"59 Chevy vs '09 Chevy

[SavnBass]

Crash Test 1959 Chevy Bel Air vs 2009 Cjevy Malibu

Comments from an independent source.

[phbrown]

ARGH!!! i can't see it cause i'm still at work

[LaylaMonroe]

Don't worry. I saw it. But it's like I didn't.

I wish there was a synopsis in this thread. To me, it just looked like 2 cars hitting each other head-on at a high speed, and both being totaled/demolished.

I'm really not sure what the video is supposed to show. I mean, I noticed that the glass popped out in the older one and not in the newer one, but both cars were totaled and both drivers looked like they'd be pretty banged up, if not dead, so...

Was the point to disprove the claims we make that these new cars aren't made as tough as the old cars?? Otherwise, I don't get it.

[SavnBass]

I found the same thing on YT and reposted ... with commentary from an independent source. 

[phbrown]

I found the same thing on YT and reposted ... with commentary from an independent source. 

hey SavNBass could you tell me what the second vid is about? I can't watch it and I won't have a chance for about 7 hours...

[LaylaMonroe]

I found the same thing on YT and reposted ... with commentary from an independent source. 

So can you just give a synopsis and tell what the point of all this is? For those who either can't watch the vid, don't want to watch the vid, or watched the vid and don't get it.

[SavnBass]

The first video is a head on collision between a 59 Bel Air & a 09 Malibu..  The Malibu got the worst of it... much worse.. Seen from several angles including inside of both cars...

The second video is of a guy who restores cars and who initially thought the video was hogwash.. but after takeing the same model year apart to restore it he pointed out just how flimsy it was.. so the myth of the good old American tank is pretty much that.. a myth.

[LaylaMonroe]

Oh ok. Sorry for being such a dummyhead.

I don't know much about cars. I thought that's what the video was trying to show, but I wasn't really sure.

[phbrown]

The first video is a head on collision between a 59 Bel Air & a 09 Malibu..  The Malibu got the worst of it... much worse.. Seen from several angles including inside of both cars...

The second video is of a guy who restores cars and who initially thought the video was hogwash.. but after takeing the same model year apart to restore it he pointed out just how flimsy it was.. so the myth of the good old American tank is pretty much that.. a myth.

Quick question did they evaluate which driver fared better?

Cause wasn't the whole point of Nader back in the day advocating changes was that cars would look worse after a crash but people were more likely to walk away from it?

[SavnBass]

The guy in the Malibu might have been shaken up pretty badly.. but he probably would have walked/limped away ... the guy in the Bel Air was definitely going out on a stretcher if not in a a bag.

[funkStrat_97]

I don't have sound, but I believe Malthumb had posted a similar video here some time ago.  Basically, you would have had a better chance of surviving the crash and suffer fewer injuries in the '09 Malibu.

[malthumb]

I don't have sound, but I believe Malthumb had posted a similar video here some time ago.  Basically, you would have had a better chance of surviving the crash and suffer fewer injuries in the '09 Malibu.

funkStrat_97 is totally correct.  The point when the video was first released was to show how far auto safety has come in 50 years.  The occupant( s ) of the Bel Air would most likely have died or suffered debilitating, disfiguring injuries.  The occupant ( s ) of the Malibu would most likely have walked away with minor injuries.  Looking at how "mangled" the cars might be is misleading.  Newer cars are designed to "self destruct" around the engine compartment and front fenders while keeping the passenger compartment as intact as possible.  They absorb the crash energy by bending and folding.

I often tell people to try this experiment.  Hold a metal pipe in one hand, an empty paper towel tube in the other hand.  Smack a pole or a wall with each of them.  Which one is intact and which one is destroyed?  Which hand feels better?  It's all about energy absorption vs energy transfer.

One key to understanding this video is to look at what happens to the A-Pillars of each vehicle.  The A-Pillar is the vertical metal that holds up the front of the roof and frames in the windshield.  The A-Pillar of the Bel Air is obliterated to the point that on the inside video of the Bel Air, you can see the roof collapse on top of the crash dummy.  The A-Pillar of the Malibu stays in place.

[malthumb]

I wonder if they've done tests to see which one will last the longest without ever crashing at all.

Say what?      (check the date on this one.  It might surprise you)
http://www.designnews.com/document.asp?doc_id=222113

[gtrdave]

I wonder if they've done tests to see which one will last the longest without ever crashing at all.

There are too many factors and variables to determine which one would outlast the other, but all things being equal and maintenance schedules being observed, Id give the nod to the modern car.

[funkStrat_97]

There are too many factors and variables to determine which one would outlast the other, but all things being equal and maintenance schedules being observed, Id give the nod to the modern car.

I agree that a modern car will outlast a classic granted that maintenance on both is more or less equal, but I also suspect that old cars are easier to fix.  A few months back, I had to change a headlight bulb on my car and it was not as intuitive as you might have thought, but I got it done.  In fact, my owner's manual actually states that you should take the car to a dealer for this (wow).