The car safety It is a key aspect in its conception. An area in which the industry has been improving over time, both on its own initiative and through the control of different organizations. Entities such as Euro NCAP in Europe or the NHTSA In the United States, to give two examples, they value this aspect in all new cars.
Advances both in the use of materials and in the construction of the vehicles themselves have made they are more and more resistant to impacts all types. In turn, driving assistance systems have managed to reduce the number of accidents.
On paper, it is clear that a car from 2023 is safer than one from 1990, but theory is one thing and seeing how evolution has occurred is quite another.
Youtube channel The Car Crash It makes compilations showing the frontal crash of each generation of a car, so the improvement can be seen with the naked eye. In fact, he opts for popular models or those with a lot of experience, which clearly shows the industry evolution in this aspect.
Renault Megane
Take as an example of Renault Meganeof which the four generations are shown (the electric Mégane E-Tech is not included, which is also an SUV, so its performance would be different).
It is striking that the vehicle front structure it suffers less and less. In the first model, the deformation It reaches almost to the cabin. In the latter, it practically does not go beyond the front axle.
Audi A4
between the sedans premium, Several models can be found on the channel, one of them the Audi A4. In the first generation crash, the door disengages and the dummy’s head bangs out the window. On the other hand, in the third the deployment of the curtain airbag eliminate that possibility.
smart fortwo
Another interesting example is that of the Smart Fortwo, a vehicle whose small dimensions may lead it to be considered unsafe, but nothing is further from the truth. Conceived around the Tridion cell, it has a very resistant structure that is barely affected by frontal impacts.