Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008
According to the Ohio Department of Safety, there are more than 200 deaths each year in the U.S. associated with riding in the cargo area of pickup trucks. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that pickup truck occupants are three times more likely to be involved in rollover crashes than in other types of vehicles. The largest number of vehicle fatalities and injuries are caused by rollover crashes.
Are pickups simply not as safe as cars and SUVs? It turns out that the fatality rates have little to do with a pickup’s design. They have more to do with the use of safety belts.
Theories abound about the reason pickup truck occupants are less likely to practice seatbelt use, thus increasing their own risk. For many who are using their pickup trucks for work (hauling and farming), the drivers tend to drive short distances and get in and out of the vehicle often. Throughout the course of the day, putting the seatbelt on and taking it off could be considered cumbersome. Another theory is that some families, particularly living in rural areas, use their older model pickups as the vehicle used for family outings. Because many of these pickups do not have adequate room for all the passengers inside the cab, some of the passengers travel in the cargo area. While this is illegal in many states and restricted to speed conditions and age of the passengers in other states, it still happens.
Fortunately, newer model pickup trucks have been designed with passenger safety and convenience in mind. For example, the popular Isuzu truck offers a 3-passenger 60/40 split-bench front seat with integrated outboard head restraints and the Isuzu i-370 Crew Cab offers rear 3-point seatbelts and 3-point middle seatbelt for passenger protection.
Consumers and the government are holding truck manufacturers to higher safety regulations in response to the vast number of preventable fatalities. A pickup manufactured prior to 1990 will be short many of these new safety features and simply cannot protect the safety of its occupants as well as newer pickup trucks do.
Posted in Classic pickup trucks | No Comments »
Sunday, November 23rd, 2008
Most people who buy pickup trucks are interested in the ability to haul cargo easily. Many are farmers, construction workers, movers, or otherwise. But how many times have you been speeding down the highway or interstate only to come up on a pickup truck and realize that the driver has not properly secured the cargo he or she is carrying? Unsecured cargo has been the cause of many fatality and non-fatality accidents, and these accidents were completely preventable.
What is the best way to secure cargo in the bed of a pickup? Here are some tips.
Use a cargo net. For only $60, Isuzu sells a Bed Web Net made of a tough elastic material and designed to stretch. The mount hardware is included and installation is easy. The net keeps cargo from flying out or sliding out of the back even during hard stops or fast turns.
Buy a bed extender. Designed for the Isuzu i-370, the Bed Extender, made of steel, retails for well under $300 and gives pickup owners additional truck bed length. This particular bed extender has the ability to swing in to provide a contained cargo area as well.
Cargo Sports Bags are another option. These are often used in SUVs as well and do an excellent job of keeping smaller items from rolling around or flying out of pickup truck cargo beds.
Use a safety flag or light. Laws differ by state, but many require a red cargo flag or safety light be used when transporting cargo that extends beyond the cargo bed of a pickup. For example, in the state of California, when the load on any vehicle extends at least four feet from the rear of the pickup’s body, the driver must use a fluorescent orange flag, or solid red flag at least twelve inches by twelve inches at the extreme end of the load. In addition, if the vehicle is operating after dusk, there must also be two lighted red lights at the end of the load visible at minimum of 500 feet to the side and the rear of the vehicle for safety.
It’s also important to keep in mind that using these precautions, as well as others will protect the cargo itself. When hauling cargo, it’s important to drive more cautiously than normal and make slow, steady turns. The added weight of your load can make turning more difficult and brakes may not respond as quickly or efficiently as when driving without cargo.
Posted in Classic pickup trucks | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 12th, 2008
Recent media attention on the number of highway fatalities caused by semi-trucks has many people asking whether our roads are indeed ’safe.’ A fully loaded truck, like the one that slammed into the back of another truck on California’s I-5 last month can do an intense amount of damage. In that particular accident, three people were killed and at least ten more injured when the truck entering the 550-foot underpass crashed into the truck in front, causing a massive pile-up and ultimately, an explosion.
This isn’t the first time the safety of sharing our roads with oversized semi-trailer trucks has been questioned. Trucking industry practices are continuously being reformed to address the number of fatalities these vehicles cause, including reducing the amount of time a truck driver is allowed to drive without a break, instituting new methods of driver payment that do not include “paid-by-the-mile” incentives, and adding more highway patrol officers designated to specifically crack down on truck drivers that don’t keep proper log books or break traffic laws.
So what can you do to protect yourself and your families?
The trucking industry isn’t going anywhere any time soon, and while we can hope that some of these measures begin to drastically reduce the number of highway deaths, now is the time to make sure you’re driving the safest vehicles you possibly can.
Even the safest vehicles may not be able to stand up to a collision with a semi, but there are certain vehicles that tend to fare better than others. First, SUVs and pickup trucks generally keep their occupants safer than passenger cars when in collisions. While other factors obviously dictate how well passengers will be protected in a crash, such as the type of crash, the rate of speed the vehicles were moving, and the passive safety features installed on the vehicles, SUVs and pickups tend to be heavier and therefore sustain less damage.
Other key factors to examine are the active and passive safety features of your vehicle. For example, while most SUVS offer dual stage airbags (the type that protect occupants from rear-end and head-on collisions by preventing contact with the dash and steering column), the Isuzu also sports head-curtain side-impact airbags that protect the body from injuries caused by rolling or side-impacts. Taking the time to compare the safety features of your vehicle to the available safety features in models offered by car companies that are known for safety (like Isuzu and Volvo) will give an indication of deficits in your vehicles safety system.
Posted in Truck for sale | No Comments »
Monday, September 15th, 2008
Toyota is discussing options on how to possibly combine manufacturing operations in North America of Hino Motors Ltd. and Isuzu Motors Ltd. It is not yet clear whether the discussion will lead to the merging of the two truck manufacturers but according to statement released by Toyota executives in separate interviews, the Japanese automaker would like to create synergies between the two commercial truck producers. In short, combine manufacturing operations of the two truck companies in terms of building big medium and heavy duty trucks and afterwards developed a demand for them.
It is better to set up and operate truck plants in a joint venture. Neither Hino nor Isuzu has the big enough business size in North America to be able to profitably pursue business opportunities on its own.At present Hino Trucks has two manufacturing sites in North America, one located in Long Beach, California while the other one is in Woodstock, Ontario—combined these two sites produced 10,000 trucks a year. The company has announced its plan of building a plant in Williamstown, W. Va., which would produce medium and heavy-duty trucks with an annual growth of 2,500 vehicles starting the fourth quarter of this year.
Hino will try to sell 10,000 trucks in North America by 2008 which is more than the 6,200 obtained by the company last year. Meanwhile Isuzu is exporting big inter city delivery trucks from Japan to North America. However, Toyota thinks that its more efficient to produce these trucks locally in North America especially once sale starts to grow. According to the spokesman of Isuzu that the company is trying to reach sales level of about 50,000 vehicles a year more than the current annual sales pace which are a little less than 30,000.
Toyota executives believe that the separate manufacturing operations of both Isuzu and Hino in North America are risky and redundant. Toyota owns 50 percent stake in Hino and about 5.9 percent equity stake in Isuzu. Currently Isuzu classic Truck and Toyota, the maker of Toyota strut bellows are studying ways on how they would develop and produce small advanced clean diesel engines for both passenger cars and light duty trucks.
A senior Toyota executive has stated that once the two companies have finished their discussion, the next thing on their agenda would be to “figure out how we could create synergies between Hino and Isuzu.”The executive has added that Toyota has not yet reached that point but pointed out that such discussions would follow after Toyota and Isuzu know they would collaborate with regards to the advanced diesel engine technology.
Posted in Classic Truck | No Comments »
