IIHS 50th Anniversary Crash Test

In celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a '59 Chevrolet Bel Air was crashed into an '09 Chevrolet Malibu.

• Category

  Autos & Vehicles

[gp75motorsports]

That's because they didn't have crumple zones. Trust me, the cars don't look bad, but there were a lot of occupant deaths because the cars didn't absorb energy quite as effectively, and a lot of them didn't even have seatbelts.

A hit on the left fender isn't particularly strong evidence for your case either, because that would leave the passenger compartment virtually unscathed due to the energy going in a different direction.

So yes, new cars are much safer.

[myphonyaccount]

Old people love to lie about how safe their old cars were because they were "made with metal". In reality, millions of people died in old cars before laws forced automakers to make them safer.

[kimgrotta]

I forwarded this to my parents. They're going to hate it. They still think the big metal box cars from the mid-1900's were the safest things on the road and always talk shit about our "plastic death traps" now. I wonder what they will think when they see this, lol.

[1971ojoalparche1971]

It's not fair. That Impala was only given fuzzy dice in place of airbags (1:12 to the left side of the screen).

[MegaAMD7]

That's What cheve do !!

[shaurz]

Don't you mean hobbled a way with a slight knee injury ;-)

[Hotrian]

Around 1:10 it's pretty clear that the driver of the '09 is relatively safe. Watch at 1:37, when the driver side door for the '59 is crushed and shoved outwards from the body of the car, and the '09 remains still. The driver of the '59 was most likely completely crushed by his own steering wheel, and the various parts in front of him; the '09 collapsed in on itself, absorbing much of the energy, and saving the life of the driver.

[Legendworking]

You can't be serious, the windscreen didnt even break on the new car.

[ThePebohead]

uhhhh no it didnt, look at every other angle, the drivers side compartment of the Bel Air is non existent after the crash, while in the malibu you can see that it is almost untouched.

[bernie4366]

are you blind??

[kanemacaniff]

ha, dig the fuzzy dice.

[ZeranZeran]

1:33 the driver's seat in the newer car got smashed a hell of a lot more than the older one.