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Watching a Crash Test Video of Your Favorite Car Might Make You Think About Your Choices

Many decades ago, safety was not an essential element in the lives of car enthusiasts. Crumple zones were something that only a few automakers had experimented with, while most seatbelts were just two-point units, until Volvo introduced the three-point system in 1959.
NHTSA crashtest of Nissan 350Z 16 photos
Photo: Screenshot from YouTube video by Donut Media
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Even after Volvo's patent that was gifted to the world, many vehicles still had two-point safety belts, and an accident could have serious consequences for any occupant of a vehicle. As time moved on and the number of fatal car accidents went up, something had to be done.

The airbag was invented to prevent cervical spine fractures, and ABS was invented to help drivers prevent crashes by not letting their wheels lock up under braking, and allowing the ability to steer away from the obstacle. Not all those systems were received with open arms by motorists, and many believed that they could magically fly away from a vehicle as it was going through an accident.

Eventually, safety tests became a thing in key markets across the world, and the U.S. has two organizations that conduct crashworthiness tests for new models, the IIHS and NHTSA.

If you get a vehicle that gets a good score in their tests, you have a better shot at walking away from an accident that would have severly injured or even killed someone in an older vehicle, which would not get a good rating. Remember that a five-star car is that safe only in the crash tests were it was evaluated, but things change in the real world if higher velocities are at play.

We are not discussing ratings related to having (or not having) active safety measures, but those that refer to passive safety. The latter means what happens when the impact is happening, and the role of the systems in question is to mitigate the consequences of said impact, instead of preventing it altogether, which is the role of active safety measures.

The folks at Donut Media have yet again raised the concern of safety in front of car enthusiasts, and made a video of them watching crashworthiness tests of the models that they own. With that in mind, we suggest you make the same query before getting your next used (or new) car.

Once you have seen it in action as it gets crashed, as well as have read the report, would you still choose the same vehicle? Remember, accidents happen every day, and everybody thinks it cannot happen to them, but it is, sadly, a matter of statistics and probability.

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Editor's note: For illustration purposes, the photo gallery shows various images from official crashtests.

About the author: Sebastian Toma
Sebastian Toma profile photo

Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland.
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