The main reason Europe was ahead of America and Japan in terms of side crash safety during this time is because Euro NCAP added a side pole test to emphasize head protection. Knowing the only way to pass this test and achieve high marks for safety was to have side airbags, this enticed even inexpensive European car brands not known for many safety features to add side airbags at least as an optional feature.
That's also part of the reason the IIHS created a different barrier than NHTSA used, to make sure the main contact point was high enough to require head protection in order to pass the side test.
Yes, all new cars come standard with some form of head airbags, at least for the front seats. However, that doesn't mean every car on the road has side airbags. There are a lot of older vehicles without them that are still being driven.
That is true in developed countries. These are not always true in developing countries. Ford Ranger XLT 2021 sold in Vietnam is still not equipped with side airbags.
I am so grateful for side airbags. But I am now advocating reversing some of the moderate speed limit increases on highways that were put in place in the 2000s. All the safety designs in the world are going to struggle to help you if you impact a tree at 70mph. But if speed limits on the interstate no longer were more than 60mph, most crashes would be much less harmful. Naturally most vehicles slow down once you lose control before impact. If you started at 60mph and lose control, you may be only going 40mph when you strike the barrier or tree and have a fighting chance but if you are at 80mph and lose control the odds of injury or death are far higher. An impact that happens at 70mph is so much worse than 40mph We should lower speed limits to make effective modern safety designs, just a little bit, not enough to have major impacts on social benefits of driving though. A 10 to 20 per cent reduction in speed would save so many lives it’s amazing.
The main reason Europe was ahead of America and Japan in terms of side crash safety during this time is because Euro NCAP added a side pole test to emphasize head protection. Knowing the only way to pass this test and achieve high marks for safety was to have side airbags, this enticed even inexpensive European car brands not known for many safety features to add side airbags at least as an optional feature.
Yeah, EuroNCAP helped with a lot of new safety features being brought to cars. (For example: ESC and TCS)
That's also part of the reason the IIHS created a different barrier than NHTSA used, to make sure the main contact point was high enough to require head protection in order to pass the side test.
Now Today All Cars Have Head Protection Are Standard Equipment
Yes, all new cars come standard with some form of head airbags, at least for the front seats. However, that doesn't mean every car on the road has side airbags. There are a lot of older vehicles without them that are still being driven.
@@carsandcrashtests Do you have the dates of the broadcast?
@@matthunter4826 I don’t.
That is true in developed countries. These are not always true in developing countries. Ford Ranger XLT 2021 sold in Vietnam is still not equipped with side airbags.
@@lilmonix yeah sadly
Hope you got more dateline crash tests
No more Dateline videos, but I do have something new coming...
I am so grateful for side airbags. But I am now advocating reversing some of the moderate speed limit increases on highways that were put in place in the 2000s. All the safety designs in the world are going to struggle to help you if you impact a tree at 70mph. But if speed limits on the interstate no longer were more than 60mph, most crashes would be much less harmful. Naturally most vehicles slow down once you lose control before impact. If you started at 60mph and lose control, you may be only going 40mph when you strike the barrier or tree and have a fighting chance but if you are at 80mph and lose control the odds of injury or death are far higher. An impact that happens at 70mph is so much worse than 40mph
We should lower speed limits to make effective modern safety designs, just a little bit, not enough to have major impacts on social benefits of driving though. A 10 to 20 per cent reduction in speed would save so many lives it’s amazing.
In the words of Jeremy Clarkson: "Speed has never killed anyone. Suddenly becoming stationary, that's what gets you."