Comment on If I got in a collision with a car from the 70s with a car today, would not the 70s car win out since it would primarily be metal? If so why don't people buy more 70's cars?

anon_8675309@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

• Wrdlbrmpfd@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  It’s not certain that the car will win: youtu.be/C_r5UJrxcck

  Although I wonder about that since I also saw the results of classic crash tests (in a museum and web site) with 60s Mercedes and Peugeot where the cars were more stiff than nowadays.

  Maybe that Cadillac is a special case or these cars have their weak points where they break apart in non classical test settings.

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  • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    When I was a kid our car had only lap belts, and even those were optional. In the early ‘70s they had the attitude of building street tanks and that mass = safety. Doesn’t matter that the humans inside got tossed around like a hackey sack or to get an aortic dissection when hitting the steering wheel. It wasn’t until the last year of the ‘60’s that a collapsible steering column started being more common. By the late ‘70s they were starting to engineer for actual safety of the occupant. It wasn’t great at all by today’s standards, things like airbags didn’t really show up until the ‘80s, much less all the side curtain ones that are more common today.

    Anyway, a modern vehicle is way better safety-wise, the debate would have to be about the speed of collision and the mass of the old car. Even though modern cars are safer, g-forces can be severe and no telling how the old car would crumple.

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