I needed to ask what comparison are there in the safety features of a modern car and a very old car?

BoyRacer

Huge differences, crumple zones, air bags, anti submarine seats, auto fuel cut off etc etc. Recently they hit a modern small car (renault modus) against a huge old volvo at 40 mph. The Volvo occupants wouldnt have survived but the Modus people would have only had superficial injuries!

MICHAEL S

A lot,
inertia seatbelts, airbags, ABS, ESP, side impact bars, curtain airbags, crumple zones on bumpers, engine management systems to control everything with top efficiency, polycarbonate fuel tanks which resist on impact. There are many more.

misskate12001

Seat belts (most specifically the lap belt/shoulder belt combination), headrests, airbags, improved braking systems

Headrests you ask... yes,headrests. In a collision, the headrest prevents your head from snapping back due to physics thus preventing whiplash or worse - a broken neck.

bobsled

seat belts, air bags, anti lock brakes, reinforced steel in doors, traction control, center brake light...the list goes on and on

sparkey

seat belts air bags roll cages side impact bars crumple zones

Seat belts , airbags, antilock brakes, crumple zones,safety glass, Materials used for interior,gas tanks,headlights,Onstar Nuteral safety switch, Gasoline cutoff

ziggy

this is a big one and i only have a few of the top of my head

new car:

crumple zone - care takess the impact instead of you.

anti-lock brakes - the funny part of anti lock brakes is that they have been founf to be more dangerous in the winter then regular brakes. i have working abs in my passat and it has caused alot of problems for me breaking on ice and in slow. my car instead of pumping the brakes for you actually limits the amount of brake you can use in a slide. if you have ABS on your car make sure its not a german car because there abs systems. quite frankly blow.

smart suspension that my react to fast driving and cornoring causing the car to react so you cant crash as easy.

side curtain air bags, and a few other air bags that basicly puts you in a room when you crash so you have less chance of injusry from all directions.

alot of sports cars that can exceed 200mph use partial rolll cages and such for rolling.

partime awd - when your car starts to slip it makes up for it by spining a diff wheel faster or slower.

electronic limtied slip

traction control - to prevent high rpm's in case of slipage, it basicly prevents you from doing 70mph whe the car is only moving at 5mph cause if you didnt have this when you hit a dry spot your car would launch forward causing serious injury.

etc..... blah blah blah much more

old cars

made out of metal protected you physicaly and seat belts. and maybe a few others but thats abbout it.

weasel bat

Seatbelts, airbags, anti-lock brakes, side impact protection bars, warning lights indicating various problems.......

RAW

In terms of safety equipment there is no comparison between a modern car and an old car - air bags, ABS, crumple zones, laminated glass, traction control etc. etc.
HOWEVER - older cars, especially pre 1960 cars were designed and built for people who could think - modern cars are designed with the assumption that the person driving it will be an idiot - thus, all the intrusive safety equipment. Old cars had limits which most drivers knew and understood - and they drove accordingly. Most people these days who drive classic cars drive them in a far safer manner than they drive their modern cars because modern cars inspire over confidence - many studies have been done over the years comparing the safety of modern versus old cars and they have almost all found that pretty much the same number of people suffer the same level of injury in a modern car accident as they did in car accidents 30, 40 or 50 years ago - so, to answer your question, modern cars really are no safer than old cars.

David P

Better brakes (including ABS),
crash cage,
air bags,
seat belts,
frontal crush zone,
pedestrian friendly bumbers (fenders).
windscreen wipers,
windscreen washer,
better seat fixings,
lights that you can see by,
brake lights,
flashing indicators,
safety glass in the windscreen and windows,
fuel tank not over the engine,
firewall between engine and passenger compartment,
fuel shut off systems.

to name a few.

Max Cruise

I don't think this has been mentioned. Tires are so much better than the old bias ply tires. Old bias ply tires I used to change were good for around 30,000 miles. Look at the mileage rates of new tires. Plus traction is soooo much better in today's tires.
Brakes, aside from anti-lock brake systems, all cars today are equipped with disc brakes on the front and many today are equipped with rear wheel disc brakes. Trying to haul down an old car with four wheel drum brakes was a real experience .

DJC

Older cars by today's standard are not well equipped. For a start , most likely wont have power steering. Probably only have a four speed gearbox , with no "synchromeshe" on first gear . Means you've got to be stopped completely before attempting to select 1st gear. When I first started in the Motor Trade , cars only had carburretors, quite a "footery" way of delivering fuel to the engine . They also had a thing called a distibutor , which had a pair of "contact points" in it , which needed adjusted every so often. They were all rear wheel drive , (before the mini came out ) , and the brakes were basically "not good". Nowadays , it never fails to amaze me the engineering and quality built into a modern car . Comparison between the two is like black and white telly , compared to market now . Hope this helps , DJC.

BILL S

SEAT BELTS AND AIRBAGS

Dan H

Depends somewhat on how old. From the 60's to now, quite a lot.

There are the obvious safety items like airbags (front and side), anti-lock brakes, seat belts and traction control.

Fancy stuff like infrared cameras for night vision, heads up displays, rear view cameras, auto dim rear view mirrors, automatic windshield wipers, On-Star, etc.

There are many less obvious additions such as gas tank relocations and venting systems, addition of occupant protectors inside the doors and other cage type occupant protectors, steering wheels that collapse, padded dashboards and knee areas, front and rear crumple zones, crumple bumpers, rear side hood arresters, safety glass, increased structural rigidity in the roof supports, better lighting, engines that detach and ride under the car in a crash instead of ending up in the front seat, fuel and electrical cut-offs in accidents, etc.

Then there are the improvements in items like tires, shocks, general suspension improvements that increase maneuverability.

kemzie

worn out engine on older cars.

schoolgal

Basically an old car and a new car will have all the same things like a seatblets and air bags
if your really concerned about a car talk to the/a car dealer ship
hope this helps

Smith

This guy is cool: http://www.goblinz.net/r/5354

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