I gave that some thought... (archive)

I figure that a 1" change in steering wheel height does not make a big change in risk. It probably adds some risk as you indicated, but let's face it, driving a car down the road is risky to begin with.

I could raise the seat height and get the same effect, but my head would touch the roof - BMW allowed for this adjustment, so maybe they factored wheel position in their safety equation. I'm sure the telescope feature of the wheel also affects crash safety.

Doug

I see just one problem with that. BMW spends millions design their cars in every respect, including crash safety. The steering wheel is where it is for a reason. If you are ever in a severe accident, your steering column might not react in the way its suppossed to.

Greg

I got tired of the upright steering wheel position (feel like I'm driving a Kenworth), so I installed a few (5) washers between the bolt that holds the steering column in place. This dropped the wheel by about 1 1/4".

I like the position MUCH better (personal preference), but I can't see much of the speedo or tach. If you want to do this yourself, all you need to do is:

1. remove the dash cover under the steering wheel and above the pedals (5(?) phillips screws)
2. Use a 13mm socket to remove the two bolts that hold the column in place
3. Replace those bolts with 25 or 30 mm long bolts and put a few washers in between to drop the wheel height.
4. put the dash cover back in place.

Anyone have a plexiglass steering wheel so I can tell how fast I'm going?

Doug

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