CREATURE COMFORTS
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Today's trucks are not just for driving in. Accessory manufacturers want you to feel warmer, safer and entertained.
• Not so long ago, a truck driver making a winter trip from Glasgow to Grimsby could end his day bored, cold and with a behind battered by a seat seemingly designed by the Marquis de Sade.
Nowadays, truck and accessory manufacturers have recognised that the cab should provide a civilised working environment in which a driver is going to spend eight hours behind the wheel and several more sleeping or resting.
This week we review some of their latest products, which range from reversing mirrors to the latest in hi-tech cab stereos.
All are designed to make the truck driver's life safer, easier and more comfortable,
HEATERS
WEBASTO WARMER
Webasto promises "a warm cab at any time" with a heater independent of the truck engine, controlled with a timer switch. The heater works by drawing diesel from the chassis tank and firing it with a glow plug inside a sealed heat exchanger. Cold cab air is drawn into the heater and passed over the heat exchanger, coming back as warm air.
Some versions can be connected to the engine cooling system to preheat the cylinder block as well as the cab. Cost: prices start at £480 Available from: Webasto Heating, 81-83 Ringwood Road, Poole, Dorset BH14 ORH. Telephone (0202) 715771.
UNHOOKING THE HEAT
Tanker drivers going into refineries now have to disconnect their cab heaters, and a demount kit allowing a driver to unhook his heater's burning unit without disturbing the rest of the installation, is one of two new products from Eberspacher. The other is a timer alarm which has an automatic thermostat to keep the cab at a steady temperature, an independent alarm which can wake the driver up at a set hour regardless of whether his heater is on, and a timing switch to turn on the heater be fore the driver gets in.
Cost: demount kit £79.50 timer alarm £75 Available from: Eberspacher, 10 Head lands Business Park, Salisbury Road, Ringwood, Hampshire.
Telephone (0425) 480151.
MIRRORS
THERMO REFLECTION
A reverse-image thermometer which allows the driver of a refrigerated truck to read the temperature of his fridge while sitting in his cab, is being launched by 17E. The digital thermometer sticks to the right side of the reefer body or trailer. It has a range of —40°C to +35°C.
Cost: about £220 Available from: TTE, 33 Church Road, Gatley, Cheshire SK8 4NG.
Telephone 061-491 3150.
BEATING THE BLIND SPOT
Branyl has come up with a circular, stick-on mirror to extend the driver's angle of vision. A rectacular version is available for vans.
Cost: £2.30 Available from: Branyl, Unit 21, Kimberley Way, Red Brook Lane Trading Estate, Brereton, Near Rugeley, Staffordshire.
Telephone (0889) 576528.
SAFETY FIRE STATIONS
Cab fire extinguisers are not a luxury; more of an insurance. Flashgrange has produced four extinguishers — ranging in size from lkg to 2.5kg — which it says are most effective on petrol, oil and electrical fires. All come with fixing brackets. Cost: £28.55 to £55.35 Available from: Flashgrange, Unit 12, Gellihirion Industrial Estate, Rhydyfelin, Pontypridd, Mid Glamorgan CF37 5SX. Telephone (0443) 854101.
WAKEY, WAKEY
Drive Alert is a new batterypowered device which sends out a piercing alarm to a driver who starts to nod off in his cab. Worn around the ear, it is set off when the driver's head begins to drop forward. It can be worn with glasses.
Cost: £11.95 Available from: Island Arts, 11 Moseley Road, Naphill, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire HP14 4SQ.
Telephone (024024) 5320.
STORAGE IN-CAB COOLBOX
Truck drivers desperate to keep soft drinks or packed lunches cool on a long, hot drive can use a coolbox, originally designed by manufacturer Coleman for campers. The box, which has a polyethelene shell, can be powered from the cab's cigarette lighter, holds four two-litre bottles and weighs 4.3kg.
Cost: 299 Available from: Coleman UK, Parish Wharf Estate, Harbour Road, Portishead, Bristol. Telephone (0272) 845024.
AUDIO ALPINE ADDITION
Alpine has redesigned its CD player with a smaller deck to make it easier to change tapes while driving, The Alpine CD Shuttle also comes with tuner. Cost: £450
Available: from dealers
PHILIPS LINES UP
Philips has updated its range of cab stereos for 1989. They vary from the basic DC 552 to the DC 682R. The 552 has 16 individual presets (eight FM, four LW, four MW) and stereo cassette deck with lockable fast forward. The DC 682 has an autostore tuning which finds and stores the strongest stations and rejects others. It memorises 18 stations and has a digital station display.
Cost: 2109.99 to £399.99 Available: from dealers