To help further illustrate why there were only 32,109 deaths in passenger vehicles in car crashes in 2000 instead of the over 60,000 that would have been predicted had cars stayed as safe as they did in 1980, let's look at the best selling cars for each year: the 1980 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme and the 2000 Toyota Camry.
The 1980 Cutlass Supreme's safety features were basic: it had rudimentary crumple zones, a padded dashboard, and 3-point seat belts in the front / lap belts in the rear. In NHTSA crash tests, it did poorly (but about average for the time), with serious injury likely to both front occupants in a 35 mph barrier crash, if the occupants were buckled up. Which, this being 1980, they probably weren't.
The 2000 Camry's safety feature list is far more extensive. Crumple zones, side-impact door beams, ABS on most models, 3-point seat belts front and rear with pre-tensioners at the front, and optional side-impact airbags. Frontal crash tests - both full-frontal and offset - were good; side-impact protection lagged behind, but the NHTSA side impact (35 mph, midsize car-type barrier) was survivable.
Today's cars are far safer than that Camry.
The 1980 Cutlass Supreme's safety features were basic: it had rudimentary crumple zones, a padded dashboard, and 3-point seat belts in the front / lap belts in the rear. In NHTSA crash tests, it did poorly (but about average for the time), with serious injury likely to both front occupants in a 35 mph barrier crash, if the occupants were buckled up. Which, this being 1980, they probably weren't.
The 2000 Camry's safety feature list is far more extensive. Crumple zones, side-impact door beams, ABS on most models, 3-point seat belts front and rear with pre-tensioners at the front, and optional side-impact airbags. Frontal crash tests - both full-frontal and offset - were good; side-impact protection lagged behind, but the NHTSA side impact (35 mph, midsize car-type barrier) was survivable.
Today's cars are far safer than that Camry.
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