Plenty of comments about the growing danger of increased safety equipment in this thread from yesterday.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3139629/posts
In this GM case, from what I’ve read, steering lock isn’t even part of the problem. As far as I can tell, this causes a loss of power and the airbags don’t deploy. It doesn’t explain how it causes people to crash.
“In this GM case, from what I’ve read, steering lock isn’t even part of the problem. As far as I can tell, this causes a loss of power the airbags don’t deploy. It doesn’t explain how it causes people to crash.”
The steering column MAY lock. Also, many cars have power steering and/or brakes. Newer cars can have electric power steering. A sudden increase in steering effort might make a big difference in accident avoidance capability.
I was surprised that the airbags don’t deploy if the engine somehow is shut off. I thought they deployed on impact. That sounds like something drivers should know.