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Fintec Newsletter - February 2010


Fintec's Hajadu is quad fun - only safer

Fintec’s new Hajadu (left) is an exciting and good-looking off-road recreational vehicle.  However, its beauty is more than skin-deep.  So, if you are concerned about the poor safety record of quad bikes, this could be the answer. 

Indeed, a quad bike is easily unsettled because it cannot be leaned into a corner and it sometimes starts bouncing uncontrollably when landing after having been airborne.  People have sustained severe injuries—and some have died—when they were involved in a quad roll-over accident.  In an accident such as this, you have no protection.  You simply go flying, landing on the ground with the quad close behind, sometimes landing on top of you. 

As you can see, the Hajadu offers a proper roll cage (right) and you are secured in your seat by a multi-point harness.  Even if you do manage to capsize your Hajadu, you will remain safely within the strengthened roll cage.  Not that such an event is likely, because with its long-travel, fully independent suspension (even at the rear, see photo at left) it is also far more stable than a quad.


Exciting VWs coming soon!

There are several new VWs afoot.  At right is the completely new Touareg, launched just ahead of its Porsche Cayenne twin.  New Touareg is vastly more economical and over 200kg lighter than the outgoing model, which sold 500,000 units.  It will be offered in a hybrid version too, but the V10 TDI will be dropped. 

Below is the new Polo GTI, powered by a 132kW version of VW’s 1.4-litre “twin-charger” engine, good enough for a 0-100km/h sprint in little over 7 seconds, yet it is far more economical than the outgoing 1.8T.  It will feature the Golf GTI’s XDS electronic limited slip differential and a 7-speed DSG transmission will be available. 

Another new Polo derivative just shown for the first time is the new CrossPolo (below), soon available in Germany in a range of engine options.  It will arrive here in due course, possibly with a similar choice of petrol and diesel engines as the outgoing CrossPolo.

Our opinion: New Touareg prettier and more responsible.  Lighter new Polo should be a real cracker with 132kW and hopefully handle better too.  CrossPolo again a curious styling exercise, but rather good-looking, if useless, off-road.  ●



Comment: The Toyota recall debacle

OK, so Toyota has been naughty.  Revised evidence suggests that State Farm, a U.S. insurer, has already alerted their government of certain Toyota warranty claims activity in 2004, and not 2007 as originally thought.  In addition, more evidence has come to light suggesting Toyota had considered their small 2007 “floor mat recall” as a cost-saving exercise to appease the critics, and that they have succeeded in limiting U.S. safety investigations—branding these as “wins”. 

To add fuel to the fire, they have lobbied in Washington for “favourable recall outcomes” and “safety rule-making favourable to Toyota”, successfully delaying vehicle safety rule implementation covering electric shock, impact and door lock rules.  All things considered, Toyota President Akio Toyoda will face some tough questions in an upcoming extraordinary appearance in front of lawmakers.

Be that as it may, is the furore surrounding Toyotas’ “unintended acceleration” justified?  Well, much of the uproar has to do with the litigious and paranoid nature of Americans.  Only a fool would not notice a gradual stiffening of an accelerator pedal, or a mat repeatedly getting caught in it.  Failing that, the worst that could happen is that you cannot get the accelerator released.  You could do many things to avert disaster: press the brakes, apply the handbrake, select neutral or switch off the engine.  Be sure of this one unassailable mechanical engineering principle: the brakes are far stronger than the engine—that is why they can stop much faster than you can accelerate.  If anyone ever tells you their car ran away with them, no matter how hard they pressed the brake pedal, they were stepping on the accelerator instead.

Audi’s sales collapsed in America in the late 1980s when stupid Americans, unused to the German car’s pedal placement, inadvertently stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake, running over toddlers, grannies and garage walls alike.  It wasn’t the car’s fault, but American moms cried foul nonetheless, just as they are doing now with Toyota, and sales of Audis fell from 74,000 in 1984 to 12,000 in 1991.  And there was not actually anything wrong with their cars, except for idiotic operators stepping on the wrong pedals.

Neither does the current recall make Toyotas bad cars.  Have yours fixed and keep on driving forever and a day, as Toyotas are wont to do.  But there is no fix for stupidity.  Even staying off the roads won’t help; Americans can injure themselves in their sleep and by the break of day, they would have found a scapegoat to sue.    - Cobus Potgieter  ●