When Honda introduced the Accord in 1976, they were not a company occupied with safety. At that time, there were rudimentary minimum safety standards to be met - and nothing else. There was no crash testing and, unless they knew about a crash of their particular car, people had no way of knowing how safe their cars were. Through the last 37 years, safety has gone from being a non-issue to being at the forefront of most people's consideration of what car to drive.
The first generation Accord, produced from 1976 to 1981, has no crash test data available, but it is likely not a safe vehicle. Early Japanese cars performed particularly poorly in crash tests, and this Accord was likely no exception, given the awful performance of the late '70s and early '80s Prelude and Civic.
The second generation Accord, introduced for the 1982 model year and produced through 1985, represented a complete 180 for the company on safety. The '82 Accord was not merely average on safety for the early '80s, it was a class leader. There was one crash test at this time used to compare safety between different cars - the NHTSA 35 mph crash test, and it consisted of running into a car straight into a wall at 35 mph. The average 1982 vehicle's front occupant would suffer about a 50% chance of serious injury; for the '82 Accord, each front occupant had less than a 10% risk and would likely walk away with only minor injury! The front doors did buckle and became jammed, but remember, this is 1982!
The third generation Accord came out for 1986 and was produced through 1989. It was still a safe vehicle for the time, but it did back slide a little. By 1986, the average front occupant had about a 35% risk of injury in the NHTSA crash test - the Accord's driver had about a 20% risk, and the passenger about a 16% risk - the car was still well above average on safety for its time. The doors still jammed, but the structure was improved.
The fourth generation Accord launched for 1990, and was produced through 1993. By now, the average new vehicle had about a 25% risk of injury for each front occupant - the driver of the Accord had a 20% risk, and the passenger an 8% risk on 1990-1991 models. The 1992-1993, with a driver airbag, dropped this risk to about 15% for driver, although the passenger risk did inexplicably rise to about 13%. The 1993 SE, with dual airbag, had about the same driver risk, but the passenger risk soared to 19%. Overall, a safe vehicle for the early '90s.
The first generation Accord, produced from 1976 to 1981, has no crash test data available, but it is likely not a safe vehicle. Early Japanese cars performed particularly poorly in crash tests, and this Accord was likely no exception, given the awful performance of the late '70s and early '80s Prelude and Civic.
The second generation Accord, introduced for the 1982 model year and produced through 1985, represented a complete 180 for the company on safety. The '82 Accord was not merely average on safety for the early '80s, it was a class leader. There was one crash test at this time used to compare safety between different cars - the NHTSA 35 mph crash test, and it consisted of running into a car straight into a wall at 35 mph. The average 1982 vehicle's front occupant would suffer about a 50% chance of serious injury; for the '82 Accord, each front occupant had less than a 10% risk and would likely walk away with only minor injury! The front doors did buckle and became jammed, but remember, this is 1982!
The third generation Accord came out for 1986 and was produced through 1989. It was still a safe vehicle for the time, but it did back slide a little. By 1986, the average front occupant had about a 35% risk of injury in the NHTSA crash test - the Accord's driver had about a 20% risk, and the passenger about a 16% risk - the car was still well above average on safety for its time. The doors still jammed, but the structure was improved.
The fourth generation Accord launched for 1990, and was produced through 1993. By now, the average new vehicle had about a 25% risk of injury for each front occupant - the driver of the Accord had a 20% risk, and the passenger an 8% risk on 1990-1991 models. The 1992-1993, with a driver airbag, dropped this risk to about 15% for driver, although the passenger risk did inexplicably rise to about 13%. The 1993 SE, with dual airbag, had about the same driver risk, but the passenger risk soared to 19%. Overall, a safe vehicle for the early '90s.
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