NEW CAR MERITS RESPECT

Southland Times, Issue 22969, 15 August 1936, Page 19

NEW CAR MERITS RESPECT

Caution Necessary A FACTOR THAT LEADS TO TROUBLE Greater emphasis on the caution necessary on the part of owners immediately after trading-in old cars for new models with much-improved performances, would perhaps result in a reduction in the alarming number of accidents that occur in New Zealand each year, (states the New Zealand Herald). In recent accidents many current season’s models have been involved, and while this is certainly no reflection on the merits of the new cars, it tends to show that some drivers at least have not accustomed themselves to the flashing acceleration and speed with silence of the latest types. All drivers, even those who regard their cars as mere forms of transport, get to know their particular machine, without perhaps realizing that they are adapting themselves to the peculiarities that any vehicle will develop with age. This is best illustrated when an owner is lending his car to a friend for a run. He usually mentions the weaknesses in performence, matters which he guards against automatically but which might lead a stranger into trouble. Perhaps the brakes are pulling unevenly; the engine tends to heat if over-driven; there is a worn tyre that must be treated with respect; or steering that tends to wander and must be watched. When he takes over a new car, however, the owner realizes that none of the faults which have existed in his old model will be apparent in the latest one for many thousands of miles. He often fails to realize, however, that he is in a more powerful car—one that will reach perhaps seventy-five or eighty miles an hour and yet ride as comfortably and run as silently as his old car would at thirty-five. It is this factor that leads to trouble. Drivers frequently admit that “they had no idea they were going so fast.” The familiar amount of pressure on the accelerator is likely to produce very different results with a modern car, however, and for that reason the new model should be treated with due respect until the driver has become thoroughly familiar with it, and has forgotten the special technique he unconsciously developed for an out-of-date product.