Armrests ?

[Blatto]

Been driving for longer than most of you on here have probably been alive but I've only just realised I have no idea of the purpose of Armrests in cars.

Considering you are supposed to keep both hands on the wheel as much as possible to be in good safe control of the car, why would you need an armrest?

If you are driving along with an arm on the central rest or the door armrest your control will be compromised.

Do peoples arms get so tired that they have to rest them, even if you do it while stopped. Could just rest them by placing your hands on your thighs (or someone elses thighs if they are willing 😆)

I can't say I've ever felt the need to rest my arms even on a 300 mile trip I do a few times a year. I stop half way for a break anyway, drink and a pee and a little walk around to freshen up.

Just occurred to me on the way home tonight, Armrests, pointless or not?  Debate .🤔

[Gazcaz]

Bit of storage i guess about it.

[Thanasis]

Central armrest I use for storage, door arm rest I use it most of the time while driving on motorway and cruise control is on.

I still manage keep both hands on the week as I have quite long hands. ;)



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[Ian Lanc]

35 minutes ago, Blatto said:

*Been driving for longer than most of you on here have probably been alive* but I've only just realised I have no idea of the purpose of Armrests in cars.

Just occurred to me on the way home tonight, Armrests, pointless or not?  Debate .🤔

Been driving since 1983, long enough ? I bet there's some right old gits in this group who's owned some right crap....

Armrests, yes pretty pointless and there's one in my son's ST, gets in the way to put the seatbelt clipped in - putting the handbrake on -  it's like having some meat stuck in me back teeth....

[Blatto]

33 minutes ago, Ian Lanc said:

Been driving since 1983, long enough ?

***** youngsters 🙂 

And yes I did own some crappy old cars. A few Hillmans a few Cortinas, and a Sierra being amongst the crappiest. My Old MK3 GXL Cortina with twin Choke Webers and the 2 litre engine was quite good though, apart from the rust and the footwell that used to fill up with water. Use to chuck blocks of ice out every winter morning and mushrooms in the summer months, never did find out where it was coming in. 

47 minutes ago, Thanasis said:

Central armrest I use for storage,

But I'm sure they could design something better for storage if they didn't have to make it a pointless armrest too.

 

49 minutes ago, Thanasis said:

door arm rest I use it most of the time while driving on motorway and cruise control is on.

Well I can still reach the wheel if I put my arm on the door rest but it restricts my movement a bit so might cause a delay in an emergency situation.

The only thing the central one has done for me is cause me to swear a few times when I've whacked my funny bone on the corner of it (nobody laugh it aint funny 😁)

1 hour ago, Gazcaz said:

Bit of storage i guess about it.

Yeah but a better designed storage area would be preferable. All I can fit in mine is my MP3 player and a few coins for the car park and a usb cable

[Bobr]

I've been driving since 1954 and never had a central arm rest until I got my last Fiesta.   I'm inclined to agree that they are a bit useless but quite good for storage.

[Gazcaz]

7 minutes ago, Blatto said:

*funny 😁)

Yeah but a better designed storage area would be preferable. All I can fit in mine is my MP3 player and a few coins for the car park and a usb cable

I dont have one at all ,in a Sports Van....

[TomsFocus]

As a Millennial Snowflake I can't be without an arm rest now!  Felt really weird when I got the Fiesta and didn't have anywhere to put my elbow after years of the Focus and previously Vectra and Mk4 Golfs, all with armrests.

I tend to have my elbow on the armrest and hand on the gearstick for the majority of town/back road driving as it's just constant gearshifts which I do find tiring (get that violin out ).  When cruising the dual carriageway I tend to have my left arm tucked back on the arm rest and just 'steer' with right hand at 70mph on cruise control.  If there's an emergency I'll just panic and crash anyway so it's no less safe imo!

In really slow moving, 1st gear only, traffic I'll have one arm on the armrest and often the other wedged between the top and bottom of the window frame...was gutted when I got the MK3 Focus as the windows are so short my arm didn't fit! Fortunately the Golf windows are big enough to do it again.

I don't think I've ever had a door armrest that I could actually use...long legs and short arms are probably the issue there!  As for centre armrests getting in the way, that's just poor design, they don't all get in the way.

When I was learning to drive I was frequently reminded to use 2 hands...I never did break the habit of using one!  

[Blatto]

17 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

I tend to have my elbow on the armrest and hand on the gearstick for the majority of town/back road driving as it's just constant gearshifts which I do find tiring

Stop using it and build some muscles up in that arm ya little Snowflake 😏. Can't say I've ever had a tired arm from gearchanging, and I did  drive around London about 2 days a week for 5 years.

 

[Ian Lanc]

18 minutes ago, Blatto said:

***** youngsters 🙂 

And yes I did own some crappy old cars. 

You've made me feel young now :) Seems to be a common theme with Fords.....''Rust''

What about the armrests in many Fords were the seat belt anchor points creaks lovely when buckled in to the point you want to rip it out....

[Blatto]

2 minutes ago, Ian Lanc said:

Seems to be a common theme with Fords.....''Rust''

To be fair back in the late 70's and for most of the 80's almost all cars rusted badly. To see a car over 3 years old without a few Kilos of filler stuffed up the wheel arches and wings was a rare sight.

[Ian Lanc]

17 minutes ago, Blatto said:

To be fair back in the late 70's and for most of the 80's almost all cars rusted badly. To see a car over 3 years old without a few Kilos of filler stuffed up the wheel arches and wings was a rare sight.

Was the same in my 79 plate T reg Escort, she was never happy unless I was buying Davids Isopon filler for the thing, especially the rear wheel arches.

[Blatto]

11 minutes ago, Ian Lanc said:

she was never happy unless I was buying Davids Isopon filler for the thing

Yeah, I should have bought shares in Davids Isopon. Many a summers afternoon spent with pots of that stuff and some wire mesh, wet & dry and lots of elbow grease getting it smooth and ready to paint. Think my MKIV Cortina was 75% Isopon when I got rid of it 🙂 

[Mavroz]

Wouldn't be without a centre armrest, another reason the X was a must. Good for storage, good to put left arm on when keeping hand on gearstick. Right armrest (window sill) gets used regularly also. 😆

[isetta]

Blatto says: "My Old MK3 GXL Cortina with twin Choke Webers and the 2 litre engine was quite good though" 

They were good, but the worse thing about cars of that era were there were so low geared.In 1982 my brother had 1971 Cortina Mk3 2000GXL  . I had 1971 Vauxhall VX4/90 (which is like a GT version of 2000cc Vauxhall Victor). I had overdrive on mine (but tons more rust). This meant it would do 70mph and 3000 rpm. Doesn't sound very high geared these days as my current fiesta 3000rpm = 100 mph,  but 70 mph at 3000 rpm was high geared in those days.

Why did it take so long for makers to put 5 speed gearboxes on cars, motorways didn't suddenly appear in the 1980s they were around long before. Overdrives were good but were expensive and complex engineering.

I know British Leyland are not well respected but they had a five foor hatchback with 5 speed gearbox in 1969 (Austin Maxi). It took Ford 13 years more to do that (mk3 escort came out in 1980 but did not have 5 speed box until 1982 if I recall correctly).

And I don't see the point in the armrests either other than useful storage

[Eric Bloodaxe]

Only ones I can recall that didn't get in my way when gearchanging were on the Mk 1 and early Mk 2 Cortina GT with the umbrella handbrake under the dash. Superb gearchange on those cars as well. 

[TomsFocus]

1 hour ago, isetta said:

I had 1971 Vauxhall VX4/90 (which is like a GT version of 2000cc Vauxhall Victor). 

My Grandad bought a VX4/90 brand new and never told me about it!  I only found the sales receipt when sorting through his things after he died...  Never did find any pictures of it but imagine it probably just rotted away in the garden as he was a proper hoarder and never got rid of anything.  I do remember one of his previous cars finally being collected by the scrap man...and it broke in half when moved!! 😮 

[Guy Heaton]

I do use the armrest yes.  Especially when I have cars with gear sticks when I put my forearm on the rest and tap the top of the gear stick with my ring finger in time to the music.

Yes, I know, 2 hands on the wheel at all times unless changing gear etc.  😀

[TomsFocus]

13 hours ago, Blatto said:

Stop using it and build some muscles up in that arm ya little Snowflake 😏. Can't say I've ever had a tired arm from gearchanging, and I did  drive around London about 2 days a week for 5 years.

 

Oh it's not just the arm...my clutch leg gets tired too...   It's odd because I can walk about 5 miles before starting to feel it, yet 15 minutes of town traffic and I'm struggling to hold the clutch bite with a quivering foot! Tempted to go auto next...but it'd have to be DSG type, and not Powershift lol.  I guess walking uses different muscles to driving.  Would probably get used to it if I did it more often I guess, but I spend most of my time on cruise control in very light traffic.  Which reminds me...it's so satisfying to sit reclined in the village B roads, resting your elbow on the armrest and gently slip from 3rd to 4th with two fingers and one slick movement!  Honestly, it's better than warm apple pie!  

[Eric Bloodaxe]

1 hour ago, isetta said:

Why did it take so long for makers to put 5 speed gearboxes on cars, motorways didn't suddenly appear in the 1980s they were around long before. Overdrives were good but were expensive and complex engineering.

I know British Leyland are not well respected but they had a five foor hatchback with 5 speed gearbox in 1969 (Austin Maxi). It took Ford 13 years more to do that (mk3 escort came out in 1980 but did not have 5 speed box until 1982 if I recall correctly).

Back then, I suspect the majority of cars lacked the torque to pull really high gearing and until the motorway network got established there wasn't a lot of opportunity for sustained high speed cruising. This was before motorways turned into long traffic jams of course.

I guess it was cheaper overall to offer overdrive as an extra on those cars that could take it - I remember it seemed "posh" back then - than to make 5 speed boxes for everything. Also consider the effect on the music scene - "Bachmann Turner 5th gear" just doesn't have the same ring to it.

I remember reading a test on the first 1500 Maxi - they said something like: " It seems to have 50 gear positions, 49 of them neutral". They improved it a bit when the 1750 was added to the range, but I never remember the Maxi and the similar engined Allegros having a good change.

 

[Bobr]

14 hours ago, Blatto said:

To be fair back in the late 70's and for most of the 80's almost all cars rusted badly. To see a car over 3 years old without a few Kilos of filler stuffed up the wheel arches and wings was a rare sight.

I had a Ford 5cwt van that I had converted back in the 60s (100E)   On one occasion I pulled the handbrake on and it came away in my hand.

[mozz]

Them poxy rests on that poxy Fusion i had were neither use nor ornament. Waste of space, as was the car. 

[Eric Bloodaxe]

1 hour ago, mozz said:

Them poxy rests on that poxy Fusion i had were neither use nor ornament. Waste of space, as was the car. 

So, we can take it you're not a fan, then?!😀

[Eric Bloodaxe]

5 hours ago, Guy Heaton said:

Yes, I know, 2 hands on the wheel at all times unless changing gear etc.  😀

The instructor on one of my defensive driving courses told me that this advice dated from the days when cars had cable operated brakes. (Even I am too young to have experienced those as a driver, though I think my uncle's E93A Prefect, which I certainly rode in as a passenger, had them!) It was almost impossible to get all the brakes adjusted in perfect balance so that the car would pull up evenly, hence the advice to keep both hands on the wheel as you could never be sure which way the car was going to pull when you braked!😀

[mozz]

1 hour ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

So, we can take it you're not a fan, then?!😀

 

Biggest bag of #### i ever paid good money for.. 

No, not a fan..