Old vs New

[andrewducker]

demonstrating advances in safety in cars between 1959 and 2009...
courtesy of hirez

Comments

[martling.livejournal.com]

I wonder how that'd look with two of the 2009 cars. Because a lot of the crash energy clearly went into disintegrating the Chevy.

[terminalmalaise.livejournal.com]

That's what it looks like, but actually the crash energy here really is distributed evenly between the two Chevy's. It's just that new cars like the Malibu here have modern safety design features (like crumple zones) that are designed to dissipate the energy in a way that keeps the passenger cabin as intact as possible. In the Bel Air the whole dash and steering column get pushed into the driver. Ouch.

[terminalmalaise.livejournal.com]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crumple_zone

[terminalmalaise.livejournal.com]

Hmm, interesting. Another test of interest:



It seems like the stiffness of modern cars really will push more of the energy back into an older car.

[andrewducker]

That was great - thanks!

[drainboy.livejournal.com]

I saw a crash test between two MPVs of the same make from 2008/1998 and the difference was almost as big as the one you've shown above.

Makes me not want to buy a car pre 2005.