Is the Minor's steering column collapsible?

[Fingolfin]

Greetings to one and all! I'm a long-time reader, but a first-time member -- I didn't realize you could be a member of the forum without being a member of MMOC. (Not that I don't want to be.)

I've been wondering for a while about the safety of my '59 Morris Minor 1000. Being middle-American, it's been protected from the English sea spray and hence has comparatively little rust, and overall it's in remarkably good condition, but my Mog will soon turn 51, so the safety tech in the old thing is a little...well, old.

One of the concerns that I find most interesting is that of the collapsibility of the steering column. I've read from numerous posts that Sir Alec Issigonis designed the Morris Minor steering column to collapse upon severe impact, but I've read from other posts that the steering column doesn't collapse -- and, according the Wikipedia's Steering article, the collapsible column debuted in the 1959 Mercedes-Benz W111 Fintail, meaning my Moggie is only just theoretically capable of having a collapsible column.

So, the questions are: did any Morris Minor have a collapsible steering column? Does mine?

Thank you all for your help!

[MarkyB]

Minor were built when the need for transport and exports were the main concerns, not in the health and safety culture we have now.
In short, no it isn't.

I have heard that they can be adapted into rifle barrels but this may be an urban legend.

[mike.perry]

Fit seat belts and use them.
Has anyone thought about stuffing an air bag into the glove box?

[Sidney'61]

Fit seat belts and use them.
Has anyone thought about stuffing an air bag into the glove box?

I once saw a minor van with a balloon taped to the dashboard...

But I agree with Mike, seatbelts really should be fitted so that there is less chance of you hitting the steering wheel anyway. Depending on the type of crash the minor could be better in some situations than some modern cars simply because of the strength of the body.

[PSL184]

The column was not designed to be collapsable until around 1963 but I believe the design intends the earlier columns to swing upwards rather than backwards towards driver in a crash

[Fingolfin]

Some great information! Thank you all.

Lap belts have already been fitted in my Minor for the front seats -- and they saved my neck in a wreck -- and I have intentions to fit three-point belts for the front seats, and put two of the same in the back. Considering how people drive now, at least in the States, seatbelts are a true necessity.

[mike.perry]

Lap belts are next to useless, they don't stop you smashing your head on the windscreen. Go and buy yourself a pair of inertia reel 3 point seat belts and then ask on here how to fit them. What year and is it a 2 or 4 door?

[PSL184]

Mike - Its on this post here if you have missed it....

http://www.mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=30391

[bmcecosse]

Yes - lap belts ARE worse than nothing - they can deliver serious internal injuries -and they just make your upper torso buckle forwards into the steering wheel. The Minor column is mounted on the intentionally weak dash rail - in such a way that in a hard frontal - the area with the steering rack(ie down at your feet) will come back - and the column will pivot on the dash mount - pushing the wheel away from you and into the windscreen. Later Mini has the same design - some fools ruin this by fitting 'lowering brackets' to the column/dash mount - and with these fitted - the column and wheel will spear straight back at you. Not a great idea. Good 3 point lap/diagonal belts are essential - worry more about lack of a head restraint to minimise whip-lash!

[mike.perry]

Thanks PSL, I'd missed that one.
I have never been sure about inertia belts in a 2 door because of the lack of a proper top mounting bolt. The last 2 door I tried had the top mounting at the front corner of the rear side window, was awkward to pull over the shoulder and the snatch test was not very reliable. I have inertia belts in the Traveller which are fine but I have kept to static belts in the MM which has the top mounting on a triangular bracket one third of the way along under the rear side window.

[Fingolfin]

lol, happy to see you'd caught Mog's main entry, PSL.

I agree with the notion that 3-pointers are better than lap belts -- but I'd also argue that, since I walked away from my wreck with only a small bruise on my left knee, lap belts are worthwhile, if you have nothing better to fit. This summer, when I'm next with the car, I intend to fit the four 3-pointers, as mentioned.

I ran across nice ideas for fitting rear seatbelts at http://www.mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f= ... +seat+belt and http://www.mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f= ... +seat+belt, but I'm curious about the front 3-pointers. Is the B-pillar strong enough to hold the top point in the event of a wreck, or should it not be mounted there?

[mike.perry]

I would say that you were extremely lucky to get away with an injured knee, if it had been a head on crash then you would have smashed your head on the windscreen.
On a 2 door the B pillar above the window is not strong enough for a seat belt mounting which is why the top anchorage is below the window. For an inertia belt to operate correctly it needs to extend in a straight line from the reel. If it is not then it will either lock up when pulling the slack out to fasten it or it may not lock when it is meant to.
With the top mounting so close to the wearer's shoulder I am not sure that the direction of the forces acting on the seat belt in an accident would lock it up as efficiently as if the top mounting was 1/3 to 1/2 way back along the bottom of the window.
Needless to say I am not prepared to test the theories on the road in my car and I do not have access to crash test facilities.

[RobThomas]

Speaking from experience (Traveller Vs 7 tonne truck), I've got to say that Newton Commercial seats and Inertia reel belts are what saved me. The impact was hard enough to strip the tyres off the wheels and to bend the top arm of the front suspension through 90 degrees without any distortion to the chassis crossmember. I wish I'd been able to get photos of it but it was carted away by the insurance company before I was back on my feet.
I'd broken my thumbs against the steering wheel rim as I went forwards (the wheel and column didn't move, though) before smashing my knuckles on the metal dash. I hit both kneecaps on the sharp lip at the bottom of the dashboard and chipped my elbow on the B-post. My neck and back were bad enough to make me unable to physically get off the bed unaided for 2 weeks and I was off work for 18 months.

The coloumn on the Morris is beter than the Midget because the Morris column and rack are BEHIND the centreline of the front wheels and therefore are less exposed to being shunted back towards you. I know someone who had a head-on in a 4-door that was hard enough to break the DIFF CASING! That was a reeeealy big one where the engine and box were shunted aft.