Interesting crash test results here. (for more fun, watch the SmartCar get launched in the video afterwards.) http://articles.moneycentral.msn.co...rash-9-2009&fg=MSNmoney-car-crash-test-9-2009 The Chevrolet Bel Air was the Toyota Camry of its time -- affordable, stylish and roomy -- and the best-selling car in America in 1959. It was 17 1/2 feet long, nearly 7 feet wide and weighed more than 3,600 pounds. Mileage? Gas was 25 cents a gallon, and even if the EPA had been invented, no one would have cared. The 2009 Chevrolet Malibu, by comparison, is a tidy 16 feet long and nearly a foot narrower. Its 2.4-liter, four-cylinder engine gets 26 mpg highway/city combined, and it exhausts cleaner air than most baby boomers ever inhaled. Here is what happens when the two meet. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, an insurer-supported research group, brought the two together to demonstrate in dramatic fashion the improvements in car safety since its 1959 founding. The offset collision test pits two vehicles at 40 mph. Get online car insurance quotesThe driver in the Bel Air, its engineers concluded, would be in sorry shape. The car lacked seat belts, let alone air bags, allowing the driver to strike the unforgiving steering column, unpadded dashboard and roof. The passenger compartment collapsed, crushing the crash dummy's legs. The seat was torn from the floor. The windshield popped out and the doors opened, possibly allowing the driver to be ejected. On the other hand, the driver of the Malibu might have sustained an injury to his left foot, analysis of test data showed, but otherwise emerged unscathed. What changed in a half-century? The insurance institute cites the crush protection engineered into new cars, dissipating the energy in a controlled manner so that seat belts and air bags have time to do their jobs. EDIT: Crap, here is the link to the article and the Smart Car launching. http://articles.moneycentral.msn.co...rCar/crash-test-1959-chevy-vs-2009-chevy.aspx
I have just realized something today, watching cars crashes in slow motion is very satisfying and addictive. I couldn't stop watching and every new camera angle was just another excitement rush. Just as entertaining as watching porno! Maybe someone should create a dedicated site with tons videos taken from crash test footage.
I thought it pretty cool they equipped the '59 with fuzzy dice! I saw a Top Gear crash of a larger '80's volvo against a new very small Euro car (a Renault, I think), with similar results. Amazing engineering.
are you trying to say the old car will run longer than the new car? Are you crazy? 100k miles used to be a miracle
Did you watch the video? I am going off of the controlled test crash and the Smartcar was launched into the air.
It is no comparison whatsoever between modern American cars and older American cars. When an older American claims that cars were better back in his day, it is just nostalgia speaking and little else. American cars were much crappier back then than they are now, they just happened to be popular for a number of reasons: patriotism and brand loyalty, ridiculously cheap gas, and almost zero competition in the market. The Germans made the best and perhaps only reliable cars in the world back then, namely Mercedes-Benz.
Even though I love old cars, this is all true. Cars back then typically lasted for 3-5 years and maybe 100k miles if lucky. Now they typically last 8-12 years and get 200k miles. I always hear that old cars were "built like tanks" but newer cars(even the small ones) are alot safer! 2009 > 1959
Ya, that old car looking like a tank sure didn't hold up like one! That cab was GONE! New cars >>>>>>>>Old clunkers
Well they were built like tanks. The sheet metal was much thicker. Try sitting on the hood of a modern car, it would mess it up. You could do it in 59 all day. Big huge bumpers could take 2-3 mph hits much better than today. today you are looiking at at least some paint work. All metal dash very rarely got loose or cracked. It was different priorities.
