Next time some old fart talks about how safe his old tank was and how new cars are nothing but rolling beer cans, show him this.
2009 Malibu vs 1959 Bel Air offset headon crash test.
old cars suck
je-sus
i blame women drivers, why didnt the swerve?
The in car shots are crazy. That dummy in the Bel Air is fucked.
For the record, that impala didnt have a normal frame in it. It had one of those crazy X frames
Repost
Nothing to back that statement up = :bsflag:
IIHS has nothing to gain by modifying cars to do better in crash tests than the versions on sale to the public.
Link? V. Stupid iPhone.
Go watch some Demolition derbys and watch the late 60s and early 70s cars destroy EVERYTHING!
so then it would be a normal frame.
Bel airs also used the same style frame. The frame on my roadmaster certainly doesnt look like that.
I think he is saying the X-frame from that time wasn’t a very good design. They should do the test with a car that had a fully boxed frame.
I remember my dad telling me if you had a GM car with an x-frame you could twist up the frame very easily just with a strong engine and sticky tires.
a late 60s chrysler imperial would have driven THREW the new malibu at that speed with no survivors in the car.
Cars werent safe in the 50s, without air bags, cars now a days arent even half as safe as the cars from the late 60s/ early 70s.
seriously? A few months ago I responded to a head on collision, about 45 mph, one was a mid 2000’s honda CRV and the other was an early 80’s Cadillac (not sure model, some medium sized sedan) the girls in the CRV were left un harmed (minus some airbag rash) and the guy in the caddy was dead on arrival… both wearing seatbelts. Both cars weighted prob about the same… I think the new car faired much better…making it much safer
the 80s huh ? and the crv had no air bag ? :rtft:
They were a weird design. If you jacked the front left side up both the rear left and front right would come up too. If you watch the video, you can see the malibu follow the frame rail, which of course takes it right into the drivers seat. Also, that bel air would have fared better if it had the v8. Because it had the straight 6 there was less engine to slow the malibu down. They seemed to have picked literally the worst designed car from the late 50s.
50 year anniversary, a 50 year technology gap on display. While a lot of mandatory advancements took place for vehicle safety in the decades afterward. Mainly collapsible steering columns, shoulder belts, air bags, crumple zones, and a whole host of other technologies. Which while it may lower the survivability of the car, and increase complexity. I’d much rather be in a modern era car during an accident.
Also of note, despite the fact there are more cars on the road now.
Fatalities in the US:
1979: 51,093
2002: 42,815
Cars of the 1960’s/70’s were not much better, remember the thread with the woman who drove her Toyota right through the side of a GTO?