Re: IML: Safety- Old cars vs New cars

[Mark McDonald <tomswift@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This is one of those topics that not everyone will agree on, but in my opinion new cars are infinitely safer than old cars.

We have primarily been talking about how cars withstand collisions, but there are 2 aspects to safety.  One is called "Active Safety," the other is "Passive Safety."

Active Safety is basically the ability to avoid an accident.  What goes into Active Safety are things like handling, the car's braking system, visibility, etc.

Passive Safety is what happens when you can't avoid the accident and you get hit.  That's where airbags and the car's structure come into play to protect you.

Yesterday's cars might-- I say might-- have some advantage in terms of passive safety in certain types of collisions, like if you run into a big SUV, but they fall far short in terms of active safety.

The basic advantage that new cars have is computer technology.  There are now systems on cars that monitor the position of the steering wheel and the position of the wheels and send braking and/or reduce power to individual wheels to control oversteer and understeer, reducing the chances of skidding and losing control.  There is a system called BA or Brake Assist on many cars that measures the amount of time it takes for your foot to come off the accelerator and hit the brake pedal and boosts braking power to help you stop.  There is another system called EBD or Electronic Brake Distribution which will shift braking duty to the wheels which have the greatest traction.  ABS, ASR, VSA, etc., etc.-- the list goes on and on.  It really is amazing what modern cars can do without the driver ever being aware of it.

In terms of the structure of cars, it seems totally counter-intuitive, but having a big thick chunk of metal in front of you-- like a heavy steel bumper-- does not necessarily mean you will be protected.  What happens with cars that have stiff structures in front of the passenger compartment is that the forces of the collision get directed straight into the passenger compartment and the thing you counted on protecting you-- the big piece of steel-- ends up acting like a battering ram and crushes you.  New cars (some new cars, not all!) are designed to direct the forces outward and away from the passenger compartment, which is reinforced.

I love old cars and I think they designed them to the highest standards of their day based on the knowledge they had then about what happens in crashes.  But today we have gained a lot more knowledge and can make cars safer using lighter materials.

Still, in certain situations I would rather be in an old car than a new.  For instance, if I knew I was going to get hit by a Ford Expedition or a GMC Yukon I'd rather be in my Imperial, air bags or no air bags, than a Honda Civic.  But if there is no vast difference in size or mass I would trust the new car.

Mark 



On Sunday, January 14, 2007, at 01:18 PM, Isenhour wrote:

> I remember the old saying about those mid-50's GM cars in relation to the
> amount of chrome metal in the front dashboard that if you had an accident in
> one of those you would be picking chrome bits out of your teeth for weeks!
> I survived a read in collision by hydroplane into the back of a Mac Tractor
> Trailer in a '62 Cadillac in the interstate.  Today if I was in a new car I
> don't think the air bag would help!
>
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