Myth Busted? 1959 Chevy Bel Air vs. 2009 Malibu Crash Test (controversies remain)

This Consumer Reports video includes the missing overhead footage (1:30)

We don't get the full shot of the impact. It might have been helpful.

You can walk up to these cars in the IIHS office and video/photograph them. Plenty of videos online of people doing so.

Id imagine if the rust and cutting story had any legs there would be pictures of these areas to support.

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Id imagine if the rust and cutting story had any legs there would be pictures of these areas to support.

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Dunno about that.

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You can walk up to these cars in the IIHS office and video/photograph them. Plenty of videos online of people doing so.

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Sweet. Close ups?

I'd love to see pics of the engine bay (what's left of it.) And some shots from beneath the car as well.

All I can say is that my mother and her entire family were in a 1957 Bel Air station wagon in 1963. They were on a two-lane road and another vehicle crossed over into their lane and hit them head on.

Everyone in the vehicle (grandma and grand dad, mom, and her three siblings) was injured to some degree. My mother had a broken jaw and arm. The engine was pushed through the firewall, more into the passenger's side and ended up in my grandmother's lap. She was stuck for a while, but survived. She would spend the next several months, close to 7 total, after a complication in the hospital. It required a full hip replacement and rods in one leg. She nearly died.

The person in the other vehicle was dead on the scene. They believe she could have had a heart attack and was dead prior to the collision.

Not arguing that cars are safer today than cars of yesteryear, but a key point in this test should be addressed.

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The '59's entire driver's side front hood is and engine bay has been twisted and shoved over into the passenger side almost a full 45 degrees

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Part of this can be contributed to the 1959 Bel Air "X Frame" design. It was a known weakness that relied on the door sheetmetal and sill for some of its structural integrity. Hence, the twist of the front clip would have been an issue known beforehand.



If the test would have used a 1959 Buick LeSabre (shown) or the 55-57 Bel Air with its squared frame widley popular in its time, there may have been some differences with the test results.

This is a fascinating thread! Thanks to all of you.

If memory serves, it was used on the 59-63 years. The later years added some changes and strengthening to the design.

I just called and talked to my mom. She said my grandmother wasn't pinned for long because my grandad thought the car was going to explode. No one knows how he got her out. Kids ranged from 12 to 5. My aunt, the five-year-old, was in my grandmother's lap. She had a badly broken leg and was in traction, shared a hospital room with my grandmother, and they both hated to see the doctor coming because that meant they were doing adjustments on the traction (they were both in) and it was terrible pain.

My mom and her brothers were in the back seat. The boys were thrown back into the cargo area and my mom, who had her legs up on the back of the driver's seat slammed her head into the seat, breaking her jaw and cutting her head.

The ER had basically given my grandmother up for dead and were not working on her. She was badly cut on her head and face, pelvis and hip broken, leg broken in the femur, right arm mangled. It took strong demands from a few good people/friends for them to start working to save her. They told her she wouldn't walk again and would never use her right arm. She said, "You're crazy, I have four kids to raise......I have to walk." She could write her name with her right hand by the time she left the hospital, and was sure to show the doctor. She would walk on her own again, too, though her stubbornness led to her falling and going right back to the hospital for another three months (right at 7 total).

She would go on to have another late in life baby, their fifth, and she worked past the age of 70. She was always slow, the hip replacement actually came several years after the wreck, I was wrong on that in the first post, but she got around. She raised her kids and helped raise a bunch of us grandkids.

ETA: Mom didn't remember the exact year of the Bel Air wagon, just that it was "late 50s". The damage from their wreck looked like the OP, but worse. Maybe it wasn't a '57 like I said.

WHOA!

Thanks for those details. It is mind-boggling that you mom still remembered such minute details and what was a actually a dire situation.

Gramma was a real tough cookie. They don't make 'em like her anymore.

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Thanks for those details. It is mind-boggling that you mom still remembered such minute details and what was a actually a dire situation.

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Hell, mom said, "I was 9......I don't remember all that much."
Then, she goes on to tell all of that.

In a box or album somewhere we have a couple of old newspaper clippings about the wreck. One shows the vehicle.