Safety of Older Vehicles

[bladerunner]

I do not leave my families or myself safety up to "others".  There are times when you just can not avoid "others", but I like to believe that I am in control when I drive, not the other way around.

Pretty much key. You could be driving the safest vehicle on the planet, and if you are a distracted, aggressive driver, it won't stop you from getting hurt or killed.

So specific safety question: I know the C/K trucks never came with headrests until the 88-98 run of vehicles. When did the Blazers and Burbs start coming with buckets with headrests? I am seriously thinking of swapping out my bench for buckets with headrests. Any specifics would help?

[zieg85]

Pickup trucks did not have headrests til 1992.  If that is a worry find some high back bucket seats and install them.  Pretty much a plug and play with minor modifications if taken from a Suburban up to 1991.

[bladerunner]

Are the high back buckets full headrests or do they only go part way up the neck.  I feel like the seats from late 80s early 90s Burbs were full headrests.

[zieg85]

Full, look at 78 Chevyrado's truck build.  I have that same set in my 86 I am building.  It is a nice conversion, I am actually looking for a decent pair for my extended cab.

http://forum.73-87chevytrucks.com/smforum/index.php/topic,22292.0.html is a picture of them...

[bladerunner]

Nice! I got to get me some of them!

[Lt.Del]

i got headrests on my 91 v2500 sub...they are kind of built in to the seats.....towards the bottom of this site you see some shots of my interior www.delbridge.net/suburban

[zieg85]

i got headrests on my 91 v2500 sub...they are kind of built in to the seats.....towards the bottom of this site you see some shots of my interior www.delbridge.net/suburban

I am pretty sure those are seats the conversion company installed looking at the lever.  They did a great job at matching the factory fabric.  My 91 did not being a standard Silverado.

[bladerunner]

i was just thinking about this as well.   i brought this up in another thread but i think it warrants another review:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGVt14jSyUw

i'm thinking of putting 3/4 plywood and lots of foam for cushioning back there.  It won't be perfect but it's better than nothing.

b) So there are no side door beams?

2) There is a video of a frontal crash test of a suburban with the camera INSIDE.   i have seen it---it's very graphic.  i am currently looking for it.

That video really brings it home.  Iacocca was clearly spouting off the company line saying head rests are frivolous add ons. This just shows how non-safety oriented the automotive industry was up until recently (read as 20 years ago).  Again, good to hear.  No reason to give up your ride, but maybe think about things we could do to make them safer.

[Irish_Alley]

couple good points where made on here for one cars have door beams trucks dont due to trucks being seen as commercial they dont have to comply to passenger vehicles laws. so cars will be safer and newer trucks would be better with the air bag turned off. and the smart car test i saw the car pretty much flew off the track and the only thing that stopped it was the building wall lol. our if i had a burb i would put my little one in the back middle only so i have more room up front since i have my trucks and my impala he rides in the back of the impala when he can and i keep my man card, and the imp is pretty fast being charged  . but the only reason hes not in my 79 is for one its not being ran right now and 2 if it was running i have open headers