Page 11
,
Tur:
Page 13
HOW CAN WE BUILD A COCKPIT THAT
WILL KEEP THE DRIVER RELAXED
AND ALERT ENOUGH TO USE
THOSE CONTROLS EFFECTIVELY?
However sophisticated a car
may be, most of what happens to it
happens because a driver makes
decisions and acts on them. His
decisions are more apt to be sound,
and his reactions appropriate,
when he feels comfortable and
alert. Muscular fatigue, eyestrain,
drowsiness, cold and sustained
noise impact will all impair his
performance.
Firm padding, strong steel frames and polyester
velour coverings combine to make one of the most
comfortable and supportive car seats in the world.
Saab seats are adjustable fore and aft; for seat
height and angle; and for backrest rake. Front
seats in the 900S and Turbo models are
electrically heated.
When we designed the cockpit
of the Saab 900, we wanted to pro-
vide a comfortable and supportive
environment, where a driver can
spend several hours at a
time without a serious loss of
effectiveness.
NECK TO KNEE SUPPORT.
One of the obvious keys to
providing that kind of support is in
the design of the seats, and Saab
has been widely praised for its
seats. In some cars, including some
very expensive ones, the driver
sinks into soft, deep foam as if he
were sitting in his living room. Not
in a Saab.
In the first place, the kind of
“comfort” those cars offer is
suitable to quiet reverie, not to
an activity as dangerous and
demanding as driving a car. In the
second place, it isn’t even very
comfortable during a long drive.
Our seats don’t lack foam
padding but you won't sink into
them. The foam is firm, not quite
hard, and gives you the feeling that
you're being lifted rather than
sinking. And the seat isn’t just a
shapeless pillow of foam rubber,
either. It’s been molded ortho-
pedically to support the driver’s
back muscles from his neck to his
knees, with added reinforcements
at critical places like the top of
the back and in the lumbar region.
They're also dished inward, to
give the driver and passengers
lateral support, so they don’t have
to hang onto the steering wheel or
search for handholds in moderate
turns. Even the rear seats are
designed to support adults com-
fortably for several hours and to
hold them safely in place during
the ride.
Perhaps the most famous
feature of our Saab seats is that, in
the 900S and the Turbo, the front
seats are heated during cold
weather with an internal electric
heater. The heater warms the seat
until the cockpit temperature
climbs to a comfortable level.
A lot of people think that’s a
nice luxury touch. We think it’s an
intelligent way of assuring that the
driver can function well even in
cold weather. We've seen aero-
nautical and military studies that
state that humans don’t think or act
as effectively when they’re cold
and that their muscles aren't as
capable of precise movements as
when they’re warmed up. So we
take the chill off the driver fast
because an emergency can arise
just as easily in the first 15 minutes
after you start out as it can four
hours later.
That heater usually doesn’t
have to operate for very long be-
cause the Saab 900 has an excep-
tionally efficient heating and
ventilation system, with vents
located above, below and alongside
the instrument panel. The driver
has available a number of com-
binations of fan speed and vent
openings for heat or fresh air, so
that the cockpit can be kept
comfortably ventilated at all times.
In cars that aren’t equipped
with air conditioning, Saab has
installed an air filter which strains
dust, pollen, oil and soot, and even
some bacteria, from the air that
comes into the passenger com-
partment. That helps keep the
interior clean and fresh, and it’s a
real benefit to asthma and allergy
sufferers.
The 900’s heating and ventilation system can
move 100 liters ij clean, fresh air through the
passenger compartment every second. Fresh air
nozzles in the middle of the instrument panel
give the driver and passenger the option to enjoy
a flow of cool air, while the heating system
warms the rest of the compartment.
Saab’s very high level of
outward visibility helps to prevent
driver's eyestrain. The rear view
mirror inside the car has a night
setting to deflect the headlights
of cars behind and the external
mirrors are treated with a non-
dazzle tint. The car's bronze-
tinted windows also substantially
eliminate glare.
An interior light behind the
rear view mirror allows the front
seat passenger to read a map at
night but won't dazzle the driver
because the lateral light beam is
pointed away from him. The glove
compartment light is the same
green as the instrument panel
lights and won't interfere with the
driver's night vision.
11
Page 15
HOW DO WE TRANSMIT THE
ENGINE'S POWER TO THE GROUND
IN A WAY THAT PERMITS THE DRIVER TO
AVOID ACCIDENTS IN ALMOST ANY
CONDITIONS OF WEATHER OR TRAFFIC?
The joy of driving a Saab
comes on roads that, in other cars,
aren't any pleasure at all. The
confidence that a Saab driver has
as he takes on winding curves,
rough weather and poor surfaces
is a reflection of how well-engi-
neered this car really is.
All Saabs have been fun to
drive because they've all handled
well. The car answers the steering
wheel quickly, precisely and con-
sistently, even when it’s carrying
its maximum load.
The Saab’s superb handling
characteristics are the result of a
nearly perfect balance of factors:
front-wheel drive; rack-and-pinion
steering; large wheels and disc
brakes; favorable weight distribu-
tion; an aerodynamic body; ex-
cellent suspension.
DIRECTIONAL STABILITY.
Saabs tend to have excellent
directional stability, and largely
because they have front-wheel
drive. More than half of the weight
is in the front of the car, riding on
the driving wheels. That improves
traction, steering response and
resistance to side winds.
The 900’s aerodynamic
shape helps in that respect, too.
Air passing over the car from any
direction encounters smooth,
rounded surfaces. There are no
sharp corners or projections for
deflecting airflow and setting up
turbulence, and no blunt surfaces
for wind to ram against.
Airflow from in front of the car,
the normal breeze created by an
object moving through air, passes
over the Saab 900 smoothly. In fact,
because of the shape of the car and
the placement of spoilers on the
Turbo 3-door model, the airstream
presses the car slightly downward
and improves traction.
The Saab retains its normal
slight understeer in almost all
driving situations. That is, its
response to the steering wheel is
to turn, in an are which is slightly
less than the steering wheel's
arc. Oversteer describes an ex-
aggerated response to the steering
wheel.
The Saab is designed to be
unaffected by the two factors
that most frequently alter a car's
steering characteristics: hard
acceleration and changes in weight
distribution. Because it has front-
wheel drive and a rigid rear axle,
the 900 isn’t as affected by hard
acceleration in slippery weather as
a rear-wheel drive car. Because 60
percent of its weight is borne by
the front wheels, the weight distri-
bution is rarely altered to the point
where it will change the car’s
behavior.
In general, weight distribution
will change by eight or nine per-
cent between a car’s curb weight
and maximum load. So a car that
divides its weight 54/46 at its curb
weight may have the distribution
shifted at maximum load, so that
the car which normally under-
steers may begin to oversteer.
Figure A: The rear axle is a lightweight, rigid tube which keeps the rear wheels parallel at all times.
Figure B: The front wheel coil springs are mounted on pivots, so that they always remain straight,
Because of the Saab’s wide 60/40
distribution, the maximum change
would still leave 51 percent of the
weight in front.
The wheels are suspended
in front on double wishbones and
on pivot-mounted coil springs.
By mounting the springs on pivots,
Saab engineers assured that the
springs will stretch and contract
in a straight line.
The rigid rear axle, which is
mounted on coil springs, provides
precise rear-end geometry with
ample suspension travel. That
means both that the ride will be
comfortable and that the Saab 900
will handle excellently.
Telescoping shock absorbers
smooth the Saab’s ride, too. On the
900S and 900 Turbo, the shocks
are gas-filled for a more immediate
response to the road and they
provide a somewhat firmer ride.
While other manufacturers
have gone to smaller wheel sizes
in recent years, Saab has continued
to fit all its models with 15-inch
wheels. The larger wheel provides
greater stability and allows us to
fit larger disc brakes. The pads of
the front disc brakes are made
of a semi-metallic, non-asbestos
material which outlasts other brake
pads. The pads of the rear disc
brakes are also made of a non-
asbestos material.
One of Saab’s early safety
innovations was the use of dual,
diagonally-opposed hydraulic
brake lines. If one of the hydraulic
systems fails, the other will still
operate one front wheel and one
rear wheel, assuring controlled,
straightline stopping.
The Saab’s handbrakes are
real emergency brakes, unlike
many “parking brakes” available on
other cars. The handbrake oper-
ates the Saab’s front wheel brakes,
where more than half of the car’s
stopping power is.
13
Page 18
16
HOW DO WE BUILD ACAR STRONG ENOUGH TO PROTECT
ITS OCCUPANTS WHEN A CRASH IS NO LONGER AVOIDABLE?
We built the Saab 900 as if we
expected you to take it to the most
dangerous place on earth.
Which we do. It would be hard
to find a place more dangerous
than the public highways, where
even very good drivers may find
themselves involved in an accident
at some point.
Inside the Saab, you are
surrounded by a padded safety
cage that helps protect you from
most of the force of a collision.
At the front and rear of the car are
more steel reinforcements to
protect passengers and vehicle. In
front of and behind the passenger
compartment are areas of pro-
grammed weakness that assure
that the metal will crumple where
it will do the least harm.
In the 1970s, automotive
journalists praised the Saab 99 as
one of the world’s safest cars. The
Saab 900 exceeds most safety
standards by even wider margins
than its predecessor. Of course, the
degree of safety of any car, even
the Saab 900, depends partly on
the prudence and good sense of
driver and occupants. The best seat
belts in the world won't protect you
if you don't fasten them.
We tested the design of the
900 in 30-mph crashes against
barriers from angles of 60 degrees,
90 degrees and 120 degrees. The
requirements we set for the car
were:
—Windows must be retained in
their frames.
—Doors would remain shut but
would open easily from inside
after the crash.
—The hood would remain in
position, even after being
deformed in the crash.
—Occupants (the test dummies)
wouldn't be thrown from the
passenger compartment.
The focus of the design that
meets those requirements is the
safety cage. The steel uprights
alongside the windshield and
windows of the 900 are unusually
strong and they support a steel
reinforcement around the edge
of the roof, The doorsills, cross-
members in the floor and behind
the rear seat, and the front bulk-
head make up the rest of the safety
cage.
To absorb the force of the
impact and to make sure that doors
will operate after the crash, the
will remain rigid. Steel beams
inside the passenger doors
strengthen the car and give a
degree of protection in side
collisions.
There are additional reinfore-
ing beams in the front of the car,
extensions of some of the chassis
members, which help to protect the
engine. In a severe head-on colli-
sion, the engine is forced back-
wards at a downward angle and is
stopped by the strong bulkhead
between the engine compartment
and passenger compartment.
Striker plates on the door
locks are equipped with backing
plates to help prevent jamming,
and the designed weakness of
wheel arches and fender flanges
facilitate opening of the doors after
a crash. The hood is hinged in front
The steel members supporting the roof, floor, sills and windshield form a protective safety cage around
the Saab’s passengers. Saab was a pioneer in passive safety systems for automobiles.
engineers designed deformation,
or “crumple”, zones where metal
can collapse from the impact
without threatening occupants.
In a head-on or rear-end colli-
sion, those crumple zones will give
way to soften the impact, along
with the softening effect of the
Saab’s bumpers. The safety cage
and latched at the rear, so that it
isn’t likely to open accidentally,
even if it hasn’t been securely
closed. It has front and rear rein-
forcements and a buckling zone in
the center, and special arrestor
hooks at the rear edge that will
prevent its being forced through
the windshield in a crash.
WITHIN THE CAGE.
When a car crashes, there are
really two collisions. First, the car
hits something and stops. At the
Roof pillars and windshield supports are covered
with thick padding to absorb shock from bumps
or collisions,
same time, though, the occupants
of the car keep going forward until
they are either thrown from the
car or hit something and stop.
The doors and safety cage of
the Saab 900 are designed to
protect occupants from the first
impact and to keep them inside the
car. The remaining problem is to
protect them from injury inside the
safety cage.
For 1983, we have provided
three-point harnesses for four
passengers. The position in the
middle of the rear seat is provided
with a lap belt restraint.
The roof is thickly padded
with glass fiber insulation that can
absorb a very heavy impact without
bottoming. Windshield supports
are padded with polyurethane
foam. The door handles and other
controls are recessed to prevent
puncture injuries.
The design of the 900’s steer-
ing wheel and column is probably
Page 19
the safest in any car in the world.
The padded center of the wheel
will cushion a significant impact,
helping to protect the driver from
serious head, neck or chest injury,
and the column is designed to
gradually give way in a collision
with the driver's body.
The steering column is
constructed in three sections.
The one nearest the driver is a
telescoping section inside a steel
mesh cage. That section will give
way quickly in heavy stress.
The second section, joined to the
other two with universal joints, is
a sheet metal bellows that deflects
the steering column in a crash.
The third section is a rigid shaft
connected to the steering box.
A rear seat passenger who is
thrown forward in a crash will, of
course, hit the seat in front of him,
so Saab has padded the backs of
the front seats and made sure that
there are no sharp corners or edges.
Welded collision beams help protect the engine
and restrain it from being forced backwards in
acrash,
SAVING YOUR NECK.
The greatest danger in a rear-
end collision is of injury to your
neck. The major protection against
that is the Saab seat and its integral
headrest.
When your car is hit from the
rear, you are thrown forcefully
backwards. That backward thrust
is arrested by the back of the seat
which, in the Saab 900, cushions
the impact and supports your back,
so that it isn’t thrown about by the
impact of the crash. The headrest
should keep your head from being
forced back over the top of the seat.
If the headrest isn’t high
enough, or supportive enough,
your head keeps snapping back-
wards and down, bending the neck
at a sharp angle. When that angle
gets to be too sharp, more than 120
degrees, serious neck injury results.
The taller you are, of course,
the more subject you are to the
danger of having a headrest too
low to stop the backward motion.
So Saab engineers, in designing the
900’s seat, used the tallest test
dummies made. Only one percent
of all of the people in the world are
taller than the test dummies used
to test those seats.
The headrests are made of
an energy-absorbing foam molded
around a flexible plate. Properly
raised to fit the passenger, the
headrests will prevent the head
from bending the neck to more
than a 40-degree angle.
If the Saab is hit from the side,
occupants are protected by the
steel beams welded inside the
doors, by the heavy-gauge steel on
the doors and by foam padding
inside to absorb the impact’s energy.
The Saab’s fuel tank is located
between the back wheels and
under the floor, where there is the
least danger of its being ruptured
in an accident, and materials inside
the passenger compartment are all
flame-retardant.
FIGHTING
THE FENDER-BENDER.
Most collisions, though, are
very minor and don't threaten the
a as J
/
Fa 4
=
1 < o>
a) : 47,
{' y ~
Ww
OR .
2
1: The Saab steering wheel will give way in the event of a serious collision, absorbing much
of the driver's forward motion, in order to reduce possible injury.
2: The 900's cellular bumpers are self-restoring —not only do they help protect the car from
“fender benders,” but they will return to their original shape after a moderate collision.
passengers at all. They happen in
parking lots and on local streets in
slow traffic, and they're responsible
for enormous amounts of money
being spent in body-repair shops
each year.
To protect the Saab against
damage from minor accidents of
that type, we've fitted the 900 with
a self-restoring bumper filled with
cellular plastic blocks that absorb
the energy of a low-speed collision
and then resume their original
shape.
The bumpers meet current
US. standards, but this same type
were fitted several years before
the law required them. They are so
effective that we equip all Saab
900s with them, no matter where in
the world they are sold.
Saab’s bumpers give the car
substantial protection from the
kind of minor collision that
accounts for much of the body
damage to cars on American
roads. Naturally, they don’t
provide absolute protection; the
best defense against that kind of
damage is an alert and defensive
driving style.