Isn't a car from the 1940s safer than say a Motorcycle or a smart car?

If so, why do you all ***** about classic car safety?|||In my opinion yes, because I have seen many motorcycle accidents and several smart car accidents that were in the body shop next to us and the the occupants of the smart cars had severe injuries from what I was told and the cars were totaled out, at least the older ones had real metal, okay no airbags but still..|||It may be safer than a motorbike but i am not sure about the smart car.


The highway safety institute ran some tests a few years ago comparing 1950 cars to modern cars and the modern cars came away with less damage every time!.


The survivability for passengers was also dramatically better in the newer cars.|||ANY car is safer than any motorcycle .


Having said that the cars from the 1940's were death traps that didn't have


Padded steering wheels


Padded dashboards


Collapsible steering columns


Seat / shoulder belts ....and many other safety features that are standard in today's cars .


My first car was a 1962 Ford Galaxie 500 so I know what I'm talking about.|||No its not safer than a Smart car. The 40's car might survive the accident better but everybody in the car wont. Modern cars are designed to crumple which helps absorb the impact so you take less of a hit. Old cars were extremely rigid which will pass all the crash impact to you making you do the crumpling.|||Smart cars are surprisingly safe, look up safety ratings. And it's true, a 1940s car could easily survive a crash with only a couple scratches, but all that potential energy that isn't absorbed through the bumper like on modern cars is transferred to the passengers.|||Cars from the 1940's were death traps;





- they rolled over easily


- their handling sucked big time


- they had drum brakes which faded after a couple of uses


- they didn't have collapsible steering columns


- no seat belts


- no energy absorbing components whatsoever


- no padded dashes


- dashboard festooned with hard knobs and levers


- only a few cars had safety glass


- even fewer cars had power steering OR brakes


- tires of the day were no good when they were new





Hell; I have a 1959 Jaguar that I just spent a fortune on putting in proper seat belts.|||It is definitely not safer than a smart car.





It is probably safer than a motorcycle, but only in the sense that cars are inherently safer than motorcycles, not for reasons related to classics versus modern.|||Safety begins with the operator.


Operate within the limits of the vehicle, the road and the driver and all is fine.


Until some other clod does not.