Podcast Episode 23 – Car Safety


This episode was inspired by a podcast from Charles over at humblemechanic.com were he talks about vehicle safety systems.  You can check it out here, I would recommend it.

Anyway, it got me thinking about how much car safety have changed since the muscle cars of the 60’s.

For instance, look at the fender on my Dodge Grand Caravan:

car safety

Yes, I know it is slightly out of focus, but look at the bumps on the inside of it.  They are designed to make sure the fender crumples in an accident.

Compare that to the fender on my 1966 Impala:

car safety

Notice nothing there to help it start to crumple.  Great if you are in a demolition derby, not so great if you are in an accident on the street.

You want the car to crumple when you get into an accident, the more of the car that is bent up, the longer it takes you to slow down to zero.  The longer it takes, the less stress there is on you.

So the people who complain about cars getting so much damage in a crash, they are wrong.  The car should take the damage, not you.  That is the main thing to car safety.  The car absorbing the energy, not your body.

And I also go into tires, brakes and all the electronics that help as well.

My email is pat@themusclecarguy.net and to find this podcast on iTune, go to www.themusclecarguy.net/itunes


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