http://autos.yahoo.com/news/speedome...150136959.html



Hard to believe Claybrook can still get media attention


DETROIT (AP) -- The speedometer on the Toyota Yaris says the tiny car can go 140 miles per hour. In reality, the bulbous subcompact's 106-horsepower engine and automatic transmission can't push it any faster than 109.
So why do the Yaris — and most other cars sold in the U.S. — have speedometers that show top speeds they can't possibly reach?
The answer has deep roots in an American culture that loves the rush of driving fast. The automakers' marketing departments are happy to give people the illusion that their family car can travel at speeds rivaling a NASCAR racer. And companies often use one speedometer type in various models across the world, saving them money.
But critics say the ever-higher numbers are misleading. Some warn they create a safety concern, daring drivers to push past freeway speed limits that are 65 to 75 mph in most states.
"You reach a point where it becomes ridiculous," says Larry Dominique, a former Nissan product chief who now is executive vice president of the TrueCar.com auto pricing website. "Eighty percent plus of the cars on the road are not designed for and will not go over 110 mph."
Last year, speedometer top speeds for new versions of the mainstream Ford Fusion and Chevrolet Malibu were increased from 120 or 140 mph to 160, which approaches speeds on some NASCAR tracks. The speedometer on the Honda Accord already topped out at 160. All are midsize family haulers, the most popular segment of the U.S. auto market, and like most new cars, have top speeds that seldom exceed 120 mph.
The Yaris got its 140 mph speedometer in a redesign for the 2012 model year, giving it the same top reading as the original 1953 Chevrolet Corvette sports car. Even the new Nissan Sentra compact has a 160 mph speedometer.
There are several explanations for the speedometers.
When people are comparison shopping, cars with higher speedometer readings appear to be sportier, and buyers favor them even though they have no intention of driving over 100. "People really want to see higher numbers," said Fawaz Baltaji, a business development manager for Yazaki North America, a large supplier of speedometers for auto companies. "It is indicative of a more powerful engine. There's a marketing pitch to it."
Although cars with high-horsepower engines can come close to the top speedometer speeds, most are limited by engine control computers. That's because the tires can overheat and fail at higher speeds. Tires now common on mainstream cars often can't go above 130 mph or they could fail. Many tires, especially on older models, have speed limits as low as 112. But that's still faster than most people will ever drive.
Automakers, in a push to cut costs, now sell the same cars worldwide and use the same speedometers in different cars all over the world. In China and Europe, governments require that the top number on speedometers be higher than a car's top speed. Cars sold in Europe, for instance, have faster top speeds than those sold elsewhere because they can be driven over 150 mph on sections of Germany's Autobahn. So to sell the same car or speedometer globally, the numbers have to be higher, said Kurt Tesnow, who's in charge of speedometer and instrument clusters for General Motors.
Also, some mainstream cars have some souped-up cousins that go faster and need higher speedometer numbers. A Chevy Malibu with a 2-liter turbocharged engine, for instance, can go 155 mph, far higher than the mainstream version. The little Toyota Yaris gets its speedometer from another Toyota model that's sold in other countries. "It's not that each speedometer is designed for that specific vehicle," said Greg Thome, a company spokesman.
In a similar vein, U.S. automakers can make engines that blow past 70 mph because they make cars for global drivers and speed limits vary around the world. And drivers like the security of knowing they could outrun a natural disaster, such as a tornado, if necessary.
The speedometer designs also reflect research that found most people like the needle to hit highway speeds at the top of the speedometer's circle, said Yazaki's Baltaji. So the common freeway cruising speed of 70 to 80 mph is right in the middle on a 160 mph speedometer, he said.
The rising speedometer numbers aren't surprising to Joan Claybrook, the top federal auto safety regulator under President Jimmy Carter. She's been fighting the escalation for years and says it encourages drivers — especially younger ones — to drive too fast. During her tenure, she briefly got speedometer numbers lowered.
"They think that speed sells," she said of automakers. "People buy these cars because they want to go fast."
Some drivers at dealerships Tuesday conceded that marketing the higher speeds could have worked on them — at least when they were younger.
Paul Lampinen, 36, of Ann Arbor, Mich., said he bought a Ram Pickup with a V-8 engine because he likes a powerful truck. The higher speedometer numbers could have influenced him when he was in his 20s, but they wouldn't work now, he said. "I don't want to pay any tickets," he said while getting his truck serviced at a Chrysler dealer in nearby Saline, Mich.
For years, most speedometers topped out at 120 — even though that was 50 mph over the limit in most states. Then, in 1980, Claybrook, who ran the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, limited speedometers to 85 mph, even though cars could go much faster.
The move, designed to end the temptation to push cars to their limits, drew outrage from gearheads nationwide. Some automakers got around the rule by ending the numbers at 85 but leaving lines beyond that to show higher speeds. The government also forced automakers to highlight 55 mph, which at the time was the fuel-saving national speed limit.
The limit was short-lived, overturned two years later by President Ronald Reagan, who campaigned on a pledge to end onerous government regulations. Cars with 85 mph speedometers lingered for several years until they were redesigned and the maximum speeds for most returned to 120.
By the 2000s, however, the speedometer speeds crept higher. Even compact cars showed 130 or 140 mph. The 2014 Chevrolet Corvette speedometer and some Jaguar models now peak at 200.
Claybrook concedes there's no data to show the 85 mph limit saved lives, but she believes it did. She calls the ever-higher speedometer numbers immoral.
At present, the government has no plans to reinstate speedometer limits or regulate top speeds, saying there's no evidence to show it would prevent crashes. "Ultimately, drivers are subject to speed limits mandated by the states regardless of the top speed listed on a vehicle speedometer," NHTSA spokeswoman Lynda Tran said.
But Claybrook isn't satisfied. "To have a car register any more than the maximum speed limit is really a statement by the company: Drive faster. It's OK," she said. "It's encouraging people to violate the law."

 

to the article, but hey it's Friday.
Pretty amused the Yaris had a 140 speedo

 

We tried this with 85mph speedos in GM cars in the 80s. It didn't work.

 

^ my college room mate had a IROC-Z with a 85MPH speedo, wasn't long after he got it that he put in a aftermarket 140 speedo.

 

I'm fine with a 60 MPH speedo, I'll just look at trapster, BITCH

 

Just read that on Yahoo!. What a stupid article.

Seriously, if you're in a Yaris and really believe that you can hit 140mph... you deserve to be slapped with a wet noodle. Anyone who doesn't realize that the parts are sourced for multiple cars can also get a noodle slap...

 

^ to show how misinformed the article is, almost every car sold today use stepper motors for almost all the gauges. So speedometers are really just a microchip controller mechanical indicator, a change to the speedometer is just a few lines of S/W and a new silkscreen for the gauge numbering.

Personally I like digital speedometers, far easier to read.

 

I found this quote priceless:

"And drivers like the security of knowing they could outrun a natural disaster, such as a tornado, if necessary. "

Mah kar is fukkin AWESOME, I can outrun a TOR-NAY-DOH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And it only gets better:
"Claybrook concedes there's no data to show the 85 mph limit saved lives, but she believes it did. She calls the ever-higher speedometer numbers immoral. "

At this point I start to question whether the article author is just trolling. Guns don't kill people, guns are IMMORAL! Speedometers that go to high? IMMORAL! Tape measures that are too long, IMMORAL! Slide rules that don't have a built in calculator, IMMORAL!

 

My Speed6's speedo goes to 180mph... hmm.

I'll never forget when my dad bought his '82 Mustang GT in '82 and him complaining about the 85mph speedo. I never knew who was behind that madness, but now I know.

 

For years ive thought about throwing a B18 or a H22 into a Geo Metro for auto-x. That tiny light weight tin can would be a monster rocket. It would need well beyond a 140 speedo

 

IMO the ultimate sleeper compacts were the Ford RS200 (450HP & 2300lb) and the Renault 5 Turbo. Both were mid-engine and turbo fours.

 

Worthless article indeed.

 

And not available in the US. I could build a geo/honda setup for a a few k.

 

A guy in car club has 2 of the renaults among some gems in his collection...I've seen one of them, hotness.

 

I do 200mph all day long because its there. Duh.

 

What a dumb article. And LOL ^^

 

 

Claybrook is a dumbass and as I have a friend who has a Ford Ranger with an 85 MPH speedometer, I can say it does not stop people from speeding. He brags that it "makes it easier to bury the needle", something I can't do in my Elantra. The speedo in the E reads to 160 but it's capped at 120 or so. Edit: Not that I would know. I unwound it on a long straight stretch coming back from Bend in October and got it up to about 105 before I chickened out. That's the first and only time that car has been over 80.

My dad had a '93 Saab 9000 Aero that read in increments of five starting at 5 and up to 135. It hadn't run out of puff when he ran out of road at 145.

 

You'd be surprised by how many people think the highest number on the speedo is the top speed.

It' also a status thing like "200 on the dash"

 

In all honesty, it's kind of stupid, even with cars that can reach that speed. Take for example my 760, yeah it can reach 155 without an issue, but how often will I see the needle at 150, 140 or even 130?

Personally I like the new digital speedometers like BMW's and Mercedes like this with physical rings and needles, but the speeds can be coded to change depending on conditions. For example if you are in the city the max can be 80 or 100 so you can see 45MPH easily. Then when you are on the highway, the max readout can be 120, and then once you surpass 120 it can switch over to 160, 200, 250, etc.

Here's a picture to illustrate what I mean:
Off:


On with 160 max:


On with a 200 Max:


With a changing speedometer like that it'd be nice to see what you are actually driving vs. a random number that your car can't get up to.

 

What about the Delorean?



how the hell are you supposed to get to 88mph?

 

Putting 200 MPH speedo’s on normal cars is like saying you got a potential super car but reality you don’t.
Many of the supercars can go over 200MPH, however these same supercars requires allot of energy to get to those speeds (After 180, the friction of the air becomes a huge factor)

 

Psssssh my car can easily do 200kph

 

I remember when I was 10 and we got our acura and saw the 160 speedo. I was thrilled!!

 

My Challengers speedo has seen 140

 

GT-R has a rediculous speedo. 0 is all the way at the bottom and legal speeds are still below 9 o clock. I usually leave one of the displays on the speedo page and use that. On a related note, one of the guys on the forum has his gtr in Germany with the same mods as mine has hit 202. I doubt I'll ever see that.

 

speaking of digital speedometers, the speedo in the C7 is waaaay cooler than the one in the C4. Can't wait to see more cars do it that way.

 

Our minivan's speedo only goes up to 140 mph.

 

+1, back in the 80's and the C4 was a pretty cool digital display. The other digital displays were not as readable or clear. The late model C4's shifted back to analog for the tach.

 

What does the S2000's speedometer read???

 

Theoretically....399 mph/kph.

The Civic can read up to 999.

 

I remember my old Civic would reach 90mph and start to shake