Here's my thinking on the subject ... (more) (archive)

I respect the fact that you want to bring back some of the European attributes that BMW denies U.S. customers, but why would you want to do anything that might compromise the safety of your vehicle? That underdash padding was put there because crash tests show that it improves safety for the car's occupants.

The knee padding was put in place to make the BMW perform better on US government tests that don't reflect real world driving conditions for me and my wife. The pads are designed to protect unbelted occupants. My wife & I always wear belts and we resent losing so much wiggle room to protect people who are too stupid to belt up.

Safety is a big deal at BMW. They spend a ton of engineering resources making their cars safer. If these knee bolsters made the cars safer in real world situations, BMW would make them standard in Europe and then adjust the door panels to align properly. These ugly knee panels are the merely the unintended consequences of misguided US government legislation.

Then you also have to consider what you'll do when you sell the car. Do you disclose the mods? Will a buyer want a car that has some of the U.S. mandated safety features removed? Will you have any third party liability if an uninformed occupant is injured?

Very good point and it's something I've already considered. I intend to keep the old parts and re-install them before selling the car. Unless, of course, I sell the car to a fellow enthusiast who appreciates the improvements. In that case, I would include the original parts with the sale. I always inform purchasers of vehicles I sell about every modification I have made.

You could make the liability argument with almost any modification you make to your car. For example, I installed Corvette brakes on my Taurus SHO and Porsche 993 Twin Turbo brakes on my Impala SS at all four corners. You could consider that I "tampered" with safty equipment on those cars and could be liable if I was in an accident and someone sued me because I had tampered with the brakes. There comes a point where you simply have to accept a certain amount of risk in exchange for additional enjoyment. I get a kick out of modifying cars. I enjoy racing on the track. I do the best I can to be responsible and use the best safety equipment, the best hardware, etc. For the dash modifications, I consider the marginal amount of risk (practically zero) to be well worth the benefits.

I can understand most things people do to modify their cars (for example, I brought back a pair of European-standard mirrors for my car), but I don't think I'd do this.

European mirrors? How much! What do they look like? I want them. Drool! Drool! :-)

Think about this...if BMW didn't offer airbags in Europe, would you take those out too?

No. But if BMW offered special, multi-stage airbags in Europe that deployed with different amounts of force depending upon the severity of the crash and they were somehow not sold in the USA because of an outdated regulation, I would probably investigate installing them in my car.

I'm not performing these modifications simply because I want my car to be "just like the European model." I'm doing the modifications because I see a benefit to them. In this case, it's additional legroom, additional driver side storage, and a much cleaner interior appearance.

If there was a feature that was unique to the American model that was worthwhile, I certainly wouldn't take it out.

Dave Z.

Follow Ups:

About the mirrors... Robert A 13:08 2/05/2001 (0)

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