filler and the push buttons on the handles.

[Tomsriv]

Yeah, and once you think about it, its pretty obvious. You would think with a simple crash test they would have learned about these things. Part of the reason they moved the key ignition from the dash to the column is because on certain cars it was located right in front of your knee. In an accident you would slide forward and split your kneecap on the end of the key. OUCH!
My favorite vintage cars are 68-72 because by that time they had a few safety items and they hadn't compromised the styling yet.