American cars: Safer today than they used to be
American cars may not be as popular as they used to be, but according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, they are a lot safer.
The IIHS recently conducted a head-on collision involving a 2009 Chevy Mailbiy and 1959 Chevy Bel Air.
The crash was a "frontal offset" crash that puts stress on the frame of the car. Both cars were moving at 40 miles per hour.
A video of the collision, post by Consumer Reports, shows the collision at full speed and then in slow motion from different angles. The video shows an explosion of materials; plastic, glass and metal.
The damage to the Bel Air is considerably more than on the Chevy Malibu. In fact, the Bel Air is destroyed. The front end of the car slides back into the passenger cabin which thrusts the steering wheel into the dummy driver's face. The roof collapses in on the car and the doors get blown off.
The Malibu, however, fares a lot better. Most of the impact is absorbed in the front end of the car. When the glass stops flying, the passenger cabin is in one piece.
The Bel Air did not have neck restraints or seat belts. Readings from the dummy inside the Bel Air showed that the driver would have sustained severe injuries. In the Malibu, the air bag protected the dummy, who, remarkably, was unscathed. The narrator of the video remarks that a foot injury could be possible.
