This week in safety: A crash test for the ages

You might think that a muscular 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air could hold its own in a modern-day crash test because of its advantage in weight and size. But as the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) proved on its 50th anniversary, that belief can be quickly crushed. The safety group conducted a frontal offset crash test pitting a 2009 Chevrolet Malibu against its classic predecessor, which weighed 300 to 400 pounds more. The explosive results illustrate how far crash-test protection has come since the non-profit organization began conducting safety evaluations and advocating for improvements.

As our Cars blog wrote, "automotive safety has improved dramatically in the past five decades. The 2009 Chevrolet Malibu has as standard equipment: antilock brakes, stability control, occupant-sensing front air bags, and side air bags. Beyond the safety gear, advancements in vehicle engineering give the Malibu a clear advantage in this match up." To see how the Bel Air fared, watch the video.

More safety news from the CR blogs

• Cars: Automakers rally behind ban on texting
• Cars: Misaligned floor may have caused four-person fatal
• Babies & Kids: Where germs lurk
• Health: Swine flu alters traditional greetings

This week's headlines
One in four teens with own car has been in a crash
Associated Press via MSNBC.com
Parents beware: Giving in to teens' demands for their own cars can have dangerous consequences, new research suggests.Teenagers with their own cars or free use of one are much more likely to get in crashes than those who share a car. Read more ...

Quicker pace urged in tackling drywall problems
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Members of Congress summoned officials from four federal agencies investigating tainted Chinese drywall to Capitol Hill Wednesday for a closed-door meeting amid growing concern that action is not coming swiftly enough to help thousands of affected homeowners. Read more ...

CPSC Chairman looks at Chinese drywall in Cape Coral
Fort Myers News-Press
Because it is not all the same or made by the same manufacturer, defective Chinese drywall can't be recalled in the same way as other defective Chinese products, Inez Tenenbaum, chairwoman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, said while touring an affected home. Read more ...

Beware of dollar store dangers
WBBM-TV (Chicago)
There's one business that's definitely booming in this economy: Dollar stores. Sixty-five million Americans shop at them. Sales at many chains have shot up by about 10 percent in 2009. But instead of a great deal, you may be bringing home some dollar store dangers. Read more ...

Dangerous toys make up one in three recalls in the EU
eGov Monitor
Children's toys account for almost a third of products recalled in the EU in the past four months according to latest data from Consumer Focus Labs. The Recalled Products Web site has recorded the recall of 680 faulty products in the EU since its launch last May, at an average of 34 products per week. Read more ...

Peanuts regain place in pantries 
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s sunny and warm and dry and hard to imagine a more perfect early September day for peanuts in this part of the world where as the Arachis hypogaea goes so goes just about everything else — the economy, the jobs, the pride, the reputation, an entire way of agricultural life. Read more ...

Don't miss these recalls

• 20,000 Big Lots store wooden bunk beds (collapse and fall hazard)
• 2,500 Grand Trunk single and double “Parachute” hammocks (fall hazard)
• 14,000 Quest commercial juice dispensers (fire hazard)

Comments

[Al L]

What a waste of a classic car! What's next, dropping 1957 Chevies off of a five story building to prove they break? Next time they want to ruin classic cars call me and I'll tell them the newer ones are better made. Then give me tha old car.

[Ed Keller]

Did you see all of the rust in the air and falling out of the doors, this can't be a fair demo. But on the other hand would they do this with a fully restored expensive 1959 Chevy Bel Air.

[Steve]

I don't know how you guys can tell there's no engine or other components (unless you're just going by how much the Bel Air gets smushed).

That being said, there is something else that makes me think this is phony. For years, governments and automotive companies campaigned that newer cars were safer BECAUSE they crumpled, and that they crumpled in a controlled manner. The older vehicles, especially when you go back 50 years, were built like tanks, and didn't crumple. That was the advertised problem (that the car didn't absorb any of the impact, the person's body absorbed all of it). To watch the Bel Air crumple like the new Chinese cars, strikes me as being incredibly fake. I owned a car from 1977 that had steel I-Beams in the doors. I got T-boned by a garbage truck and the door skin crumpled to the I-Beam but no further.

If the engine and other components are missing, that would be one issue for sure, but I believe there is even more deception in this test.

[Gary Purcell]

I'M WITH MIKE ON THIS. WITHOUT HAVING A "COMPLETE" 1959 AUTO THEN THIS WAS MORE OF A PUBLICITY STUNT THAN AN ACTUAL CRASH TEST. WITH THE ENGINE AND "ALL" COMPONENTS FASTENED IN LIKE THEY SHOULD BE, THIS TEST WOULD HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT!!!!

[Mike K]

Not fair to use old car with OUT engine.
Where is the ENGINE and all other inner components in Bel Air.
I think this is just marketing spin than real test.

[Linda Crochet]

Is it completely fair to crash a 1959 vehicle against one made today? Come on, the poor thing was 50 years old. Do you think that time (50 years)old might have had a part in the crash results? Was the 1959 rusted, was the bumper rusted, was the axel intact and in good shape?....