Here’s an interesting video from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), pitting a 2009 sedan against a 1959 model at a combined speed of 80 mph:
In the 50 years since US insurers organized the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, car crashworthiness has improved. Demonstrating this was a crash test conducted on Sept. 9 between a 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air and a 2009 Chevrolet Malibu. In a real-world collision similar to this test, occupants of the new model would fare much better than in the vintage Chevy.
“It was night and day, the difference in occupant protection,” says Institute president Adrian Lund. “What this test shows is that automakers don’t build cars like they used to. They build them better.”
Even with the video evidence, not everyone will be convinced. This is my favourite quote from the Slashdot thread on the topic (I think the comment is offered in an ironic tone):
But then again, back in the 50’s we didn’t need all these fancy crumple zones, seat belts and air bags. Men were real men. Hell, I’ll bet you dollars to donuts any man from the 50’s driving that Bel-Air would have jumped right out of that wreck to help the crying sissy-boy with a cut lip driving that Malibu.
