Safety of Older Vehicles

[bladerunner]

So I found a few weeks ago that the wife and I are expecting our first kid. I am pretty stoked about it. Of all the discussions that come up in a time like this, my least favorite is car safety. Once you have kids I guess it always comes up. Anyway, We have 3 vehicles: my wife's Subaru wagon (mom-mobile), a 2000 Honda Prelude which I never drive, and my 85 squarebody.  I live 5 miles from work, so I usually take the K10.  I drive through town mostly. Anyway, I will likely need to pick up the kiddo from my Mom's everyonce and a while after work. Everyone is advising me to not take the truck, which I am fine with. But they are also complaining about the smallness of the Honda. So I am thinking of selling the Honda for something safer for kid chauffeuring.

My question regards the overall safety of old vehicles, like our trucks. Some guys are insistent that old American Steel is best and is all you need, especially when compared to the smaller cars of today. Personally, I think that is bunk. Safety features today on cars make old cars looks like veritable death traps, which I am ok with. I drive it, my choice.

Can anyone speak to the relative safety of 73-87s (and no I am not talking about the side saddle tank myth, I know it is bunk as well)?  My wife seems to want to keep me around for sometime and she wants to be reassured. I told her that relative to newer cars and trucks, my truck is not as safe. I am fine with that, she is not.

[y2k_harley]

I have 2 car seats in my 82.  Make sure they are properly and securely install and you should be fine.  I'll put her up against any new little crackerbox. 

[Stewart G Griffin]

i think about this too alot.   While the newer and current silverados have very improved "crashability," i don't think 73-91 squares are "deathtraps."   i feel that the 73-91's are safe and the current trucks are even safer.

And the new trucks have multiple airbags----but when was the last time you had to use one?


i drive nothing but older vehicles (see my thread "If you think honda and toyota are king......") and i generally don't feel un-safe compared to the newer offerings.   (Well, ok i do, but this is due mostly to size not age)

i don't know---i guess if you did alot of 2-lane driving and/or at night then maybe you would want to go newer?


P.S.  i guess looking at some videos may help:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2HwFaT0n64

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc5Lu2dMoj8

There's more but i can't find them.

[bladerunner]

i drive nothing but older vehicles (see my thread "If you think honda and toyota are king......") and i generally don't feel un-safe compared to the newer offerings.   (Well, ok i do, but this is due mostly to size not age)

i don't know---i guess if you did alot of 2-lane driving and/or at night then maybe you would want to go newer?

I should point out that I am not thinking of getting rid of the truck. That said, no I don't drive much at night (not in the truck anyway) though 2 lane driving I do. Most of the roads are such as it is fairly rural here, though multi-lane highways would worry me more personally.

In a lot of ways, I have to drive much more conscious of the road as I know I don't have ABS, traction control, etc. to help me out. This is a fact of life in an older ride. So I brake more often and sooner. I don't drive erratically. That should make it safer. It is other yahoos you worry about.  So for myself, I will probably get a safe car or wagon for driving the kid and keep the truck for fun and hauling.

All that said, I am thinking of replacing the bench seat with something more modern (read as having headrests). A fender-bender resulting in me whacking my head on the rear glass is disquieting.

[zieg85]

You said a mouthful Bladerunner!!!  It is the other yahoos that worry me.  All of them think because they have traction control they can go faster.  I think common sense is less common nowadays.  I live in the snowbelt here in NW Indiana and only wished a couple of times I had a 4x4 just to make things a bit easier.  When I did have one I had to constantly remind myself that although I had the extra drive tire, I couldn't stop any faster.  Lack of seatbelts saved my Dads live when he got T-Boned back when he had a 67 Ford he drove. 

[bladerunner]

You said a mouthful Bladerunner!!!  It is the other yahoos that worry me.  All of them think because they have traction control they can go faster.  I think common sense is less common nowadays. 

Too true.  New cars are very responsive, handle great and ride like Lazy Boys.  Frankly, I find it all too easy to drive erratic or distracted in a new car or truck.  You are less connected to the road and to what you SHOULD be doing. In the truck, I am on alert, aware of my short comings.  But, all the defensive driving in the world won't save you from an aggressive driver, bad driver.

One thing I feel maybe in the favor of an old truck is low speed crashes. The lack of deformation of an old car in a high speed accident can cause a faster deceleration, thus transferring the energy of the crash to the cab and thus the occupants.  Newer cars with crumple zones, etc. deform better, absorbing that impact.  Well a lower speed crash that might not be such a bad thing, though whiplash can still be an issue (best of luck negating that in any crash though).

And zieg, i live in Maine and you are preaching to the choir about 4WD. Some folks think it makes them impervious to the effects of slick and snow. Just ain't true.  Half the time, its guys in pickups and moms in SUVs in the ditch along the highway following a storm.  Drive slow, seriously.  And I hate it when I get to work and people complain about being stuck behind someone going 25 on a city street in heavy snow as if getting where they need to go trumps getting there in one piece.

[zieg85]

Sensible driving, about 800 lbs of weight secured directly over the rear axle and a good set of snow tires.  I prefer my C20 with the stick shift because I feel I have better control with engine braking.  I am rural and the first 200 feet is getting out of my driveway.  The next 1.2 miles gets me to a state route road.  If I don't feel safe by the time I get there it isn't worth going.  I am not going to get wrecked if it is to bad out.  I drive a 2011 Ford Escape FWD for a company car and still feel safer in 1985 C20

[bladerunner]

Good spot on those videos Stewie. Here is another:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np6wciDSynU

I should point out that this video was at only 20 MPH and, as one commenter pointed out, that the contact area of that test was pretty big. The side impacts they do now often replicate full size pickups much better than a flat board attached to a frame.

I also found an IIHS video on pickup safety and you can see they are using a squarebody for testing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hx1mBKeUeLo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMkyKk7nX20

And here is another good one. Side impact on an 86 at 40 MPH:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrNCKRiXa70

Quick questions: when did GM start putting collapsible steering columns in their trucks?

[78 Chevyrado]

I'd drive whatever I owned to pick up the kids and not worry.  If my ride was that unsafe (cept for a motorcycle)  I wouldn't be driving it myself.

A heck of a lot of us 40 years old or less grew up in these trucks and made it out fine. 

Besides havent you seen that old mitsubishi commercial for the SUV?  the kid in the big SUV could see everything while the kid in the small sedan couldnt see crap.  I know I liked riding in my dads truck way more than even the mustang he had, cuz I could see stuff. 

Comparing old trucks to new trucks safety wise...  all the newer trucks have is crumple zones.  even air bags dont count because you have to turn them off to have a small child ride in that spot.  As long as it has shoulder belts, I think its safe.

[black85k10]

I use to pick up my son every day after work in my 85 k10. now that i have 2 kids we just use my wife's car but still every weekend my oldest who is 2 years old still ride around town in the truck. I feel he likes it better because he can see where he is going. like said be for if  it was unsafe i would not have it on the road

[Lt.Del]

My kid has been riding in my 79 big 10, 91 sub, new escape and 96 Taurus all without problem.  My wife once asked why I am able to put the car seat in the 79 (one bench seat).  I asked what she meant, there is no air bag on my 79.  People nowadays don't even know why you should not put car seats in front seats----it deson't apply to pre air bag cars/trucks.

I have no problem with any of these vehicles. Yeah, there are no crumple zones on the 79, so what?  It is real metal and quite safe inside it.  I crashed a '68 mustang many years ago and can attest to the fact that old metal cars create quite a harsh impact (i was thrown into the floor) because there is little to no energy absorption.  The human gets full force of the impact.   
There are older vehicles like my mustang that have no steering column breaks like there are now.  Makes a bad day if column is pushed towards the driver.

[audrima]

I would sell the lude and buy a accord sadan I loved my 93 and vary much safe. Also look at you state laws here in wv it is illegal to put kids under 50lb/4years old in the front seat or in a standard cab pickup  >.< my brother got a ticket for that and child sevices came to his house!

[bladerunner]

Child seat laws in Maine state that a child should be secured in a back seat if available. If not, the passenger side air bag needs to be disabled or none present. So technically, they could ride in the passenger seat. Still, for my wife's sake I will sell the Prelude and go looking for something else.

[Isaac3384]

Go with a smart car or a Volvo...safest rides on the road as long as you don't mind not having a 'man card'...lol

[bladerunner]

I was thinking of a Volvo. I will still have the truck so I would hope my man card would be somewhat intact. Smart Car no. I know people say they are safe, but size does count for something.