Why no one tried to develop a car which is configurable as both LHD and RHD?
Surely engineering can't the that complex? Moving pedals from a side to another should be dead easy. Steering control will be bit more difficult still not difficult with modern engineering.
Or someone tried but discarded the project because of no commercial market?
|
|
There have been systems where the controls just slide across. Too expensive, complicated with inefficient use of space in both the interior and engine bay.
|
Road sweepers have had 'em for years.
tinyurl.com/7dusm4x
Some family cars do have dual controls; the second set usually operated by an elderly female relative in the back seat! ;-)
|
Seem to remember that the Triumph TR7 sort of tried this. In as much as the dashboard was symetrical so the instrument pinnicle could be fitted either side depending on which country it was going to (break down in!)
|
I recall an insurance or investment advert from the late 80's or 90's about how good the company was re global investments and showed a fictional Russian super car with a steering wheel that switched automatically from LHD to RHD at a flick of a switch.
I imagine that with more automated systems in cars (drive by wire etc) making cars switchable to LHD or RHD will become easier.
Last edited by: zippy on Fri 23 Dec 11 at 11:04
|
>> Seem to remember that the Triumph TR7 sort of tried this.
>> In as much as the dashboard was symetrical so the instrument pinnicle could be fitted either side depending on which country it was going to
>>
IIRC quite a few cars in the old days had this sort of approach with little square plugs in the passenger side where the steering column would go.
Some cheap scates had the speed etc in the middle of the dash.
|
|
I read an article on this a year or so back. Apparently Mercedes have demonstrated a switchable system, but the steering wheel is not physically connected to the rack (fly by wire). This is currently illegal as cars must have this physical connection. This is the sticking point design wise, it is too cumbersome to engineer with the physical connection
|
Apart from steering, I understand that Renault have already mastered the combined LHD / RHD system.
It seems that the thin gauge steel in the front passenger footwell is sufficiently flexible to allow the passenger to operate the brakes.
|
There is surely usually a bit more to it than just swapping over the pedals and steering wheel?
Lots of smaller details are handed left and right - angle of gear lever and handbrake, window winder controls, bonnet release catch, petrol filler release, parking of windscreen wipers, position of vanity mirrors, coat hooks, grab handles, etc.
|
>> There is surely usually a bit more to it than just swapping over the pedals
>> and steering wheel?
>>
>> Lots of smaller details are handed left and right
angle of gear lever and handbrake,
bonnet release catch,
petrol filler release,
parking of windscreen wipers,
position of vanity mirrors
coat hooks
grab handles, etc.
I have owned and driven foreign cars where none of these things were changed from l/h drive to r/h drive considerations.
Last edited by: Zero on Fri 23 Dec 11 at 21:11
|
|
The Metro was close to a universal car. I bought one that had been exported to Belgium as LHD, re-imported to the UK and then converted to RHD. Talking to guy that ran the business, the conversion was very simple.
|
|
So was the Rover SD1, it was designed ambidextrous.
|
I bought a very tidy LHD Allegro in red..big bumper version. ( Awaits hoots of derision ). It came in from Dutchie land, I still have the plates.
We made it into a RHD, IIRC, it wasn't a major job.
We outed it fairly quickly and made a reasonable profit.
Ted
|
>>
>> I bought a very tidy LHD Allegro in red..big bumper version.
HOOT HOOT
|
My BIL bought a 'new' Metro that had been converted from LHD.It had lots of faults that the main dealer wasn't really interested in. I recall tightening several fixings around the steering rack. The carpet had the piece that was cut out for the steering column on the RH side glued to the floor on the LH side!
I pointed out the headlamps were still LHD dip pattern and would probably fail its first MOT. The suppliers weren't interested and he had to buy new headlamps when it was three years old.
Overall, I don't think he saved any money over the price he could have sourced a proper RHD version.
|
>> My BIL bought a 'new' Metro that had been converted from LHD.
There were businesses in N London in the seventies importing Minis and converting them to RHD. IIRC until 83 they even got a 'new' plate.
|
|
My BiL's first car was one of those - a red mini - rather incongruously with a door mirror on the passenger door and nawt on the driver's door - that would have been a minimal cost conversion then !
|
>>
>> I have owned and driven foreign cars where none of these things were changed from
>> l/h drive to r/h drive considerations.
>>
Same with lorries. In my Volvo, the map-reading light in the roof is on the passenger side, useless unless you've got a driver's mate with you. On my older 1998 truck it was on the driver's side regardless of whether the lorry was LHD or RHD so I can only assume it was done to save money at the assembly plant.
|
>> Same with lorries. In my Volvo, the map-reading light in the roof is on the
>> passenger side, useless unless you've got a driver's mate with you.
Be grateful you haven't got a new MAN, interior lights all but useless, the brightest one faces you just above your left eye so blinds you, the fixed map reading light shines down onto the dash as it slopes down to the screen, the roof lights 2x5w are like candles once you've found the switch for them which is situated behind you and to your left on the floor!!!
Just to help the dashboard is all dimly displayed with red backlighting, so us drivers over the age of 16 need to keep a torch and our reading glasses handy and pop them both on to use any of the switchgear...;)
Looks pretty though.
|
>>
>> I have owned and driven foreign cars where none of these things were changed from
>> l/h drive to r/h drive considerations.
>>
Interesting. It is often a criticism of badly converted LH/RH drive cars that the wipers park on the wrong side, giving an uncleared patch.
All my cars have had the bonnet catch and master window control for example on the driver's side - a bit inconvenient on the wrong side surely?
Also aren't there now rules about which side the exhaust has to discharge from?
|
Ir seems that the technology to drive on "either side" is more advanced than we thought. Happened across this whilst browsing the Daily Telegraph's review section;
tinyurl.com/cwv7mgg
Admittedly the Unimog isn't exactly a mainstream vehicle, but it's evidently far more advanced than its agricultural image would suggest.
|
>> Interesting. It is often a criticism of badly converted LH/RH drive cars that the wipers
>> park on the wrong side, giving an uncleared patch.
I notice that the Clio had some sort of odd arrangment that would push the blade higher up the glass - I always wondered would it not be easier to put the arms on the right way round
I have also noticed that some BMW's also do a simaler arrangement (the blades/arms sweep from right to left, as apposed to left to right) If i pay that much money for a premium car then I want my blades to sweep in the correct way.
|
LHD & RHD in same car? - Zero
