Quote:
Originally Posted by underscore
The ad is gone but how is it less safe and what do seats fix? If you roll the car you'd have a worse time without the bar methinks.
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Not every collision results in a rollover, rather the opposite, the vast majority of collisions on public roads are not rollovers. Take a look at the top of the seat back on the stock Miata seat, it sits below the rollbar. In a front or rear impact there can be enough whiplash that the back of the occupants head smacks into the rollbar with unpleasant consequences.
The back of a racing seat sits higher and is between the roll bar and the occupants head and the seat back/base is one piece and flexes less. Additionally, on a track the occupants(s) wear helmets and roll bar padding is required (at least in SCCA and Spec Miata). In a high energy rollover collision like one might encounter at a track, one has a roll bar in conjunction with racing seats (and maybe a 5 point racing harness), helmets, and roll bar padding, now your roll bar is making you safer.
Yes there are some scenarios on the road where a rollbar might provide a benefit in a rollover collision but there are way more collision scenarios where the roll bar isn't going to help and in fact may hurt.
I dunno, I looked at the ad for that Miata and nothing in the ad pointed to a car that has been modded for track use. Yes, the owner could have un-modded it, but if one's going to do that, pull the rollbar as well to sell it, there's always someone looking to make their Miata more safe....