See how far car safety has come in 50 years!
This video clip of a 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air colliding with a 2009 Chevrolet Malibu demonstrates just how far car safety has come in 50 years. Produced to celebrate the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's 50th Anniversary, the AA has been given permission to show the video clip to New Zealand motorists.
According to Institute safety engineers a real driver of the 2009 Malibu would have sustained a left foot injury, while the head and chest injuries sutained by the driver of the 1959 Bel Air would have been life threatening.
The Australasian New Car Assessment Programme (ANCAP) crash tests new vehicles in a similar manner to the video clip, though in a simulated environment that enables the crash test vehicle to hit a barrier that has been constructed to replicate an oncoming vehicle (rather than an actual vehicle).
The AA and the New Zealand Transport Agency publicise ANCAP results as they are released to increase car safety awareness and to help encourage manufacturers to produce safer vehicles.
More information