Still wondering weather: Older Cars made of pure steel are Safer than Modern Cars, allegedly made of plastic? (Check out this article to learn more) Did you know that modern cars are specially designed to keep you safe during an accident? How is this achieved?
The Exterior (Fenders, Bumpers and Sheet Metal)
The pessimists are actually right, the exterior parts of your car are actually plastic and thin aluminum. This won’t do much to save you from impact during an accident. These are simply parts meant to bend and crumble on small mishaps like parking mistakes. Worried? Feeling like throwing away your latest automobile? Wait a minute.
The Exterior of the Interior (Magnesium, Aluminum, and mild strength steel)
These materials are meant to break and bend fairly easily. They are meant for medium accidents. Passengers won’t be hurt. Airbags may discharge. The Aluminum and Magnesium parts are easily replaceable just in case of anything. The mild steel is fairly weak and it’s not meant to absorb the impact from an accident. Its simply meant to connect the car together.
The Interior ( High strength steel)
This is meant to take care of bad accidents. Passengers may be injured. Airbags will discharge. An impact will only reach this area after crushing though the bumper, the hood, bumper support, and radiator support. It then gets to what is commonly referred to as the frame of the car. Metal at this point is rarely replaceable but it can be welded together if need be.
The Safety Cage (Ultra High strength steel)
This part is meant to take care of the worst of the worst accidents. If the impact reaches this steel, it will result in passengers being hurt badly, dismembered or even killed. All Airbags will go off in the vehicle. When things reach here, then everything else has failed. It’s now time for the thick steel to salvage the situation. This metal is the car’s final line of defense. Getting out of this will now depend on your luck. The safety cage is well designed but sometimes the impact is just too much.
I know you are asking why your car is not just made all Ultra High Strength Steel to keep you safe? Well, that’s what practically makers of old cars did. This is why people would always die from accidents that were so minor that we walk away from today unhurt.
Note that it isn’t always the crushing metal that hurts people in the vehicle. More often than not, it’s the forces of the accident.
Let’s say you hit a big tree at 120 KMPH. In a very short amount of time, actually, seconds, your car goes from 120 KMPH to 0 KMPH. There is this sudden deceleration of the car. Along with the car decelerating, you decelerate as well. Your body won’t like that. This will result to muscle tear, organ injury and internal injury. The reason why we have all those parts (levels) is to extend the duration it takes during an accident making it less abrupt. If we spread the deceleration over a longer period of time, it greatly reduces the chances of injury. These are some of the body modifications of your car that keep you safe.
