In Germany the car was called the VW Passat B1 and was built almost unchanged from 1973 to 1980 (apart from a few facelifts). 30 mph is about 48 km/h, a relatively high impact speed. The crumple zone appears to be quite good. However, the fuel tank sits very awkwardly. It's important to remember that this test took place 45 years ago. A lot has happened in terms of security.
45 years ago this past Tuesday! And you're right, the structure does look good overall, if the fuel tank were a foot or two (30-60 cm) further forward it would have done very well. December 6, 2024 4:51 pm
One has to remember that this design is from 1973, about 3 years before the NHTSA FMVSS 301 standard went into effect (on September 1, 1976 for the 1977 model year). Obviously it should have met the standard, being sold after 1976 (and that standard should have gone into effect much earlier anyway but Ford lobbied it to get delayed). But at least it's not the disaster that say, the Peugeot 405 was. That was a design from 1987 that performed far worse than this, with the back seat area actually collapsing at 30 mph in addition to disastrous fuel leakage. At least VW has the excuse of the design pre-dating the standard. December 6, 2024 4:55 pm
That moment when you get rear ended at relatively low speed, but die because they mounted the fuel tank on the rear bumper and the chassis crumpled like a garbage bag, preventing you from getting out of the car. My god, old cars were poorly built.
40 years ago I had a 79 Dasher diesel 2dr. What a POS it was. Like every other VW of that era the quality was terrible and the interiors were basic and looked cheap and felt it. Glad I stuck it out with Mercedes diesels all these years
In Germany the car was called the VW Passat B1 and was built almost unchanged from 1973 to 1980 (apart from a few facelifts). 30 mph is about 48 km/h, a relatively high impact speed. The crumple zone appears to be quite good. However, the fuel tank sits very awkwardly. It's important to remember that this test took place 45 years ago. A lot has happened in terms of security.
45 years ago this past Tuesday! And you're right, the structure does look good overall, if the fuel tank were a foot or two (30-60 cm) further forward it would have done very well.
December 6, 2024 4:51 pm
One has to remember that this design is from 1973, about 3 years before the NHTSA FMVSS 301 standard went into effect (on September 1, 1976 for the 1977 model year). Obviously it should have met the standard, being sold after 1976 (and that standard should have gone into effect much earlier anyway but Ford lobbied it to get delayed). But at least it's not the disaster that say, the Peugeot 405 was. That was a design from 1987 that performed far worse than this, with the back seat area actually collapsing at 30 mph in addition to disastrous fuel leakage. At least VW has the excuse of the design pre-dating the standard.
December 6, 2024 4:55 pm
That moment when you get rear ended at relatively low speed, but die because they mounted the fuel tank on the rear bumper and the chassis crumpled like a garbage bag, preventing you from getting out of the car. My god, old cars were poorly built.
This was the beginning of real design for safety. Gotta start somewhere.
World-class german automotive engineering sharing the same flaw as a Ford Pinto....🤭🤭… 👍👍
40 years ago I had a 79 Dasher diesel 2dr. What a POS it was. Like every other VW of that era the quality was terrible and the interiors were basic and looked cheap and felt it. Glad I stuck it out with Mercedes diesels all these years
Rear-end a Dasher to get a Rabbit…. 😂
I thought for sure the rear glass was going to shatter.
12/3/79