Peril of Overloading

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 142, 6 September 1927, Page 6

Peril of Overloading

Damage to the Car's Strength Causes 90 per cent. All Trouble WEEK after week as the newer school of motorist comes along it is becoming increasingly evident that a greater number are grossly and wilfully overloading their cars. This must be patent to anyone who takes the trouble to observe conditions of loading during week-end jaunts especially.

A society is at present in existence i for the prevention of cruelty to dumb animals. Were it possible to create an office to prevent overloading of cars hundreds of glaring cases would be secured each w'eek-end. The guilty driver will probably smile at this, perhaps not very apt, comparison, but the smile will be on the other side of his face —metaphorically —if he took the pains to count the cost directly due to this thoughtless practice. Apart altogether from the question of comfort —which must be clear to the merest novice—it is false economy to overload the car either by this extra weight or by over-driving. Strange it is, therefore, to see those owners in affluent circumstances carefully touring along in large, roomy and powerful machines, well inside their rated capacity in every direction, whereas those not so happily placed financially and who as a consequence should studiously adopt rational methods, habitually crowd their cars to their utmost capacity, and, on top of this, frequently over-drive them. Cowleys, Baby Austins, Rovers and a host of other little ones are passed—or worse still, occasionally pass—with five or six aboard. Chevs., Fords and the innumerable full-track light cars are seen staggering along under the impost of the weight of six or seven hefty humans until one expects at any moment to see the job subside to the roadway. The excuse that this style of travelling enables more of one’s friends to “take the air” is not justified in the light of either the enormously increased risk of accident or of the rapid wear and tear of the car. Motors to-day are highly specialised units, and there is the right machine for any particular capacity within reach of even the very modest purse. The driver of a cruelly overladen horse-drawn vehicle may be lucky enough to escape the arm of the law, and be summarily dealt with; but inevitably he has done his beast serious harm. Its heart may be broken and its useful life finished. Be warned, you motorists, who habitually practise this overloading, that the same thing is happening to your car. A low-gear full-throttle struggle under these conditions up, say, Khyber Pass, will take more out of a small car than will five hundred miles of sane running. Every point of the machine Avill be forced to work under loads and stresses far above those intended, and the inevitable result —even though delayed—will be a breakdown. So often we hear the hard-luck story

of the motorist who breaks a spring, i or an axle, runs a bearing, or suffers | some other such major trouble—while i cruising along a smooth road. Ninety per cent, of these mishaps can be traced to some previous overloading in one direction or another. SPRINGS SUFFER, TOO Springs and tyres especially receive a frightful gruelling under such conditions. The suspension of our cars is at best only a compromise, and when the makers design them, they are intended to take care of plus and minus —a definite load. Unfortunately, the plus side is so overworked, that they soon cease to function as intended, lose all “life,” crystallise rapidly, and consequently, may fail at any moment. The tyre question, however, is directly under control of the driver, and especially when balloon tyres are fitted he will look after even serious overloads. It is a suicidal policy, however, to run with perhaps two up during the week, and then expect the tyres to look after a load of five or six, plus luggage, for a long week-end trip. TYRE PRESSURE The pressure of air in the tyres has a definite bearing, not only upon their life, but upon the safety of the outfit, and the passengers carried. To prove the utter disregard of correct tyre pressure shown by the average driver, eleven cars, of same make and fitted with identical tyres, were, taken at random during this week, and a gauge used for testing. In each case the driver was consulted as to his opinion of the pressure of his tyres, and in practically every instance he was quite satisfied. The correct pressure necessary for the tyres on this particular car were, according to the makers, 251 b front and 261 b rear. Pressures actually taken ranged from 121 b to 421 b, and in not one instance were recommended pressures used. One car in particular had 121 b in left front and 321 b in right front tyre. Imagine the risk this man ran of serious accident, if by any chance he met trouble at speed on a corner. Further cases could, of course, be cited, but suffice to say that far more care should be bestowed upon the correct inflation of tyres, both from an economic and safety viewpoint. Few cases would then he heard of where a tyre had blown out when cornering, and the car turned over. Actually, the tyre seldom blows out, but, due to incorrect pressure, the car has rolled over, qui v te out of control, and the tyre then burst by the impact.