Your Airbags Know You're There

After Honda recalled over 300,000 of their vehicles thismonth due to airbag safety concerns, I started to wonder how an airbag is meantto work efficiently. Oxygen sensors, your power steering pump, and other mechanical parts are expected to show wear after time, but airbags and other safetyfeatures should always be ready to work as if they were brand new. In Honda’scase, there is concern that their airbags may explode during a crash causingpieces of metal and plastic to shoot towards the passengers. Not good.

It’s crazy to think that airbags in the driver and passengerseats have only been required by law since 1998. Since then airbags haveobviously advanced and are now located in many areas in a vehicle. In many vehiclesyou can now find up to eight airbags, some of which fall like curtains over theglass windows or deploy inside to prevent passengers from hitting each other. Sideairbags can deploy for up to five seconds which is especially important inrollover accidents. To be sure airbags don’t activate from rough pavement orsmall fender benders, the crash sensors are programed to detect only severedeceleration. Basically, if you got your car going as fast as it can drive andslammed on your brakes as hard as you could, you would only be decelerating ata fraction of the speed the crash sensors are meant to detect

Newer vehicles can even detect how much weight is on a seatso they don’t deploy on, for example, your beagle napping in the passenger seat.They can also determine the severity of a crash, your seat position, whether ornot your seatbelt is on, and other factors to know the safest amount of air tofill your airbag (if any). I’ve never seen an airbag deploy and hope I don’thave to, but these advancements in car safety are definitely comforting..Especially having to commute with these southern California drivers.

What Does a 5 Star Crash Test Rating Really Mean

Recently the Fait 500 has been getting a lot of press due to the 3 star rating given by the NHTSA but 4 Star by the IIHS. The Fiat really is an unusual car for the US using some new age tech in the power steering rack and power steering pump not to mention the rest of the car. The issue is that these two organizations use similar tests but they are different enough to reveal some serious issues.

Crash tests are designed to do just what they say. They test the ability of a vehicle to take a big hit at certain speeds. The problem with this is that it does not give the total results that are needed to know how a vehicle will react in a real world crash. The placement of a crash in the car is what will really dictate how the safety features. The NHTSA and IIHS are both trusted to test vehicles but just the placement and the speeds used in the tests. In the case of the Fiat 500 it is more about the height of the barrier than anything else, at a low point the little fiat does fine but when higher it causes massive damage.

The issue with this small height change is that this car is meant for the US, and we all know that the US loves their SUVs. Not only do we love them but we are not willing to give them up even when gas hits $4 a gallon. They have high front bumpers and very heavy weight behind them, so for the car world it makes very dangerous conditions. A crash test rating may be 5 star but from a vehicle that is the sale height, a much higher one will impact in an area that is mainly glass. This means there is next to no protection at all for the driver. The main thing to realize about crash tests is they can only tell us so much and it is up to all of us to keep the roads safe. Keep driving distractions like cell phones out of our hands, vehicular safety is only as good as the accident that can be avoided. The best crash safety is the crash you never have. 

Car Swap for the Holidays

It’s somehow December, and for many Americans that means a lot of driving to visit those family members you don’t see enough during the year (whether intentionally or not). Unfortunately, while on long drives you might start to notice new problems with your car. Some drivers this year may have trouble with their Car Stereo, losing access to all those Christmas-stuffed radio stations. Others may have problems with the Center Console Screen DVD player that keeps the kids from yelling and fighting the entire way. But if you’re one of the lucky 5,000 or so Chevy Volt owners you may have another electrical issue to worry about: your precious gas-saving battery catching fire.

If you drive a Volt, don’t freak out too much. Although three of these batteries have caught fire after going through safety tests, there has never been a “real-world consumer incident”. The situation facing these Volt’s is similar to leaving leaking gasoline in a fuel tank after a crash. Anyone involved in a crash in an electric car is urged to disconnect or drain the power from the battery. The interesting thing about these incidents is that the batteries didn’t catch fire for days, and sometimes weeks, after the crash tests. Whether GM will create a way to automatically shut off battery power after a crash or completely redesign the battery is unknown, but the European version has been put on hold until the issue is resolved.

Now, there does seem to be an upside to this whole ordeal. GM is offering any Volt owner concerned with their safety a “loaner vehicle” to drive during this investigation. Yes, that means all those people concerned with gas mileage and low emissions can head to their local Chevy dealership and drive off in a Corvette for the holidays. 

Are Old Cars Safer Than New Ones

It is a common held belief that old cars are safer in an accident than a new modern car. This is simply not true but the thought that there is about 500 yards of metal between you and the car in front makes some people feel safer. Older cars with their steering gear box and steering rack units that had to handle a great deal more weight than newer cars had a much harder time avoiding accidents. The fact of the matter is there is no replacement for technology when it comes to being safe behind the wheel.

After watching a number of crash-test videos from new cars and seeing how much of a beating a new car can take I thought it would be a good idea to take back at the classics. What can be found by just doing a search on YouTube is a bit scary. Older cars seem solid and like they could take on a brick wall without flinching, it is just not true. Recently an independent company put a 59 Impala and faced it off against a modern one. The result is not as expected while the modern impala may have been totaled but seems to be just superficial. The damage looks bad but the cabin seems to be completely intact which means the passengers would be ok. The 68 did not fare as well, Not only did the car seems to completely collapse from the impact but the driver was subject to many injuries that would threaten their life. That is if they were not crash test dummies.

 

The fact of the matter is that modern cars have been built with safety in mind and the technology to back that up. Even though a new car may seem to be plastic and light the truth of the matter is that crumple zones and frame strengthening in key areas means that the car will disperse the energy of a crash more efficiently. This in turn means that the driver will be more protected from the force of the impact. After watching all the test videos of older cars it become clear that modern automotive travel is a much safer way to travel then the classics.