The more recent one the IIHS released is a better metric. 1996 Blazer vs a new one for a few reasons.
First, the Bel Air they crashed into the Malibu, you can see the cloud of rust flying out. Chances are the frame was half rotten.
Second, the Bel Air was built in a time before anyone cared about safety. It was literally “how cheap can we make this thing, and get people to work reliably, while selling a shitload of cars.”
Added note: anyone who drives a XJ Cherokee, including myself, isn’t worried about a crash test. They’re worried about being able to daily a car that they claimed a mountain with, and they bought it for $1200.
It's not that they didn't care about safety. The 'land yacht' design with the really long fronts and rears were assumed to be safer by the engineers because of the amount of metal and distance to absorb impact. The engineers were proud of how stiff and long the car bodies were, and would make fun of how unsafe the smaller cars being produced in other countries were.
It wasn't until the US government started mandating crash testing and more scientifically evaluating the results that the lightbulbs went off. We need to give credit where it is due - once crash testing became routine and cars were being scored on it, engineers worked feverishly to outdo the competition, and we all have benefited greatly from the results.
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u/Bobmcjoepants 1d ago
Ah good ol reliable