【Car owner’s home car knowledge】For many friends, the car is the second space besides the house. It is used as much as the house in the city. After buying a car, many people always want to decorate it themselves. The deeper the love, the more frequently they move. There is nothing wrong with decorating your car. Decorating it according to your own preferences is good-looking, but don’t be greedy for beauty and ignore the driving safety of the vehicle. The editor below summarizes the following car decorations with safety hazards based on the needs of netizens.
Hidden dangers in vehicle exterior decoration
Privately modified xenon headlights
I believe that many drivers have experienced "a blinding bright light coming towards them when driving at night, and it is completely white under the strong light, making it impossible to see the road clearly..." For passers-by or drivers who encounter cars with illegally modified xenon headlights, these ultra-bright xenon headlights with white lights may be an annoying disaster.
Most car owners who modify xenon headlights generally only choose cheap domestic xenon headlights due to price issues, and only replace the original halogen bulbs with xenon headlights without replacing the assembly. Since the sizes of large xenon bulbs and original halogen bulbs are different, the light-emitting part may deviate from the focus position, causing the car lights to not focus, have no correct high-beam function, the color temperature is too high, and the visibility is particularly poor when used in rainy days and other serious problems.
Install luggage rack yourself
Car roof rack actually represents a leisure lifestyle. When traveling abroad, car owners usually load bicycles, snowboards, kayaks, surfboards, camping and other sports equipment. Compared with previous years, luggage racks are gradually becoming more popular among Chinese car consumers.
The main supporting parts of the roof rack are mainly made of aluminum alloy and high-strength plastic (nylon plus mixed fiberglass). Car owners can choose according to their preferences. However, for cars that do not have a reserved space for installing a luggage rack, it is best for car owners not to install it by themselves, because the process of drilling the roof involves the leakage and rust prevention of the car body, which often affects the use of the vehicle due to poor handling. Whether it is to meet personalization or comfort, the exterior decoration of a private car should be based on actual needs, and attention should be paid to ensuring the safety, passability and environmental protection of the vehicle. Blind installation is not only no fun, but also brings unsafe risks.
Install bumper
The minivans on the market are mainly flat-top micro-vans. Since the front end of flat-top minivans does not have a collision energy-absorbing structure, the front passenger compartment cannot guarantee the survival space of the driver and front-seat passengers in a collision, and it cannot meet the specific requirements for safe car bodies in the "Design Rules for Occupant Protection in Frontal Collisions" promulgated by our country. Therefore, some manufacturers that produce micro-faces subsequently made adjustments to their products, developing "pointed" models that comply with regulations, and adding forward-protruding bumpers to the original flat-top cars. This was the most labor-saving and cost-effective approach. It was called a stopgap measure at the time, and their presence can still be seen in the market today.
The lower bumper is as sharp as a shovel. In actual collisions, it does provide a certain buffer, but it causes greater damage to the vehicles and people being hit. The calves and ankles of the struck pedestrian are the first to be injured. Many accidents prove this. This bumper is extremely aggressive and makes pedestrians and small cars avoid it. For larger vehicles, it becomes a paper tiger and cannot play its due role.
Open the skylight privately
After buying a car, many car owners like to open a sunroof in order to pursue fresh air and personalization in the car. According to a staff member of the Chengdu branch of a world-renowned automotive sunroof supplier, the current sunroof installation business is very good, with many orders received every day. Other modification shops and repair shops can also get a lot of business because of their low prices.
Installing a sunroof at will is a kind of damage to the appearance of the vehicle. At the same time, because it is not produced by the original factory and the installation technical level is limited, it can easily lead to poor sealing, water leakage in the car, corrosion of the roof, etc., which is very annoying. According to some maintenance experts, if there is a problem with the skylight, it is troublesome to repair it, which often leads to a complete replacement, which is not cost-effective to increase the cost.
At the same time, if the car owner opens the sunroof privately, it will change the overall structure of the vehicle and the safety technical parameters of the design. When the car encounters rollover or collision, the structure and load-bearing capacity of the top of the car will be weakened, resulting in reduced safety performance, which will increase the degree of harm to the drivers and passengers. It can be said that there are many hidden dangers.
Blindly upgrade wheels
Replacing tires and wheels for cars is a common practice in car modification. Properly upgraded tires can cooperate with the braking system to shorten the vehicle's braking distance and increase the vehicle's adhesion coefficient to the road when driving at high speeds. However, when upgrading tires and wheels, some car owners blindly increase and widen the tires and ignore the data matching of the tires, causing huge hidden dangers to the vehicle. The car has been rigorously tested before leaving the factory, and the original tires must be in line with the overall performance of the vehicle. When modifying tires, if you choose mismatching patterns and materials, there will be hidden dangers. Industry insiders say that in general, reasonable tire and wheel modifications are based on increasing the wheel size of the original car by 1 inch, and at the same time, upgrading the tires, with the best being 10 mm wider. It is very dangerous to blindly upgrade tires and wheels so that they do not match the performance of the original car.
Hidden dangers in vehicle interior decoration
Avoid changing racing steering wheels blindly
If you observe carefully, you will find that many of the sports modified cars running on the street have had their steering wheels replaced with small, colorful sports steering wheels. Some car owners see that some racing steering wheels look good, so they replace the original steering wheel with a professional racing steering wheel regardless of the actual situation. As a result, it is not easy to use, and the original airbag protection is lost. The danger caused in the event of an accident can be imagined.
Even a professional racing steering wheel is wrapped with special materials such as leather, which is easy to grip and not slippery, making it easier to drive safely. However, it is worth noting that although the racing steering wheel has many advantages in its compact, beautiful appearance and flexible use, when the steering wheel is modified, the airbag that originally played a safety assist role is often removed (the racing steering wheel is not equipped with an airbag). Therefore, although the car owner has achieved his goal in improving control, the safety guarantee has been lost, which has brought certain safety risks to the car owner, and the gain outweighs the loss.
Cute doll hanging in car
Many people have noticed that some QQ, Beetle, and MINI car owners, especially female car owners, always combine the style of the original car with various cartoon figures as decorations in the car. This kind of decoration makes the car more fashionable and bright, but it has a certain impact on safety.
These little dolls hanging from the front and rear windshields sway from side to side while driving, easily blocking the view. At the same time, backpacks, handbags, and other toys should not be placed in front of the windshield above the rear seat. During emergency braking, these items may fly forward and injure the driver. They may also easily affect the driver's vision when reversing. Because if too many large figures are placed on the rear windshield, it will affect the driver's ability to observe the middle rearview mirror and seriously affect the judgment of the driving environment. Everyone needs to pay attention. As for some car owners who like to hang decorations on the windows on both sides of the cab, this will also block their sight to a certain extent. Therefore, when decorating your car with accessories, the placement should be appropriate and don’t let the small things go unnoticed.
Add cushions to chairs
Many women are accustomed to putting a cushion on the driver's seat due to their petite stature. However, because the seat cushion is movable, it is easy to cause the driver's body to become unstable. When encountering emergency braking, the forward inertia of the body can easily cause the person to slip from the seat, causing the driver to be unable to sit firmly in the driving seat, causing the body to hit the steering wheel.
It’s easy to sweat in summer and your body will inevitably feel sticky. At this time, some car owners will also choose to add some cold cushions on top. In the automotive supplies market, bamboo mats, hemp mats, and cold-colored pure cotton seat covers are very popular. Using various bamboo and hemp mats made of bamboo products or hard plastic is equivalent to laying a layer of mat on the car seat. However, when installing these cooling seat covers or cushions on their cars, some car owners seem to be very careless, especially some cooling pads that are easy to slip off. When installed, they are not firm enough and will inevitably slide forward when braking suddenly, threatening the safety of the people in the car. Although it is often a false alarm, if an accident happens, it will be too late to regret it.
Floor glue is easy to slip
Many car owners are afraid of getting the interior of the car dirty after buying a new car, and at the same time, they also lay floor glue to facilitate cleaning. Some car owners encountered many problems after laying floor glue. First of all, when paving, some beauty shops have to remove the door pressure plate, which will cause looseness when reinstalling it. Not only does it reduce the sound insulation effect, but some dirty little things will seep down, making it more difficult to clean.
After installing the floor mats, due to the slippery floor rubber, the floor mats are often stepped on and slide forward when driving, resulting in the clutch not being fully depressed and the gear shifting becoming awkward. Elderly people or children are particularly prone to slipping when getting on and off the vehicle, so be careful.
Decorate with steering wheel/gear lever cover
From the beginning of the design of the car, the size of the steering wheel, the breathability, wear resistance, sweat wicking properties of the material, and the comfort of the palms on the steering wheel are taken into consideration. Some inferior steering wheel covers have poor elasticity and cannot be firmly fixed on the steering wheel. They can easily slip at critical moments. Especially for female car owners with petite hands, it is even more inappropriate to use a steering wheel cover that is too thick. Because this will cause the steering wheel to be too thick and difficult to hold, which will affect driving safety.
The dangers of using a steering wheel/gear lever cover are the same as wearing gloves while driving. After long-term use, the friction will decrease, and at the same time, it will also weaken your sense of the road conditions. When encountering some emergency situations, the controllability of the steering wheel will virtually deteriorate, which poses certain safety risks.
Related recommended reading:Discussing the rights and wrongs of modding culture and whether modding legislation should be introduced http://news.16888.com/a/2013/1220/313380.htmlDon’t get yourself in trouble for modification projects that are not allowed by the police http://news.16888.com/a/2013/1227/317207.html
