[Paul18181818]

I was thinking about safety in my miata recently (I know, I know..), and it seems to me that the sides of the hardtop that extend over the top of the windows are the closest hard surface to my head. Has anyone ever padded this surface to protect against injury in a rollover? I am working on a custom hardtop headliner and I was considering trying to put SFI padding underneath in parts. Any thoughts or suggestions? Has anyone tried this before?

 

[brontosaurus]

No, because the hardtop will crumple just a second before your head in the event of a rollover.

If you're talking in addition to a roll bar, I don't think so, but it's not an awful idea if you can do it without it looking bulky.

 

[2guysinamiata]

It's soft plastic with no protective ability, I think it's only good for beating on your head during entry and exit.
It would snap fairly easily.
Running a harness?

 

[Paul18181818]

Nope, no harness. Planning to have a roll bar at some point, at which point the hardtop would be mounted with brackets.

 

[90MiataNY]

I think any padding other than an OEM headliner or similar would be bulky. If you're planning on hitting our head... wear a helmet lol

 

[Paul18181818]

Fair enough. Seemed to me, though, to be one of the bigger safety weakness' in the car. Any side impact would be a direct head injury on hard plastic.. Most other oem plastic is softer and feels like it would give at least a little in a collision.