Remember the Volvo 122S - I do, owned several of them. On the passenger's side of the dash there was a handle bolted to the front of the dash that could be used by passengers to assist in getting in and out. On the Cayennes - there are handles on the console that can be easily reached from the door that serve the same purpose, plus folding overhead handles over every door. All of these double as "Sissy Handles" for nervous Nellies who don't understand cornering or merge techniques.
Our luxury high-performance sports car - which cost a lot of money new - has nothing for the passenger. I realized that part of the reason my spousal unit (SWMBO) doesn't delight in Boxster drives is - we're OLD and it's not easy for her to get in and out of the car. It's easy enough for me because I have a steering wheel to hang on to. The passenger has nothing at all for assistance. I realized this when I was doing some "stuff" to the car the other day and I had trouble getting out of the passenger's seat.
I'm looking for ideas. I guess I could scour some junkyards and see if any have any Volvo Amazons (122S) laying around being scrapped for parts. Kind of a long shot since the last one was imported to the US in 1968.. The Volvo 1800 series (1800S, P1800, maybe a P1800S but that argument was never settled, and the 1800ES, which should have been the 2000ES, but Volvo decided the numbers described the shape not the size of the engine..) also had one, but the dash on that car is curved and that sort wouldn't work. I owned a lot of 1800's. They're going for real money now on BAT.. (sorry - a digression..)
The other question I have is what's behind the dash above the glovebox. It looks like quite a bit of space there, possibly some of it taken up by the HVAC system, but is there any steel support structure there that a handle could be bolted to?
OK, class. Let's use the group hive brain and come up with an elegant, attractive, and affordable solution so SWMBO can better get into and out of the car.
I see my wife reach for the roof handle sometimes... but, with a convertible, there is none and nowhere to put one there.
On some cars, I have seen a handle on the A-pillar. That sounds like a good place to have such a handle, and would provide an easy mounting place as well, I'd think? You could "try out" that position by just opening the window and seeing if you can use the A-pillar in a useful way to get in/out? If that works out and makes sense, then you can install the handle.
I've seen the ones mounted above the glovebox. I never quite understood how those help, since they're so low and far "into" the car, but maybe they can. However, I would be concerned with blocking or redirecting an airbag there... the older cars you referenced probably didn't have them.
Come to think of it, there's an airbag on the A-pillar now as well, isn't there? That might be why we don't have a handle there today?
There are no airbags on the A-pillar on a 987 Boxster.
There is a strange metal structure pop-riveted to the actual windshield frame that's called a "deformable structure" - it's made of fairly light gauge sheet metal, and I guess is designed to bend when struck by a head, rather than the structure behind it that isn't going to deform at all.
I was thinking it might be possible to attach something to that structure, but I wonder if it would increase the width of the A pillar, which we don't want any wider because it blocks the view out the windows.
And you're correct - when I looked at the dash - mounting one right on the vertical dash section is a no-go, since there is an airbag behind it.
A quick thought on possible solutions for the ‘sissie handle. In deilenbergers pic below of the A-pillar on the drivers side, it shows some devices mounted on the pillar that may not be present on the passengers side. If that is the case, one could look into utilizing one of these ‘grab handles‘ I found on the ever present global shopping site, starting with A.
After removing the A-pillar trim and finding appropriate hardware to attach the grab handles, maybe Riv-nuts, then bolting through the A-pillar trim this might provide a suitable function.
Or this option is a more temporary and portable one.
https://a.co/d/duGWNei
or this
https://a.co/d/3Ay8HKF
Going back to the drawing board to research further.
This pic was meant to precede the other pics, indicating where the grab handles could possibly be mounted if the A-pillar on the passenger side is free of the other devices. This is from deilenbergers pic from another thread.
