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Posted by Desoto61 [72.218.216.61] on Wednesday, September 23, 2009 at 18:00:38 :
In Reply to: Re: Steering design posted by Paul ( in NY) [12.64.114.63] on Wednesday, September 23, 2009 at 12:54:13 :
And even if you had enough structural strength and mass to not crumple like the Chevy without seatbelts you'd look like the ball in a pinball machine.
The only safety feature my 61 Desoto had was a padded dashboard. Lap belts were one of my first "aftermarket" add-ons. A 3-point is safer (I'll put them in the PW) but being a hard top car there's no B-pillar to attach one to.
The finite-element systems used by the auto companies have gotten really accurate, they can simulate things the designers of the 59 Chevy couldn't even have imagined. The actual crash tests are used to prove out the computer models more than to test the crash-worthiness.