Ratliff, have you ever been inside a lay down lakester or streamliner, Ejection systems are great for a sit up type air craft seat but the design of the above plus the high costs would prevent it. On the ground at high speed I doubt it would work, how can you assure the car is still on it's wheels when they try to eject.
2. Ejection seats are equipped with a cable retractor mechanism connected to straps around the pilot's ankles. When ejection is iniated, the mechanism pulls the pilot's feet tight against the seat. In land speed racing this same thing could be used to reduce injury by limiting movement of the driver's legs.
Okay, as Franklin later pointed out, we're
not talking about ejector systems, and for many good reasons, and I'll list one.
I'm going to say it was about 1973, the Blue Angels were doing an air show in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. One of the planes' landing gear failed to deploy, leaving the plane skidding down the runway, and eventually through a number of cornfields. The pilot ejected from the plane while the plane was in contact with the ground. I witnessed it.
According to Ray Miller, a former corporate pilot for Martin-Marietta, a man who had many contacts in the aerospace industry and who's opinion I tend to trust, the Navy pilot's back was permanently damaged due to the lack of cushioning that the fighter had because it was on the ground. The ejector system was designed to be used while the plane is airborn.
007 not withstanding, I suspect any ejection system on any automobile could cause many more problems than what it could solve.
