The last article we will show you from the period of the Leone is taken from Cartopia Vol. 89 which was published on September 2nd 1979. It is titled “Making a safe car that is fun to drive”.

This title represents exactly what Subaru has always been trying to achieve from the start of mass production until today. This article is a great chance to understand in detail exactly what issues were tackled during the development of the second generation Leone

Here we will introduce Mr. Tadao Horiguchi, a prominent member of the 3rd research section in the vehicle experimental testing department, who takes no shortcuts in the pursuit of safety. The 3rd research section is charge of three main fields. The first one is the research and testing regarding heat damage related to engine cooling, climate control, and exhaust emission control. This is followed by testing the strength of parts under regular usage conditions. The final one is research and testing of vehicle safety features.

After entering the company in 1965, Mr. Horiguchi spent his first five years working in design before transferring to the 3rd research section where he continues to work on safety features today. He is a veteran engineer who became passionate about creating safe cars through repeated crash testing during the development of the second generation Leone.

Safety that shouldn’t be demonstrated

“There are two fundamental ways of thinking about safety. The first one which we call ‘Primary safety’ involves installing systems that prevent accidents from occurring. Such systems can include warning lights that alert the driver in the case of insufficient brake fluid or a blown stop light, and when you consider cornering stability and safe driving on snow covered roads, the FF layout can also be considered to be a basic primary safety function. The other one which we call ‘Secondary safety’ involves trying to minimize the damage to occupants in the case of an accident. My team is mainly in charge of secondary safety functions. Our job as the experimental testing team mainly consists of testing to find out how strong and protecting the vehicle body is.”

Mr. Horiguchi’s team is in charge of “secondary safety” measures to protect the occupants when a collision has already happened. Next we will show what issues came up during development of the second generation Leone.

“American automotive manufacturers abide by the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS). When you realize that the impact absorbing bumpers that are not required in Japan and Europe are installed on all American vehicles, it is easy to see that they have the strictest safety measures in the world. The second generation Leone was developed using this as a model. This was because although we never wish for accidents to happen, we wanted to make a car that would ensure the safety of occupants if an accident did occur. Although there is also a recent trend toward making compact cars in America, most current vehicles are still just as large. They believe that as long as the body is large, they might as well use a large engine. Therefore, even if they add more reinforcement to the body for strength, it does not change the vehicle’s basic design. However, this is something that we just can’t do. In addition to modern energy and environmental considerations, we had too much pride as engineers to fall for such a technical short cut. No matter how good the safety is, if there is a heavy body, that results in poor fuel economy and performance, and our customers would not be happy. A car that does not please our customers is a car that I don’t want to make. It takes a lot of technical ability to create something that can please even our most demanding customers.”

By focusing on the world’s strictest FMVSS standards, Mr. Horiguchi’s team was further motivated to aim for even higher safety. Rather than just designing a car with safety features they, as engineers, thought were appropriate, they worked from the point of view of the people who would be actually riding in the car.

To be continued next week….
Extract from Cartopia Vol. 89 (Issued September 2nd 1979)



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