Crash Test: 09 Malibu vs 59 Bel Air

[JaSla74]

I found this interesting article about how far we've come in vehicle safety. Although I'd rather have the Bel Air, I sure wouldn't want to crash in one

 

[Bart Sr.]

Re: Crash Test: 09 Malibu vs 59 Bel Air

I am not easily impressed and,well, I'm impressed.

 

[rbh]

Re: Crash Test: 09 Malibu vs 59 Bel Air

Ouch

 

[BLU LUNCH]

Re: Crash Test: 09 Malibu vs 59 Bel Air

Interesting article..........

 

[dlindeblad]

Re: Crash Test: 09 Malibu vs 59 Bel Air

I wonder if everything was stock on the Bel Air? Metal becomes week and rusted over time. Anyway the 59' was before they started designing engines to push down for front impacts. Might kinda freak you out to see your engine in the passenger seat.

 

[CN Spots]

Re: Crash Test: 09 Malibu vs 59 Bel Air

Yeah, but they crashed them into walls built in 2009. Walls in 1959 weren't nearly as strong as modern walls.

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: Crash Test: 09 Malibu vs 59 Bel Air

I wonder if everything was stock on the Bel Air? Metal becomes week and rusted over time. .

That question was raised on Trailer Boats too. I'll say that in my 10 years of experience as an auto damage appraiser, even if they had completely remade that 59 Impala with brand new steel, that Malibu would tear it up, just as it did.

I'll go even one step farther (I love a good arguement! ) and say that even if it had been a Geo Metro in that crash with the 59, it would rip that 59 a new one!

 

[puddle jumper]

Re: Crash Test: 09 Malibu vs 59 Bel Air

Wow i would have thought for sure the Bell air would have won that battle. May be not he driver but the car for sure.

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: Crash Test: 09 Malibu vs 59 Bel Air

Wow i would have thought for sure the Bell air would have won that battle. May be not he driver but the car for sure.

Nope, unibody construction with stronger steel and better construction methods is going to win out over a body on frame vehicle with a non-unitized body every time.

 

[Limited-Time]

Re: Crash Test: 09 Malibu vs 59 Bel Air

That is a real eye opener!! You have to give it to modern engineering.

 

[puddle jumper]

Re: Crash Test: 09 Malibu vs 59 Bel Air

That is a real eye opener!! You have to give it to modern engineering.

No kidding

 

[dr_bowtie]

Re: Crash Test: 09 Malibu vs 59 Bel Air

the mere fact the videos have all been pulled for "copyright" infringment by the Insurance group tells me this is just some form of fraud...

if this were really true why pull the vids when plugging safety....safety is priority #1 right?

Anf FYI the cars werent crashed at the same speeds...the Bel-Air was going much faster...20mph hour faster...

 

[mddubya]

Re: Crash Test: 09 Malibu vs 59 Bel Air

Luckily I've never had a bad crash in an older car, so I can't personally attest to the strength of them. But me and my youngest son did destroy a 2000 Chrysler 300M. The throttle stuck wide open and we flipped it 11 times at over 100mph. We both walked away with only minor cuts and a dislocated shoulder on my part. So yes, even though they feel flimsy when you lean against them, the newer cars are built like a Sherman Tank under the skin.

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Crash Test: 09 Malibu vs 59 Bel Air

the mere fact the videos have all been pulled for "copyright" infringment by the Insurance group tells me this is just some form of fraud...

if this were really true why pull the vids when plugging safety....safety is priority #1 right?

Anf FYI the cars werent crashed at the same speeds...the Bel-Air was going much faster...20mph hour faster...

it IS copyright infringement. Someone posted it to youtube without the insurance institute's permission.

(edit: didn't find a safety institute post, but here is the video posted by consumerreports.org, so I'm guessing they have rights to post it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPF4fBGNK0U)


They were going the same speed, and they crashed into each other. Given that type of crash, it makes very little difference if one car is moving faster though, given that it will increase the energy potential for BOTH cars. If you had one vehicle parked and one going 60 mph, the damage would be almost identical.
(if anyone is interested, here is a nice walkthrough for the physics of it)


anyway, to the original point. Modern engineering has vastly changed how safe cars are, but lots of people still think big old tanks are the safest thing you can be in. Same goes for SUV's. You are 4x more likely to die in an SUV crash then you are in a passenger vehicle. (more likely to roll, which means you are probably more likely to get tossed out or get your hairline squished down)

 

[mscher]

Re: Crash Test: 09 Malibu vs 59 Bel Air

I'll go even one step farther (I love a good arguement! ) and say that even if it had been a Geo Metro in that crash with the 59, it would rip that 59 a new one!

That might be pushing it.

I rented a Metro once. The whole car felt like a crumple zone. The door sheet metal, felt like I could put my fist through it, after a few beers.

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: Crash Test: 09 Malibu vs 59 Bel Air

That might be pushing it.

I rented a Metro once. The whole car felt like a crumple zone. The door sheet metal, felt like I could put my fist through it, after a few beers.

But the sheet metal of the door is not where the strength of the car is. I agree it might be pushing it, but I'd love to see it! (And I still say the Metro would "win")

drbowtie, if the Bel Air had been going faster than the Malibu, that would have actually helped it out, a little. As explained, the total force is the same, regardless if their individual speeds. But their speeds were equal. So you're conspiracy in regards to that is not logical.

smokingcrater, I only have one tiny, nit-pick disagreement with anything you said. In a rollover a modern SUV is not really any more likely to have its occupants get their hairlines squished, because the bodies of all modern SUVs are unitized, just like the cars. So they would crush about the same (if the external forces were all the same) as a car that rolled over. Which is to say, they don't crush that much at all.

I took a study class in Sarasota, FL in 1997 for the ASE Bodyman certificate, and the instructor gave this as a fact:

"In a direct 40mph frontal impact, (the goverment's crash test standard) a uni-body vehicle will "absorb" 90% of the force ahead of the passenger compartment.
A body-on-frame vehicle will abosrb 75%."

I think this video bears that out in moving pictures!

 

[ShaneCarroll]

Re: Crash Test: 09 Malibu vs 59 Bel Air

Well, that is interesting. I have only totalled two vehicles, neither one my fault. In Florida, there is a certain spot of I-75 I like to refer to as the "Bermuda Triangle." I totalled both cars in the same exact place, once in May of '02 ('93 Mazda 626) and the other in December of '05 ('01 Chrysler 300M). This portion of the interstate has some vicious pine trees that like to jump out and grab you, well that's what I like to think anyways. . The first accident was at 6PM, I just got off of work, and was completely sober. I got run off the road by some speeding jerk and the wet grass (rain) sent me flying into a group of pine trees at about 80mph. I walked away with a cut on my forehead from the visor, but the whole front end was destroyed on the car.

The second one was at about 4AM, same exact spot, it was a mixture of pulling an all-nighter at work the night before, and having a nightcap. I was doing 90 trying to get home and dozed off at the wheel, woke up to see me driving in the grass, over-corrected, did about 10 360's, and smack, the rear end of that car climbed the pine tree. I suffered a knot on the forehead from the woodgrain steering wheel, but the frame on the car was bent to Hades.

It was a very close call, and if I even feel remotely tired, or have had more than three drinks, I refuse to drive anymore. I was younger, it was a stupid mistake, but I definitely learned my lesson and thank God nobody was in the car with me and only my ego and wallet were injured.:redface:

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: Crash Test: 09 Malibu vs 59 Bel Air

The designed in crumple zones and high strength frame steels have brought safety a long way. The components are now a lot more difficult to make but it makes it all worth while when it does the job it was designed for and reduces injuries. I wonder where we will be in 50 years from now ??