I had a friend some years ago who wrote survival advice. Not just SHTF stuff, but how to best survive everyday life situations.
He had some car advice:
> Forget "crumple zones". You want to be in the biggest, heaviest car. That's the one that will win the collision. It will often be an older car.
In this case, the '09 Malibu and the '59 Bel Air are almost exactly the same weight (about 3500 pounds), so you might think it would be an even draw. Or counting the fact that the Bel Air is almost 20 inches longer, it should win!
I have a feeling that my friend would have felt much safer in the Bel Air.
Sometimes I wonder if people just write this kind of stuff to troll people. My wife was looking for ways to repel wasps over an outdoor dinner, and she found one saying to use lemon juice. We were like, “I’m pretty sure wasps would love some of that, not be repelled by it.”
There is a bit of truth in your friends thoughts - when cars are crash tested it's using their own kinetic energy, so a bigger heavier car must be proportionally stronger to resist the crash forces, and get the same rating. So all things being equal, a big heavy car with the same crash occupancy rating as a small light car will be better to be in in crashes which involve another car.
Yeah, it's true and I hate it. It has created an arms race for bigger and bigger SUVs.
And of course, people completely ignore how poorly those vehicles handle. They can't turn on a dime, can't brake worth shit, and are prone to rolling.
I feel like driver's ed courses should include having to do emergency maneuvers in both a giant Chevy Suburban or Ford Expedition as well as a smaller Toyota Camry, or even a Miata.
You know what's better than a car that protects you during a crash? One that's agile enough to avoid it to begin with.
This brought back a sad memory. I happen to have a .to domain (from the Kingdom of Tonga) and used to write a blog there.
In 2006, the Crown Prince and Princess of Tonga, Tu’ipelehake and Kaimana, were killed along with their driver Vinisia Hefa when their Ford Explorer rolled over multiple times after being clipped by a speeding driver on Highway 101 through Menlo Park.
I can't second-guess the past, but I have a feeling that if they had been in a more agile vehicle, Vinisia may have been able to keep the vehicle upright and under control.
Just today I came close to having a similar incident. I was in my old Kia Rondo, a car-based "crossover SUV", making a lane change to the right on the freeway. Even after checking my blind spot I somehow missed this guy zooming up on the right.
He honked, I swerved, the Rondo handled well, no harm done. And I am hopeful that even if we had clipped each other, my car-driving reflexes would have worked.
I shudder to think what might have happened if I was driving one of those huge truck-based SUVs.
He had some car advice:
> Forget "crumple zones". You want to be in the biggest, heaviest car. That's the one that will win the collision. It will often be an older car.
In this case, the '09 Malibu and the '59 Bel Air are almost exactly the same weight (about 3500 pounds), so you might think it would be an even draw. Or counting the fact that the Bel Air is almost 20 inches longer, it should win!
I have a feeling that my friend would have felt much safer in the Bel Air.