Re: inside batteries

["John Hertzman" <johnhertzman@domain.elided>]

John Katos mentioned the vented batteries used for many years by Audi; it may
be worth mentioning that they are used also on the 164, albeit in the trunk.
VW Beetles used underseat batteries,unvented at least on the one I had, and I
never saw them cited as a risk-factor, although it may have been a killer. A
distantly related risk factor on the 105/115 cars (and on at least some 116
cars outside the USA) is the integration of the gas tank into the trunk floor
structure, which could be as vulnerable in a rear-ending as the notorious
Pinto; I've never read of a 115 burning from a ruptured tank, but an
unshielded, unboxed battery in the trunk would hardly make that possible
situation safer. I believe all the air-conditioned Spica 115s did have
trunk-mounted batteries, with no protection. Don't know about the Bosch cars.

Weight distribution (which Joe Cantrell mentioned) is a big plus for
rear-mounted batteries (at least on the pre-116 cars, which weren't as
well-balanced as they might have been) and I assume that the remarkably long
typical life of 164 batteries is attributable at least in part to getting them
away from engine heat. The Fetsch/Gallagher safety concerns cannot be
dismissed lightly; an interior-mounted, unrestrained, unvented, open lead/acid
battery would have clear safety disadvantages. A solidly mounted, vented
and/or sealed battery in the coolest place where its weight would do the most
good sounds very appealing, and it sounds as though that is what Joe has - as
I would have expected. He usually sounds like he usually knows what he is
doing.

Lead on, Joe.

John
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