Re: 4kq battery relocation

[Phil and Judy Rose <pjrose@servtech.com>]

>Date: Fri, 19 Dec 1997 07:16:47 GMT
>From: quk@isham-research.demon.co.uk (Phil Payne)
>Subject: 4kq battery relocation
>
>In message <3499E37A.A940B9D4@nh.ultranet.com> Huw Powell writes:
>
>> The point was not to install a crash sensitive battery disconnect if you
>> drive that way - though it doesn't matter, the "power locks" will still
>> unlock manually (but not more than two with the vacuum behind them!)
>> And the windows won't roll down, a drag if you've just splashed into 30'
>> of water...
>

Phil makes a good point.

I had not previously attached much safety significance to the underseat
location of the battery in Audis. Now I realize that continued functioning
of the electrical system after an accident may be no trivial thing,
certainly insofar as power window operation is concerned.

After my '91 200q rollover, I found myself looking down at the roof--with
both sides of the car pinned in the embrace of a custom-fitted snow-filled
ditch. Opening any door more than a few inches was out of the question. The
only daylight came feebly through the passenger window. When I reached over
and pressed the window button, I can hardly describe the wondrous sound of
the glass being briskly pulled open (and upward!). In those few seconds
that gave me opportunity for escape(*), the sweet music of the window
mechanism produced a sensation that the sounds of a melifluous 20 Valver
and its exhaust may never equal.

Phil Rose

(*) "self-extraction" in the parlance of the emergency personnel on scene.

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