I have driven hundreds of “unsafe” cars over the years, many of them brand new. They were of course “safe” when they were new because they were required to be. It is illegal to sell any new car that is not fully compliant with every federal “safety” standard.
Perhaps you noticed something there.
Pretty much every car currently on the road that is older than about three model years is “unsafe” in that it would be illegal to sell it today, as a brand-new car. Because it is no longer compliant with every current federal “safety” standard. Anything more than about ten years old is extremely “unsafe” – and would be the target of a massive federal recall – if its manufacturer were to offer it as a brand-new car today.
This includes some of the “safest” cars of the recent past. Such as a 2015 Mercedes S-Class sedan, for instance. When it was new, it was probably the “safest” new car you could buy because not only was it fully compliant with every federal “safety” requirement in place at the time of its manufacture, it was also actually a very safe car because it was built like a tank. It is still very safe for that reason, even ten years after it was made – but it is no longer compliant.
Perhaps you noticed something there.
Here’s something else worth noticing: A 2015 Mercedes is safer – in terms of being better able to protect you from being injured or killed if you get into an accident while driving one – than two-thirds of all brand-new cars, especially the small ones. Which would you rather be in if struck broadside by a big truck? A 2015 Mercedes S-Class or a 2025 Kia K4? This is not to suggest the ’25 K4 isn’t “safe.” But it is not as able to absorb the kinetic energy imparted in a crash as well as a much larger, much heavier, much more structurally beefy car such as the 2015 S-Class. Or for that matter, a 1995 S-Class. This is just physics. But it is regulations that determine whether a given is “safe.”
It’s very misleading – because it conveys a false idea of what “safety” means, as defined by the government. A given car can be “compliant” – and less actually safe than an older car that’s no longer “compliant.” This is rarely explained to people – probably on purpose, so as to get them to mentally associate new with “safe.”
And – most of all – to associate older with “unsafe.” So as to egg people on to buy new – and thus, “safe” vehicles. Major sexist comment coming, so gird your loins: This works especially well on women, who (generally) fret more about “safety” than men do. And men often defer to the concerns of women, especially once kids are in the picture. Many women will not abide their kids being driven around in an “old” – and thus, “unsafe” vehicle, as they’ve been encouraged to so regard it. So it gets traded-in on something new and . . . “safe.”
And cars get “safer” every year!
But if they are, why have accident/fatality rates been trending – surging – upward over the past several years? If each successive model year is “safer” than the prior ones then it ought to be the case that accident/fatality rates decline in corollary fashion. And yet they have not. It is possible that while new cars are always more compliant than their ancestors, they may not in fact be “safer.” In fact, it may be precisely because they are more compliant that they have become less “safe.” Is it “safe” to be constantly pestered by flashing lights and chimes and buzzers and vibrating steering wheels and seats? All of that latter being part and parcel of the “safety” suit of “technologies” every new car comes standard with.
Is it “safe” to not be able to see what’s behind you – and beside you – because of all the metal that surrounds you inside most new vehicles, which is there to achieve compliance with the latest “safety” standards?
A long time ago, I drove what would be considered by the standards of today an extremely “unsafe” car to work (and back) every day, in Washington, DC. It was a 1974 VW Beetle and it had no “safety technologies” whatsoever. It did not even have a seat belt buzzer – much less an air bag. But must have been a pretty safe car to drive because I never got hurt – much less killed – driving it every day in DC-area traffic. Literally millions of people drove Beetles (and similar “unsafe” cars) and lived to tell the tale.
Of course it is true that if a Mercedes S-Class hit an old Beetle, the person in the Beetle would get the worst of it. But that does not mean the old Beetle was “unsafe.” It certainly does not mean the Beetle was crash-prone. That latter is another false tautology purveyed by the “safety” cult – and believed by cult members who don’t know better. Occupant protection in a crash being a different thing than if you crash.
But in order to maintain the fiction that the most compliant cars are the “safest” cars, the two are conflated and thus, confused.
Passivity is also often equated with “safety” when it is arguably much safer to be an active, involved driver who reads the road and anticipates rather than reacts to developments. That’s how I avoided crashing my “unsafe” old Beetle – and for that reason never had to rely on a suite of “safety technologies” to keep me “safe” in a crash.
. . .
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Another good article, Eric. If I may add a few additional points.
1. A huge component of safety is knowing HOW to safely operate a car, any car. You can have all the airbags, blind spot sensors, and seat belts possible, but if you’re spending more time looking at your cell phone instead of watching for the stop light to turn green, you are inherently an unsafe driver. Worse yet, the safety nannies seem to create a false sense of safety leading to less attentiveness on the driver’s part. It’s quite a statement to realize many new cars (e.g., Subaru) include a sensor to alert the driver that the car ahead of you has moved when stopped at a stop light.
2. NHTSA safety ratings are entirely, and seemingly intentionally, misleading. A 5-star safety rating in frontal collision is not the same between a subcompact car and a full-size SUV, yet they lead consumers to believe they are. At best this is poor communication. At worst, it’s malpractice. Knowing that actually creating incentives to improve safety may eventually put them out of a job, I tend to believe the latter.
3. There seems to be a misconception that self-driving cars will make us all safer. Perhaps on some metric that could be true, but the same argument could be made that if we all lived in prison cells we’d be safer, too, and at the mercy of the only humans other than Jesus who are totally altruistic and without foibles. That’s how those fellas in 1940s Germany and 1950s USSR did such a good job protecting their residents at their various camps, right?
Eric, I totally agree with you. I always post comments on articles about “safety” and “emissions” and ask the question “At what point to we reach the goal and say, we’re done? We don’t need to go any further with the regulations.” That NEVER seems to happen. It makes me furious!
It’s kind of a weird statistic to keep. If I am hit by a big truck in my small sports car, the car is “unsafe” if I get injured. But if I am walking down the road and get hit by a big truck, of course I will be injured and no one would expect any different outcome. Is walking “unsafe?” Both scenarios have equal probability of happening if you are a person who both drives places and walks places. Why is only the car-truck accident supposed to leave someone unscathed?
I guess I see the real problem is being hit by a big truck vs. what I am in or not in when it happens. So the safest thing I can do is watch out for the big truck and try not to be in its path. Rather than turning cars into padded cells, perhaps teach drivers to pay more attention to their surroundings.
Managed to survive my 70’s Chevy with bald tires just fine! ha ha ha
I think a 1980’s Mercedes is probably “safer” than most new cars. Those were tanks!! More roomy than most new cars now too…..
With the advent of customers to door delivery from many businesses, Target, Walmart, Amazon, grocery stores, it really isn’t necessary for a grocery run.
Don’t has to use your car for that stuff anymore.
Have a bare bones insurance for your vehicle and insure for a month at a time.
You can control the insurance market, participate when you have to.
Remove your vehicle from the vehicle registration in your state.
You gotta go all illegal immigrant. Do it for your own safety, and the children, that’ll help too.
Insurance? What insurance? Those illegal immigrants don’t need no steeeen-king insurance.
Nor can they afford it, and you can’t either. The insurance cartels don’t need anymore arms and legs in their warehouses, they are full to the top.
Tomorrow is Christian Crucifixion Day. Buddy Jesus is going to run out of luck.
You can thank the Pharisees for that.
If it is all true.
If government regulations, wars, inflation cause the United States to collapse into a civil war, how safe will we be? The idea that big gov can make everything safe leads to a coddled welfare state destined for collapse. When you have a nation of sheep, who have been made safe by regulations and gun control, the sheep end up being slaughtered.
And how can there be safety when the ruling class is controlled by Jews who plan on killing all the Goyim off in fulfillment of prophecy? Israel now brags it completely controls our government, that can’t be good, look at how the Israelis treat the Palestinians. Amerika is just a bigger Jew run concentration camp – soon no one is safe – only in Amerika do you have daily plane crashes and mass shootings.
With all the geniuses in NHTSA, I would have thought, after 40 years, Amber Rear Turn Signals, Rear Fog Lights and Driver’s Side Aspheric Mirrors would have been mandated. A worthless Government Agency populated by parasites.
You have missed the point completely.
The ultimate “unsafe” vehicle is a motorcycle. Yet, when I ride one I’m able to keep myself safe by the way I ride it. Stay very attentive, never trust a green light and assume that everybody will kill you if allowed the opportunity. And, always give yourself enough room to bail out of a situation if necessary.
All true plus there are no cup holders (occasionally on full dress bikes) and it’s pretty much impossible to use a phone…
I wrapped a nice 1971 Chevy Impala 4-door dead center around a big ole tree at about 50 mph. No seatbelt.
Few stitches in my chin where it hit the steering wheel. Some of my hair stuck in the head-busted glass. Walked away and never missed a beat!
Engine was pushing through the firewall, steering column broken. Took them 2 hours to unwrap it off the tree.
Lucky?
Maybe, but cars were tough as nails back then.
And as a teenager so was I. 🙂
1,350,000 traffic deaths worldwide in 2023, so the statistics say.
8,000,000,000 people, 1,350 traffic deaths for every 8 million people everywhere.
8,000,000 times 40 equals 320,000,000. The population of the US, using some statistics and some math.
40 times 1,350 equals 54,000.
The US does have a highway fatality rate that is easily 14,000 deaths lower compared to worldwide highway fatalities using the simple math.
I don’t know if it is revealing or not, seems as though the numbers can work to make a point.
Drive on!
The safest car I ever drove was a Mazda Miata. Drove out of lot’s of potential wrecks, excellent visibility and brakes. The only wreck I ever had was a big buck jumping out of the ditch and landing on the hood. Had to duck him as he went over the cab, and he took off my roll bar cover.
I drove an old Plymouth, Volare. Looked like a boat, with the long, two doors, slant six engine. Built like a boat, too, as I never got into any accidents or scuffles with it. Looking back on it, that thing was probably a box of metal on wheels, but it was a great car to drive! No safety crap, no nanny buzzers. Aaah, those were the good days.
Speaking of boats…
https://vintagenewsdaily.com/vintage-ads-of-the-1960s-and-1970s-depicted-the-airtight-and-floating-capabilities-of-the-volkswagen-beetle/
The 4th pic is my favorite.
My level of safety and risk tolerance is nobody’s business but mine and maybe my family’s. I reject any and every stranger’s efforts to mitigate the level of risk I am willing to tolerate for any given activity.
Since I flew the coup 30 years ago to make my way in this world, I am in need of no additional parenting.
But you need help, sir, whether you like it or not. Don’t you know we’re all in this together?
The real issue is this idea that unelected government monsters are in charge of your safety. I have never voted in any election for any government stooge or political scumbag. No one in government is charge of my safety, I have not signed a contract for any government goon to be in charge of me or my safety. At no time have I ever agreed with anything the government does, how it lies about everything, stages false flags to start wars, overspends and causes inflation, regulates stuff we love out of existence.
The government does not make us safe, the Covid vaxx is proof, the government staged a virus hoax to kill us.
The United States government is constantly provoking other nations to nuke us, DJT is currently provoking China, Russia, and Iran to attack us because he is loyal to a bunch of psychopathic Jews in Israel.
The government starts wars of aggression and kills us off. Often the false flag itself kills many of us, like 911 in which almost 4,000 Amerikans died as Rumsfeld, Bush, and Israel pulled a false flag so they could go to the Middle East and kill millions and millions of humans over there.
The government allows big ag to poison our food supply. The government poisons our water supply with flouride. Every food is laced with every kind of deadly chemical.
The government wastes our money spraying chemtrails in the skies, altering the weather, making droughts and floods, steering tornadoes and hurricanes.
We are forced to pay taxes to a completely diabolical, criminal, insane government which also takes our money to pay for cops who protect their criminal insane behavior – like promoting climate change and global warming scam.
Government policies and monetary inflation has caused cars and homes to be unpurchaseable for much of the population. What we need is for the government to end, for all those who participated in that fraud prosecuted then executed for treason.
‘The government starts wars of aggression’ — Yukon Jack
Today an NYT article describes how close Trump came to participating in Netanyahu’s insane plan to bomb, bomb, bomb Iran next month. Tulsi Gabbard, Susie Wiles, Pete Hegseth and JD Vance are named as those who ‘voiced doubts.’
Mike Whitney, in an article at unz dot com today, asserts that ‘US-Iran negotiations [are] set up to fail; that is apparent by Trump’s hectoring, abusive threats and Witkoff’s lunatic demands.’
You know what’s not cool, Jack? This:
https://tinyurl.com/23h5xy4d
They always need an excuse to bomb, so if they don’t do a false flag they might tell Iran to disarm, and when they don’t, say looksee – Iran won’t give up their missiles, they are the aggressors, bomb them
Trump is part of the diabolical plot and I predict his presidency is heading straight into the toilet. His tariff war could cause a great depression, his wars could cause armageddon. And this guy is none to bright, he criticized Jerome Powell for not lowering interest rates – Trump does not understand a basic fact, the market sets rates, not the Fed.
https://www.elliottwave.com/articles/fed-rate-cut-interest-rates-lead-and-the-fed-follows/
What the Fed does is buy and sell T-Bonds, if they cause inflation, interest rates will go up. If Trump replaces Powell with a hack, and the Fed starts buying trillions of T-Bonds to force rates down it may make rates go up in anticipation of more inflation. That is why gold is reacting as it is, gold is saying inflation is coming and that means higher rates.
Trump is a big inflationist and gold is reacting to his chaos by going straight up. Jay Powell may have to tighten credit more to stop gold from going up. Dumbass Trump is in for a big surprise, there are millions of bond holders who control rates not the Fed governor.
I expect interest rates to move higher in violent moves as this unwind continues, we could be looking at rates like the 1970s, just as gold spiked in the 1970s.
‘[Trump’s] tariff war could cause a great depression.’ — Yukon Jack
First time in history that I’m onside with Gavin Newsom:
‘California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) are suing the Trump administration in federal court, claiming that Trump exceeded his authority in imposing tariffs.
‘Bonta and Newsom are challenging Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977. They say the president cannot impose tariffs without the consent of Congress.
‘California is the nation’s top agricultural producer, and it has a huge manufacturing sector that employs more than a million people. Mexico, Canada and China are California’s top three trade partners.’ — WaPo
https://archive.ph/IydXH#selection-1223.0-1223.376
Article 1, Section 8 is perfectly clear — Congress sets tariffs, and all taxes. And nobody else.
Newsom is no constitutionalist. But for pragmatic economic reasons (and after an urgent demand from Apple’s Tim Cook), in this rare case Newsom nervously finds himself on the side of the constitution.
I’d like to see a cage match between Trump and Newsom, in which each destroys the other’s perfect hair.
Morning, Jim!
We are living – officially now – in a post Constitutional era, in which both sides just do what they want when they have the power to do it. Our choice comes down to Tiberius – or Caligula.
Nice write up Eric – only wish you could get this information out to a wider audience
Thanks, BID – I’m trying!
E
Good luck with that, if jewvision tells the masses that cars are safe then there can be no more discussion.Your Bug had two safety features like my granddads 1952 tractor steering and some brakes. The biggest and best safety feature is your brain. My wife always scolds me on my aggressive and offensive driving which is not passive. As the old professor (Casey Stengal) stated, go look up my record.
Sorry sir the Toyota Hilux Champ and the Land cruiser 79 series is unsafe to sell new in the USA now get back in your model t and be on your merry way.
I’ve spent a lot of time in junkyards. If you’re smart and observant, it’s great education.
One lesson is that most (the vast majority of) cars in junkyards are there for age, or mechanical failure, or a minor “fender bender” wreck on a car not deemed worth repairing.
Another lesson is seen in the very rare car which was in a severe wreck, a high speed collision, a rollover, etc. The lesson here is, such events are rare. And a corollary is that they are best avoided.
In a severely kinetic event (a severe wreck, a tornado, a gunfight, an explosion) your chances of surviving unscathed go way down. And no seat belt, air bag, armor vest, etc is more important than luck or God’s will.
“In a severely kinetic event… your chances of surviving unscathed go way down. And no seat belt, air bag, armor vest, etc is more important than luck or God’s will.”
Hear hear!
Why waste your life being afraid of everything? We are not meant for longevity on this earth.
Regarding being shot, I read this little gem at some point and it stuck with me:
“Statistically speaking, if you find yourself in the presence of someone with a gun who has ill intent:
Chances are he won’t use the gun
If he uses the gun, chances are he’ll miss
If he doesn’t miss, chances are the injury won’t be serious
If the injury is serious, chances are you’ll survive”
These statistical realities can be transferred to car wrecks too, or any other number of risky situations. All of us here reading and commenting have so far made it through life mostly unscathed! Are we going to have the hubris to take credit for our present situation, or could it be mostly due to “luck or God’s will”?
I have had to junk only one car in my driving career because of a mechanical failure—my 1985 Ford Tempo. Others I’ve had to junk because either rusted out.
‘[The VW] must have been a pretty safe car to drive because I never got hurt – much less killed – driving it every day in DC-area traffic.’ — eric
Although I wouldn’t worry about my personal safety in a VW Beetle — I used to ride home from high school in one on a busy highway — anecdotal evidence doesn’t prove that it’s safe.
Take a more extreme case: Henry Ford’s Model T. It has mechanical brake linkage and unintuitive controls, including a handbrake lever which also acts as a gear selector. I would NOT feel safe driving a rattletrap Tin Lizzie in urban or highway traffic. It’s just not up to the job. Yet it’s grandfathered in, and people do drive around in Model T’s.
Like vehicle standards, building codes continue changing, always becoming more onerous. Existing structures aren’t required to be retroactively upgraded. It’s not economically feasible. New cars and new houses are the control points where Big Gov can work its will.
One libertarian argument is that vehicle safety should be a matter for insurance companies, who don’t want to insure a car that’s mechanically unsound or has poor crash resistance. In real life, this would amount to exchanging one mafia (Big Gov) for another (insurance). What are we gonna do? * takes another bong hit *
In real life the “laws” are written by and for the insurance mafia, giving us the worst of both worlds. (Passes bong back…)
“this would amount to exchanging one mafia (Big Gov) for another (insurance)”
The libertarian argument for insurance does not involve use of force (mandated coverage). If we’re going to play make believe, we might as well take it all the way.
Insurance. The business of insurance is collecting premiums NOT paying claims.
The more “driver assists” proliferate the more some drivers will zone out. It’s human nature for many to allow someone or some thing to do their thinking and control their actions. It’s not a slippery slope, it’s Thelma & Louise.
what does joogle say?
It’s all just big-gov getting in bed with big-biz. Keep the cheap stuff out, on purpose.
Some people call it crony-capitalism, I call it socialist.
These socialist’s figured out that they could create safety and emissions laws to keep our big manuf base in biz.
And it’s not just keeping out crappy cheap cars out anymore. Some big manuf. like Toyota sell different, much less ‘usa compliant’ model to a lot of the world. I’ve seen and driven in these vehicles. They are more or less a mix of 90’s and early 2000’s tech. Simple, non-overly computerized, analog guages and HVAC controls, etc….
We’ve been screwed over by big $.
Some could argue “but then we wouldn’t have any auto jobs anymore” I don’t think that’s true. I think it all is just greed for the big boys, and we could have competed with the world manuf. if our ‘how to manuf’ ‘Regs’ weren’t so severe (osha, EPA, DEP, codes, etc…) And don’t forget the lawyers are part of this too.
Don’t forget the unions with their arrogant thuggish behavior. It’s damned hard to treat your employees like family when they are constantly looking for ways to stab you in the back and rob you.
When I took drivers Ed back in High school, my instructor stressed and stressed defensive driving at all times. Be aware of the road ahead of you, often glancing in the rear view mirror and assuming the other driver will cause an accident and mentally strategize maneuvers to avoid it. My question is, do instructors today still stress defensive driving? Or has that fallen to the wayside like phonics and multiplication tables? Driving used to be a lot safer years ago without the assisted crap in cars than today with that crap built into them. That is how I observe it these days.
In the 90’s while working in the Safety Lab of the Lower Case Car Co. we started doing tests for a new Gov dot Com reg. to protect unbelted front occupants. Huh? But there were hundreds of regs at the time requiring belt and SIR standards at the same time. This is also the period when seatbelt laws were rearing their ugly head. I voiced my consternation about that and was told it was a job creation program. Proven to be true with the proliferation of multiple companies providing all sorts of energy absorption schemes meet the standard (201 U) And that my friends is why your thick ass A pillars block your vision!
My sister used to own a 2010 Camero SS. I dove it for a day and really did not feel comfortable in it. The reason was that visibility looking out the side and rear windows was restricted. Sure it handled great and had gobs of power. But it was hard to see out it to make lane switches and turns.
This obsession with saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaafety in automobiles rhymes with what was going on during COVID hysteria/ COVID jab mania. Corporate media & billionaire sociopaths such as Klaus Schwab ran a narrative campaign saying “Nobody is safe until everyone is safe!”, implying that the ONLY way everyone would be “safe” from the dreaded ‘Rona was if EVERYONE was vaxxed. I don’t remember if Big Pharma was running that narrative too. But, over time, it was becoming increasingly obvious that that was complete nonsense, and people who had COVID and recovered developed natural immunity that was SUPERIOR to any immunity one got from being vaxxed. In fact, I read a piece the other day indicating that if someone had at least 3 COVID shots, their immune system was virtually destroyed, which would certainly explain why people who’ve been vaxxed kept getting COVID, and may also explain these “turbo cancers” I’ve heard so much about over the past few years. But wait, in the Trump 2.0 administration’s announcement of Operation Stargate, Larry Ellison announced a possible development of computer created vaccines for cancer. What could go wrong with that?
I blame the insurance mafia and its lobbyists.
Why are accidents increasing? Well, maybe because there are hoards of new drivers who’ve never driven at highway speeds before…
https://www.cpr.org/2024/06/05/undocumented-immigrants-will-get-colorado-drivers-licenses-much-more-quickly-under-new-law/
When they come from a country that doesn’t have any road signs (because they’re used for roofing) maybe putting them behind the wheel with the same lousy driver certification as we get isn’t such a great idea.
FTFA: More than 200,000 immigrants have gotten licenses through the existing program in Colorado, according to the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition. The Colorado Fiscal Institute, a progressive nonprofit, claims that has resulted in $127 million of annual savings on Coloradans’ insurance premiums, since it has reduced the number of uninsured drivers.
Insurance doesn’t prevent accidents. In fact one could make the case that insurance encourages bad driving since the financial penalties aren’t as severe. And does someone who shows up with a s***hole country passport going to make sure he’s got coverage? Maybe after he’s pulled over and the LEO pulls his license for not having insurance.
Hordes, man. If they were hoarded we wouldn’t have a problem with them.
Yeah I’m sure their insurance is all paid up, hah!
The sanctuary state of WA issues DL to “undocumented “. WA state DREAM act 2018, isn’t that nice. They also have advocacy groups and legal aid to help with driving violations. Not that anything will happen to them since it’s “equity justice” here as well. Translation: taxpaying whitey has the money so nail his ass, downtrodden Pedro well hell, cut him a break – can’t have those advocacy groups on the evening news protesting outside the state capitol in Olympia.
The illegals are driving (pun intended) the death rates up here in WA. Drunk driving is the norm, two outcomes are wrong way on the freeway and rollovers ejected from the vehicle. The single car taking out just them to f’ng bad. What pisses me off is the wrong way crashes which too often take out an innocent citizen or the whole family.
Well represented in the WA Most Wanted list:
https://wsp.wa.gov/crime/wsp-most-wanted/
Part of what makes new cars less safe than older cars are their massive blind spots due to roll over standards, etc. In some ways a bubble top Impala is a much safer vehicle compared too new cars due too it’s excellent visibility.
Another reason for increasing accidents might be using touchscreens instead of physical knobs and switches. The radio knob or heater switch is always in the same place no matter which one you used last in an older car without a touchscreen not so much in the newest cars.
The pillars and the claptrap on the windshield including the fat rear view mirror “unit” since it’s more than a mirror. I almost pulled out in front of a car on the right, road height and position of us both, literally couldn’t see him stopped until he moved just before I did.