When I was a kid (early 1960’s) the hoods on all my dad’s cars were kept open with a manual rod. But in the 1970’s-1980’s all the cars I owned (as well as my parents, my siblings, friends, relatives, etc.)
had hinges in the hood so once lifted up it stayed open by itself (no hood rod needed). Now I notice that most cars, even pricey models, have the manual hood rod to hold the hood open. Why?
Why have car manufactures gone back to this? The only obvious answer I can think of is expense.
tries not to digress
After getting used to it, I starting liking the type that open foward, they go almost perpendicular to the ground. It makes poking around in the engine alot easier. As an added bonus, I learned one day, if you don’t latch it down all the way, when you take it out on the road the hood only comes up about 8 inches instead of compleaty in your field of vision.
Also, hood springs are heavy.
I hate cars that do not use gas lifts or springs
WAG: Two that I can think of. First, saves weight which is almost always a good thing. Those hinges and supports were heavy compared to the single rod. Second, safety, the hood is and important part of the head on crash crumple zone. Perhaps the new way they stay shut better in a crash.
My WAG is that the rods are more reliable.
I have an older car where the hood is supposed to be held up by some pistons. They probably used to work, but no more. Now I have to use a clamping wrench to prevent the pistons from closing and the hood to come crashing down on my head. That could cause problems, because it probably wouldn’t be an easy hood to replace. If the car had a rod instead of a piston, I suspect the rod would still be working.
Now that you mention that…They probably also stay where they belong in a crash. The old ones with the coiled spring, I doubt, where fastend to the car anywhere near as well as regular hinge. Seems like in a head on crash the hood could come right into the cab.
Jay, just go to the discount auto parts store and get some new lifts - only about $35.
Data points: My BMW (1999) has a springy hood which holds itself up, but my Ford Ranger does not.
Our 1964 Rambler has a hinge (well, actually a four-bar mechanism) with a coil spring to keep the hood up. The mechanism is worn a little, though, and the rear corners of the hood don’t want to stay flush with the fenders. There’s obviously some pretty high forces involved.
I suspect that the current trend toward simple pin-type hinges and a prop rod is mostly cost-driven, but it would also remove a bit of load from the cowl area and back edge of the hood, allowing you to make both (slightly) lighter.
Jay Belanger, you ought to check your local auto-parts store; last time I replaced the gas struts on my hatchback, they were only about $20 each, and it wasn’t much trouble to do (the trick is to support the hatch (for you, hood) while you’re doing it so it doesn’t fall on your head. Sure, it seems obvious, but…
Could you suppy some examples of pricy models that use hood sticks?
I can tell you that I haven’t seen a hood stick on a car designed in the last 20 years except for some very bottom of the line inexpensive cars.
I think my 2000 Bonneville had a hood stick – I think I remember being suprised that the top-of-the-line Pontiac had something so cheap. But I could be confusing things because I had a previous-style Bonneville right before it and a 2000 Ranger with a hood stick at the same time.
Once they started making hoods lighter (not as strong) the use of springs or gas pistons became a problem.
You would go to close the hood and literally fold the hood just above the point of connection to the springs or gas pistons.
This was a recall on certain GM trucks and the fix was metal bracing added to the hood.
Gas mileage is to a great extent about weight so getting ride of the springs or pistons, along with the ability to make the hood lighter is to much for the automakers to pass by.
Bob
I believe you are mistaken. I have a 1995 and a 2001 Bonneville and they both have gas lifts on the hood.
Well, the WRX (2003 model) has a stick holder. So does my top of the line Matrix. The 2003 Corolla, older camry’s (my friend has a 95) are all “stick” held.
My 88 bonneville had the gas piston holder. My 92 voyager did not.
I agree, the price of the vehicle does not determine if it has a simple “stick” or a piston rod (the WRX is a $42000 CAN car).
Why? I believe it’s because of safety. A piston driven hood would tend to fly up if the front is “crushed” and the lock is damaged. It would be undrivable if the hood couldn’t be kept down (unlike a gravity held one, just drive slow etc).
I believe Audi and/or BMW both claim it’s safety related.
The hoods with stick props have proper hinges, and the hood can be predictable acting as part of the crumple zone (which is used to evenly absorb and distribute the crushing impact from front end collisions).
Also, the spring hinges were more of a danger to get pushed back into the passenger compartment.
In my experience, hood springs will not cause a hood to open unless the hood is pulled up to a certain point. In an accident, the latch would have to fail, and the release latch would have to fail then the hood would need to be pushed to a certain point before the springs would begin to lift the hood. If a car had a rod, the same failures would need to happen and if the hood pushed to the same point then the blockage of view would be there regardless of spring or hood.
I do not believe the hinge is much of a danger, they all can be made to shear off.
I once owned a car that had a statute of Al Capone on top of the hood. It was a “hood” ornament. 
My personal observations agree with iwire. It may have a lot to do with the KISS priciple. I have seen hood hinges with springs fold a hood. This is usually due to the hinges needing lubrication. I haven’t seen prop rod hoods do this regardless of lubrication. I’ve seen the hydralic cylinders fail. A rod and two simple hinges isn’t going to have a high failure rate.
My $30,000+ Chrysler Town and Country has a prop rod. Nothing difficult about it, seems an appropriate trade off for the weight.
Regarding folding hoods and rods vs. gas pistons:
I’ve done a lot of used car shopping lately and noticed more than a few models with a bend in the hood at the point where rod caught. But this was for models with a short rod that attaches only halfway up the hood or so. Definitely a bad design.