Modern Vehicle Impact Safety Explanation Please?

Question

My girlfriend is wanting to buy a new car but wants an old one as she believes they are safer despite the fact that physics states otherwise. Any of my explanations are heavily physics oriented, and she isnt good with math anyway so its hard. She does not want a old one either as she thinks they will all break down on her. Please help me offer her an explanation she will understand so she can get a reliable vehicle thats safe and not heavily scientific or mathmatical. Im just not good at simplifying things.

Answer 1

MODERN is not about old cars with heavy frames and newer cars with unibodies.  Its about more real world accidents.  The old way of testing cars was very straight forward and did not give real good data on how they do out in real accidents.  SO they changed how they tested (crashed) them. Its NOT true old heavy strong cars are safer.  You want the car to absorb the energy when in a crash by crumpeing up in ways not to get into the passenger area.  When the car is crumpeing up its slowing down and the also slowing down the person inside the car.  If you were in a old full framed car (CoRVETTE excluded) the car would not absorb the energy but the occupant would.  

As to her wanting a new car for fear it would break down.  Some old cars are more reliable then any new car but you have to really know all the cars out there.  Plus its a girl just give her what she wants you can talk to her about this till your blue in the face and not convince her.  She will allways be unhappy driving an old car.. Leave the good used cars to us MEN...

Answer 2

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the number of vehicle fatalities was projected to decline from 43,443 in 2005 to 43,300 in 2006, and the number of deaths per 100 million miles traveled was also expected to decrease from 1.45 to 1.44.

Active head restraints, which move forward upon impact to catch the head and increase neck protection;

Adaptive cruise control, which uses radar or lidar (laser-based radar) to monitor and regulate the distance between vehicles;

Advanced airbags, which isolate and protect various body parts and, in some systems, deploy at different depths or velocities depending on the occupant's size and position;

Advanced seat belt pretensioners, which tense up when a collision is imminent and are sometimes paired with seats that automatically adjust for increased crash protection (conventional pretensioners activate during a collision);

Electronic stability control, which monitors traction loss and steering angle and automatically applies one or more of the brakes to keep the vehicle on course;

Lane departure warning systems, which signal a driver when his or her vehicle drifts from its lane;

Telematics, after-crash technology that combines the functions of cellular phones, Global Positioning System receivers and 911 operators;

Tire pressure monitoring, which alerts the driver when a tire's pressure is dangerously low......................

Answer 3

Explain to your girlfriend that in every accident, there are two collisions. First your vehicle collides with another object (car, lamp post, animal... and so on). Secondly you then collide with the inside of your vehicle. The second collision is where newer cars greatly excel over older models. Sophisticated computer controlled airbags, seatbelt pre-tensioners and specially designed interior padding, greatly improves a modern vehicle's safety.

Many people are fooled into believing anecdotal stories of some large older vehicle colliding with some newer economy car at relatively low speeds... the new car was "totaled" while the older car "didn't even get a scratch".

While it is true that modern cars suffer more cosmetic damage than older cars, the damage that is transfered to the passengers is dramatically less with newer cars. And in the end, that's all that matters.