Oh, and one more thing. Go walk around the yard of a tow company. Be prepared to feel sick.

You'll come away with the conclusion that the standard crash tests, which are well designed for common accidents, are still just a small minority of serious accidents.

And the most horrifying thing that I came away with is the number of wrecks where there is 'car' where the passengers should be. Even in trucks and SUVs.

The strongest cars ever built historically are still the strongest cars on the road, even though there have been some great innovations that they miss out on.

This is just for fun really, not trying to make a point with it, but this is an old Volvo destroying other cars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R95yOXPoR_s

Volvos definitely have a well-deserved reputation; for many years, their slogan was "Drive Safely", and they took it seriously.

Here's another video where the Volvo's passenger compartment doesn't even change shape while the other car's is completely crushed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt0oQsRvtWI

Although a downside is that, as the joke goes, "a Volvo doesn't need a crumple zone; it uses the other car." Not so good if the other car also happens to be a Volvo...

That is only true if the other car is of the same era.

Verus newer cars the crumple roles are very much reserved

https://youtu.be/qBDyeWofcLY?t=105

Another issue is that of energy dissipation. Car being too stiff means passengers get to absorb the energy. Modern cars also have a lot more airbags.

Electronic stability systems also do a great job of preventing a lot of crashes.

Older models are a popular choice for the low budget motorcross competitions :-)

Great point. I have watched hundreds (not exaggerating). Sobering.

New in general is much better than old. But, it gets complicated.

The strength of the cage the passengers are in hasn't improved much, what has is how they behave in very specific crash tests. Go outside of that (go off a bank and roll down the hill over and over) and you'll find an old GL750 Volvo or '79 W116 merc will still have kept it's integrity in the passenger compartment (the doors will probably still open) where most modern cars would be crushed, passengers included.

Basically the bottom line is if you're going to buy an older car, get one that is still considered safe today. That leaves you with all mercs, volvos, most BMWs and Saabs from the post-airbag era. And get ABS - avoid the accident in the first place.

Volvo and Mercedes are known to be very safe and reliable ( and that for many decades). (Mercedes cars manufactured until 1999 last literally many decades) "Modern" safety features like airbags, ABS, security glass were first introduced by those companies many years ago. There is a reason why presidents, the pope, etc drive in such cars.

The common US and EU standard crash test don't cover all real world crash situations and it has been shown in various recent tests that many newer car that got a 5 star rating aren't that safe in the real world. They were specifically designed for the well known crash tests, if another car hits you in a different angel or overlap, you have bad luck. Watch old episodes of the Top Gears TV series where the drive in "christmas special episodes" through Africa, Asia, etc with old cars - old Mercs and Volvo's survived, other cars failed because of mechanic or electronic issues.

I watched that episode. The Beemer's airbag deployed due to vibration from the road. That can't have been fun,