Think older, bigger cars are better when it comes to surviving a crash? It turns out to be just the opposite, according to some startling results from a recent test performed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
As part of its 50-year anniversary, the non-profit institute measured today’s safety standards vs. those of half a century ago by crashing a 2009 Chevy Malibu head-on into a 1959 Chevy Bel Air.
From the photos below and video above, you can see that no, they really don’t make them like they used to. And in terms of surviving a crash, that’s a good thing, says IIHS spokesman Russ Rader.
“They weren’t designed to crash like today’s vehicles are,” Rader said of cars from decades past. “We did the test to demonstrate the advances in auto safety over the least 50 years. Some are obvious, like safety belts and airbags in all cars today. Then there are things that are less obvious, like collapsible steering columns. And we have more crash-worthy designs.
“Vehicles today are designed to crash and protect people,” he said. “That is clearly demonstrated in this test. A 2009 Malibu that we used did a very good job of keeping the occupant compartment in tact and (lessening the effects of) crash forces. The Bel Air just collapsed.”
What’s surprising for a lot of people in seeing this is just how crumpled the older car was compared to the newer and one, even though the older one had a slight weight advantage. After all, weren’t these old cars built like battleships?
“People think of the cars back then as being these big, heavy tanks, but in fact in this match-up the Malibu and Bel Air – even though the Malibu is somewhat smaller – they are very close in weight,” Rader said. “The Bel Air weighs 3,629 pounds. The Malibu weighs 3,452. They weren’t very far apart in weight but they were very far apart in how they were engineered structurally.”
Oh, and Rader added that he wanted to cut off any naysayers at the proverbial pass when it comes to one particular issue about this test:
“There are always people online that like to act as experts,” he said. “It looks like the Bel Air did not have an engine in it. The Bel Air was drivable and equipped with its engine. The only (mechanical) alteration was, as we do with all these cars, is take the gas and other fluids out.”
“We wanted to choose a vehicle that was popular at the time,” Rader adds. “This one was in good, original condition. The only alteration was it was reupholstered and have some minor trim changed.”
When asked what kind of safety advancements we might see in cars in the next 50 years, the IIHS has some interesting predictions. We’ll get to those in another post.
For now, check out the photos below (click to enlarge) of the IIHS crash test — and make sure this doesn’t happen to you by keeping safe out there on our highways.
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