Crash Test: 59 Chevy Belaire vs 09 Chevy Malibu

[rightwinger]

Who wins???

Crash test: '59 Chevy vs. '09 Chevy - Multimedia - MSN Money

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 Environmental Protection Agency 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.

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.

The 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

 

[Dr.Traveler]

Who wins???

Crash test: '59 Chevy vs. '09 Chevy - Multimedia - MSN Money

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 Environmental Protection Agency 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.

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.

The 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

Ok, so the difference is in safety features. I'd forgotten how far the safety features have developed and so I was surprised by the result. I had a friend that was in an accident involving his 1970's Oldsmobile vs. a 1990's era Coupe. The other car was totaled while the Oldsmobile only had scratched paint.

 

[rightwinger]

Highway Safety then and Now
1959 2008
Registered Vehicles 71.5 million 255 million

Miles Driven 700 billion 2.9 trillion

Fatalities 37,910 37,261

Fatalities per million miles 5.41 1.27

 

[xotoxi]

Highway Safety then and Now
1959 2008
Registered Vehicles 71.5 million 255 million

Miles Driven 700 billion 2.9 trillion

Fatalities 37,910 37,261

Fatalities per million miles 5.41 1.27

The similarities in fatalities are amazing.

 

[Mr. H.]

But look at the "per million miles" figger.

 

[rightwinger]

It is amazing the amount of improvement is crash safety. When I first saw the post, I thought the huge 59 Bel Air would cream the Malibu. I used to drive a 64 Bel Air and it was a tank.

Seat Belts, Air Bags, Driver Crush Zones have all made cars safer. So have better suspensions, brakes and tires. Roads are also designed better. To cut fatalities by 75% in 50 years is impressive.