Here Is Why The Speedometer Of A Car Goes Beyond The Legal Limits

Aayesha Arif1

Most countries have a legal speed limit to which any vehicle is about to reach. Have you ever noticed that your car’s speedometer shows speeds well beyond the allowed limits? If there is really no point in going to that limit then why does the car have to list those speeds anyway? If you get a wide highway all to yourself with no other cars in sight, you ought to be tempted to test the top speeds.

Image: iStock

A highway in the U.S. will not allow you to get over 85 miles an hour. The maximum speed that you are allowed on a highway is 87 mph, and that too is only in Bulgaria and Poland. You try pushing your car to its limits, but according to former Nissan Executive Larry Dominique, 80 percent of the manufactured cars are not even designed to go as far as 110 mph. The tires on these cars can not hold up to a velocity beyond 130 mph.

Your speedometer can read high velocities, but it will never really go to the end. The high velocities on the speedometer are just a marketing trick that gives the driver a feeling of buying a more powerful car. A law was introduced in 1979 by Joan Claybrook (National Highway Safety Administration leader) that prevents the manufacturers from making speedometers beyond the legal limit of 85 mph. Only two years later, the law was repealed. Well, duh!

Are you looking for an adrenaline rush? Try doing that on an open deserted highway, but do yourself a favor and don’t go beyond 85 mph. Or better yet, go bungee jumping or sky diving. Adrenaline is what you want, right?