It was strange to see the lack of seat belt use, and was curious, so here is the reason:
"In 1984, New York became the first state to require the use of seat belts by law. The law stated that the driver, as well as all front-seat passengers, must wear a seat belt at all times. As for rear-seat passengers, by law only those under age 10 were required to wear seat belts. This type of law, in which the seating position and age of the occupant determined whether or not they were required to comply, was used by other states as they adopted similar laws."
"Many states adopted seat belt laws similar to those used in New York throughout the late 1980s. Where seat belt use was mandated, statistics showed a decrease in traffic fatalities, which pressured even more states to add seat belt laws. By the end of 1987, several states had a mandatory seat belt law, including California, Florida, Indiana and Pennsylvania. By the end of the 1980s, South Carolina, Virginia, Wyoming and Illinois had laws as well."
"The push for mandatory seat belt laws continued into the 1990s. In 1991 Arizona, Arkansas, Rhode Island and Alabama all added such a law. Other states that added seat belt laws to their books in the 1990s included Delaware in 1992, Nebraska in 1993 and Massachusetts and Kentucky in 1994. The last state to add a mandatory seat belt law was Maine in December 1995." *
*www. eHow.com
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All I know Orlen is, I seen a picture of a 2nd Gen Sunbird wrapped sideways around a big tree on the net once and the drivers
side was all the way over to the passenger's side and knowing first hand how thin the metal is on these cars, it gave me the chills.
As for the videos, they look survivable.......................except for the part where the heads go through the windshield.........
Doug in P.R.
92 Pontiac Sunbird LE, 2.0, AT, Red / Black with Grey 155K miles. Hurricane Maria Survivor ! ( It takes a licking and keeps on ticking ! ).....in Salinas, Puerto Rico!
Granted our 1st and 2nd gens may not have the added safety protection of today's cars.But I will say even todays super small economy cars just flat OUT suck!!!!!!!! I could list a host a ton of brands like kia,toyota and or Hyundai.For example many of these manufactures make cookie cutter cars super cheap under $15k or a more.Cheap they are but IF a mid size car or full size truck or larger hit them they FOLD up like tin foil!!!!!Air bags my **S no safety device will ever keep you safe from size over matter (bigger vehicle).To end this last year I saw a say 2012 or later scion AD I think and a4 door with a hatch.Driver side door was hit and pushed into the literally the middle of the steering wheel?Who do you think faired on this ordeal.Todays low cow garbage is no better off than our aging 30 thus year old cars with real metal and that is my opinion.Just my take
Yeah, you are spot on Ron.
I think our cars are well designed with crumple zones that appear to leave the cockpit in pretty good condition. I've seen some wrecked ones in junkyards and while the front or rear ends where heavily damaged the doors would normally still open up, though some would hit other parts of the body that was pushed back into them. The floors and firewalls in them looked okay and not pushed back into the cockpit very much. No idea what exactly happened during their wrecks, but I would guess the people inside were likely still alive afterwards.
I hope none of us ever has to find out how well they absorb an impact, but I imagine we would be as well off in an old J Body as anything else in its class/weight.
As for new cars, well I just don't want one. Friends, co-workers and family have told me I should buy a new car. I laugh and say why? I have 3 cars now and don't owe anything on them except very cheap insurance and registration fees. My cars have the features I want, like and use and none of the crap I don't want and would never use or actually get pissed off at, lol. I'm perfectly happy with them and my 94 is actually the latest year of any car I'd want. To each their own, of course. I still want an 88 Fiero GT, 5 speed and a 1973 Corvette Stingray Coupe L-82, 4 speed. Maybe some day. I did own an 86 Fiero GT with a 4 speed, many years ago.
Thank you to share very interesting Orlen
So - I am just catching up here but, I have some experience on the topic...
I was in an 87 Cavalier RS that made a left hand turn into an oncoming Chevrolet Citation. Not a straight 35 MPH frontal barrier like shown in the video, but a pretty good test as the Citation was at 45 MPH and we were at a slow turn.
The passenger side of the front curled up and absorbed like it was designed. None of us had seatbelts on - this was back in 89. My friends in the front seat went into the windshield. My friend in the passenger seat smacked the a-pillar hard on the way out. I was in the back seat and got off easy with a hyper-extended knee. My leg was caught between the seat and console as I flew forward into the dash.
So - the Cavalier was complete toast. The Citation (ironically the but of many jokes), was close to driveable after the accident.
Life Lesson time... - ALWAYS WEAR SET BELTS.
