statistically speaking...

swisherred

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wouldn't my car be safer to drive today than it was 53 years ago? (for me)

My thinking is this:
53 years ago these cars were tanks made to survive small nuclear explosions and being driven over a cliff with only minor scrapes...for the car...not so much the driver. No crumple zones or airbags or shoulder harnesses...seats that fold forward on their own, BIG metal stabby switches on the dash...everything that could possibly kill you is there. Anything you hit is going to be just as sturdy and indestructible leading to two equally dismantled drivers laying in the grass across the street.

but today...

everything on the road that I could possibly hit has all of these safety features built in. They are plastic and aluminum with crumple zones and breakaway stuff meant to be destroyed in a crash while protecting the driver. Which means that, sure I might still be injured in a crash from all my stabby switches, but I will also utterly destroy anything I hit and THEY will absorb all the impact force leaving me relatively unharmed in my tank.

or so I hope....
 
wouldn't my car be safer to drive today than it was 53 years ago? (for me)

My thinking is this:
53 years ago these cars were tanks made to survive small nuclear explosions and being driven over a cliff with only minor scrapes...for the car...not so much the driver. No crumple zones or airbags or shoulder harnesses...seats that fold forward on their own, BIG metal stabby switches on the dash...everything that could possibly kill you is there. Anything you hit is going to be just as sturdy and indestructible leading to two equally dismantled drivers laying in the grass across the street.

but today...

everything on the road that I could possibly hit has all of these safety features built in. They are plastic and aluminum with crumple zones and breakaway stuff meant to be destroyed in a crash while protecting the driver. Which means that, sure I might still be injured in a crash from all my stabby switches, but I will also utterly destroy anything I hit and THEY will absorb all the impact force leaving me relatively unharmed in my tank.

or so I hope....
That's a bit of an assumption. Think of it this way, your car weighs about 4500 pounds, the same as the average new mid-size. In a head on collision the stored energy in both vehicles will be relatively even. Both vehicles will go from whatever speed, 40, 50 , 60, to a stop instantaneously. Without a great differential in mass the results would not be much different to a collision with another C-body, so you wouldn't be less likely to be seriously injured.
 
I believe the car perhaps a little given the new car is designed to give, opposed to a 1970 Pontiac coming at you. Im no engineer but common sense tells me that.
 
You might die because you get speared by the steering wheel, chrome trim flying off, stuffed under the steel non padded (in some cases/year dependent) dash, or get thrown thru the windshield. but you'll be cool as heck before meeting your demise. The news and story will be more interesting than two Kia's involved....and they walked away.
 
You might die because you get speared by the steering wheel, chrome trim flying off, stuffed under the steel non padded (in some cases/year dependent) dash, or get thrown thru the windshield. but you'll be cool as heck before meeting your demise. The news and story will be more interesting than two Kia's involved....and they walked away.
at least I get the chance to take out TWO Kias...maybe more by the time I stop...
 
Time for something newer swisherred! Like a fuselage! Uncomfortable shoulder belts, locking seat backs, less stabby dashes. Our car's are tanks, we are soft. Airbags work.

There is a YouTube video of a Honda fit getting caught between two five ton trucks going opposite directions at highway speeds, in Russia. The car is ripped into several peices in a split second. Unbelievably, the driver only suffered a broken arm.
 
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Not too long ago (within the last 10 years), a 1966 Fury hit a 2000-something Dodge Caravan head on only a few miles from where I live. Those in the Fury died, those in the Caravan walked away. One might think it would have been the opposite result, but the truth of the matter is "they don't make them like they used to" is for some very compelling reasons.
 
The title is correct, you would be another statistic. And unless it was a racial accident there would be no news story.

Even the Chrysler imperial would fail on its passengers, just like the Chevy.
 
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I like this bumper sticker...

airbags-we-die-like-ream-men-vinyl-sticker-decal-for-car-tuning-JDM-winow-turbo-drift2-2800x1600.jpg


I might get one for the wagon But I'd want it to say..."No ***** Pillows, We Die Like Real Men!"
 
Anyone who’s ever walked thru a wrecking yard in the 70’s and seen the fresh kills knows old cars were built to kill you. My buddies step dad owned American Auto Wrecking in Tempe Az and they had a you can’t bring that here yard for really grisly stuff. It was out in maricopa by hidden valley. Some of the crazy old wrecks they abandoned out there were unbelievable. Steering wheels crushed up thru the roof, cars smashed in where you’d normally be or broke in half where you’d be flying out. Diamond necklace windshields. Nope no free ride back then lots of lucky suckers were thrown clear but lots more weren’t that lucky. Every time you get behind the wheel you’re taking a chance...
 
This debate has been raging for a while. Speed would be the deciding factor, trip to the hospital or the morgue.
 
one opinion. aint arguing i am right or wrong .. just sharing my experience with this topic.

as a former auto exec former with access to raw data on design, crash forces in the lab and studies of real world accidents... old vs. new cars .. the data say all things "equal" (meaning the speeds, vehicle sizes, crash conditions - hit a tree, vs went over a cliff, vs fender bender in the parking lot, etc., are comparable), the new car is "safer" to a demonstrated statistical certainty (e.g. really HIGH p-factors for the propeller heads here: P-value :))

forget the fancy stats part .. to me using common sense: air bags, ABS, seat belts, and all the design stuff you cant see but you know the new car has that the old one doesnt, the new car has safety advantages over the old one.

all of that is NOT the same thing as saying new cars are "safe" and old cars are not safe. driving -- the act of being behind the controls of these machines -- is the challenge for the "man and the machine" as it relates to safety.

Driving has an inherent danger factor .. the car builder does his/her best within constraints of cost (affordability), size, weight, operating conditions, unknown contingencies, technologies -- thats just the car then add the components (tires, glass, electronics, etc) needed to make driving as "safe" as it can be given its inherent danger (2 tons, going 80 mph or higher, in the snow, the dark, impaired operators, etc.)

oh and the laws of physics on this planet, compared to the tolerances the human body has vs. those laws shows we are pretty fragile vs. the actual and potential forces on us while driving.
 
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