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Piston Slap: Of Airbags, Energy Management, and the Laws of Physics
Andrew writes:
Dear Sajeev,
I have always admired the Buick LeSabre and Park Avenue models with the 3800, though I have never owned one. Until recently, I was a devoted follower of the principle that keeping a good older car on the road was smarter than buying a new one—until my data-driven Millennial son pointed out the safety revolution ushered in by side and side-curtain (head) airbags.
All VWs got them in mid-2001, and they morphed from options to standard equipment in other cars over the next thirteen years. While front airbags reduce the risk of dying in a crash by 29%, adding side and side-curtain airbags reduces the risk by 37% in cars and by 52% in SUVs.
We all know that people now walk away from serious crashes in newer cars, even economy models, that would have killed them in an older car. I pulled people out of crashed cars as a firefighter in the 1990s and the ones whose cars had no airbags were hurt much worse than the ones in newer cars.
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My family have more or less cajoled me into not buying or driving cars without “all the airbags”—so my new fun car is a 2006 Mini Cooper S. And I have to admit that I like driving it better than any of my previous collector cars (1963 Valiant convertible, 1963 Studebaker Lark, 1966 Buick Wildcat, 1972 MGB GT, 1976 Triumph Spitfire, 1980 Lincoln Continental Mark VI sedan, 1986 Mazda RX-7). Plus I am much safer in it.
I have come to think that cars without a full suite of airbags should now be treated like Model T Fords—good for Sunday ice cream runs, or leisurely summer weekend drives on back roads, but certainly not for daily driving in a world of F350s, Expeditions, and Escalades, with legal highway speeds now higher than ever. I love older cars, so this has been hard to wrap my head around.
Can you persuade me otherwise using data and facts, not just economic, aesthetic, or nostalgic arguments?
Sajeev answers:
Ugh, not letting me concentrate on economic, aesthetic, or nostalgic arguments is really taking the wind out of my sails. You’re really gonna make me work for this Piston Slap paycheck, aren’t ya?
Sit down for this ride, ’cause it is gonna be a wild one.
What you bring up is important, because the dual airbags (as standard equipment) first put into production by Porsche in 1987 are only able to help in a head-on collision. Those are the worst type of collisions, and the airbags work no matter how much time passes. Good stuff, but perhaps comedian Bill Burr said it best:
As much as I loved writing about the 3.8-liter Buick LeSabre referenced in the first sentence of your question, we need to be pragmatic about how much safer cars are these days. Pragmatism would also be nice in your need for specific data about the efficacy of a suite of automotive airbags, because a weekly column like Piston Slap can only go so far.
I will throw the work back on the reader, because what I’m referencing in the aggregate can be downloaded here for granular detail. From 1968 to 2019, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) calculated $17.3 trillion worth of societal benefits (using 2019 dollars) attributed to implementing vehicle safety standards. That first year (1968) was the rollout of certain mandated safety features we might remember, including: dual-circuit master brake cylinders, energy-absorbing steering columns, three-point seatbelts, and side-marker lights.
NHTSA notes these 50+ years of safety advancements set us back roughly $1 trillion, or 6% of the societal benefit. While it is worth a closer look to see how a suite of cabin airbags played their role in the benefit, that’s about as detailed as we can get.
But we ain’t done, by a long shot. Please consider two more factors in your selection of a safer daily driver for the classic car enthusiast.
Energy Management Advances: While Lee Iacocca noted in 1990 that airbags were “the most important safety advancement since four-wheel brakes,” a Mercedes-Benz advertisement shortly afterwards asked the readers if their “airbags actually came with a car.” (If anyone can help me find a copy of that advertisement, I’d greatly appreciate it!)
A Mercedes with a driver’s side airbag is probably safer than a Plymouth Sundance with the same technology, but I can’t find any specifics on how energy management evolved over time. Instead, let’s consider the improvements found in Micro Saint v2.0 software from the late 1990s. From what little I can find, it’s a safe bet that software technology like this was used in crash test simulations by the early 2000s.
The suite of airbags in your Mini Cooper is great, but also remember that there’s a brilliantly engineered “energy dissipation machine” that BMW wrapped around them. That said, real estate is king, because while a Smart car’s airbags and stiff skeleton is safe for its size, a Mercedes-Benz E-class has a lot more space to manage the energy generated from an impact (in harmony with airbag deployment).
Size, Height, and the Laws of Physics: I know you requested a data-driven discussion, but this image from CarSized should be a foundation for the reality check we all need as car enthusiasts in our modern motoring society. Full-sized trucks and SUVs are commonplace in my densifying city (Houston) and I reckon I am not the only person feeling the squeeze when I drive my “unsafe” old car at any intersection.
I am not considering data when modern vehicles are towering over me, except for that one time I did the math on the weight discrepancy between a GMC Hummer and a Ford EXP. Factoring in what we know about your safety-packed Mini relative to this featherweight Ford, one word comes to mind: Oof.
The Laws of Physics have already been proven, and vehicle height is easy to see. If you haven’t seen a photo of a new truck/SUV running over a car in a collision to prove the point, I am sure a Google Image search can find plenty of evidence from local news outlets across the country. Perhaps we can distill this meandering subject into a few questions we enthusiasts must discuss in the comments:
- Are we safer with airbags? Yes, other things being equal.
- Are we safer in modern vehicles with superior energy management than a 1990s car with dual airbags? Yes, other things being equal.
- Are we safer in larger vehicles from the modern era? Unequivocally, yes.
- How much safety do we need to feel comfortable on the road? 😬😬😬
In case you didn’t know, that last answer is the grimacing emoji. I clench teeth and make a hissing noise when I try to answer that fourth question, because I’m not the last word on that subject.
Off to you, dear reader of Hagerty Media.
Have a question you’d like answered on Piston Slap? Send your queries to pistonslap@hagerty.com—give us as much detail as possible so we can help! Keep in mind this is a weekly column, so if you need an expedited answer, please tell me in your email.
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Generally the advances have made things better but!
Even with the added content you can still die and in an older car it is not always a death sentence.
So many variables are involved from physics to the design of a car. The angle or type of accident can also matter.
I was in an accident years ago in a small car. It hit a van that pulled out in-front of me. I hit him at 40 mph plus. I was sore but I drove the car home. He could not drive his van.
Years later a texting driver forced me off the road. I never hit anything but the air dam dug into the ditch lip. I stopped and the air dam popped out and sent the air bags off.
I ended up with cuts, bruises and burns from the bags. These safety devices tore me up.
Now I’m not saying that the advances are bad. Most are good and work. But the cold truth is you can still be killed.
The best thing is to wear your belts, be aware of whst is going on around you. Stay focused and avoid the accident.
This has saved me many times. Once a guy towing a large boat with a small truck tried to stop on the freeway. We were sitting due to another accident. I saw. His wheels hopping and knew he was not going to stop in time. I pulled into the median and got out of the way. He stopped a foot short of the car that was ahead of me.
Just be smart aware and use the gear you have. That Buick if in good shape is a safe car. It will protect you will in 90% of what you could experience.
Think of most cars as good and some better few are a death wish outsize some very small cars or very old cars in modern traffic.
It’s a fairly wide open question even with the preconditions Andrew has put upon it. Risk is a part of life in almost all respects. What degree of risk someone finds acceptable is largely up to them. If that were not the case we’d all be hunkered down in our homes acting like a bunch of agoraphobics. A common but little known fact is that our brains aren’t fully developed until we’re roughly in our mid twenty’s. Our prefrontal cortex which is responsible for decision making, considering consequences and risk taking. Should we curtail privileges because of this? Keep people on learners permits until they’re 27 or 28? That seems rather impractical to say the least but we might be safer. To keep things brief we’d all probably be safer if we strapped on the latest Bell helmet before we went to work yet I’m of the mind at a certain point you pay your dime you take your chances.
Where are you driving and how are you driving have to factor into it.
I recall reading an article a couple of years back that compared 2 lists: top safety rated and most deaths. Thanks to the physics of big trucks and SUVs some top selling, well rated cars (Civic, Accord and Camry if I recall correctly, but may not) were high on both lists.
Mindset matters. Otherwise no one would dare ride a motorcycle on North American streets. An aware, safe habit driver on a “risky” vehicle is just about personal comfort. You get t-boned by a cement truck that runs a red light it probably doesn’t matter what you are driving…
When you see statistics on how airbags improve accident outcomes, they are generally tied to a specific type of impact. I didn’t spend a lot of time at it, but I could not find a wholistic statistic on the overall accident outcome improvement for airbags. What I did find during my search was a lot of discussion about injuries from airbags… which is interesting. I’m sure airbags are better than no airbags, just not real sure on how much better.
Google tells me that the odds of dying in a car accident is 0.9%. A 30% improvement would drop that to 0.6%. The actual math is probably pretty complicated because the 0.9% number is probably influenced by airbags. At any rate, 0.9% is not enough to stop me from driving a car, and 0.3% improvement is not enough to influence my car choice. As grim as it may be, we are all going to meet our maker one day, and there is a limit to the extent I will go to avoid the inevitable.
If it’s inevitable, you don’t “avoid” it – you merely “postpone” it! But I largely agree with paul s murray and TG here – we all must determine what risks we’re going to take in nearly everything we do, weighing them against the necessities and potential payoffs. And in the end (whenever that may be), we’re all going to perish somehow. But in general, I’m not in favor of trying to legislate safety…
There are many factors to safety. My ND Miata has blind spot and rear cross-traffic warnings, which come in handy, especially with the roof up. Since I realize my Miata is at a disadvantage to the behemoths on the road, I believe that a driver’s situational awareness also helps. Realizing there are idiots out there trying to kill me (unintentionally, of course) adds to that awareness. This is qualitative, rather than quantitative, but realizing you’re in a potential death trap may help you compensate for the lack of more modern mechanical measures.
To piggyback on Dubs comment that one day we’re all going to have a really bad day and in giving respect where it’s due_ Bernie Fedderly and Eddie Jordan just recently passed. Both giants in the world of racing.
The first foot on the floor out of bed increases your odds of an accident.
The best thing we all can do is be on top of your game driving and also be defensive or avoid what could happen and not put yourself in a bad spot.
I have avoided more accidents by just not putting myself in a bad spot. Now that can’t all ways be attained but much of it can. Many people just use poor judgment and lack of skills.
I dear more lack of skills anymore with all the nanny things on a car. Many people can back up with out a camera even in a Corvette with the roof down?
I have driven small cars with blind spots that could hide a semi. But good mirror usage works. Spatial awareness is important. Know what is going on around you and keeping your vision in scan is important.
Most accidents can be avoided if you keep aware and keep an eye out all the way around. Take nothing for granted.
Dying in a classic convertible after a bucket list trip cross country adventure might be preferable to dementia care 4 years later. Sometimes living has a downside.
The biggest issue to me is the weight of modern stuff is going up and up. So much mass being hurled at another vehicle. That energy has to go somewhere. Hopefully not to the people in the vehicle.
After passing a few significant intersection collisions in past week or so (Scottsdale, lots of old drivers) I am fascinated by the way newer vehicles shed parts and crumple, while the passenger cell remains relatively intact. Even with all of that energy, doors still open!
While the obvious value of side-impact / head protecting airbags is clear, I have always been suspect of the steering wheel and passenger dash bags. It seemed like those were developed and tested to protect the idiot, that would not wear their seat belt.
Oddly, I have never seen specific data that shows the actual value of those bags with a buckled occupant. I do know people that sustained injuries from front airbag deployment, while wearing their belts, in a relatively minor collision.
Yeah, I burned the crap outta my fingers upon hitting a deer once, but really believe that my lap/shoulder belt would’ve protected me just fine.
It’s difficult to dispute the benefits of airbags but I’m terrified of mine. I’m only 5’6″ and with the wheel tilted as low as it can go I’ll take it square in the face. It’s the most dangerous item in the car so you’d better believe I’m fully alert while facing that armed bomb.
If your daily driver doesn’t have “smart” airbags (those were mandated 2007, I think) I would consider getting a vehicle with them instead. While I am unaware of occupant height being calculated into their force equation, they factor both the severity of the impact and the occupant weight into their calculations.