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Not as good as today's, but better than most of its era
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Posted by spiv (more from spiv) on Wed, 20 Jun 2007 21:46:25 Share Post by Email
In Reply to: Saab 96 Safety, Saabnut009, Mon, 18 Jun 2007 15:39:23
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I agree with those who said modern cars definitely are safer, but the 96 was much better than most other similar-size cars of its day. Not only is the structure sturdy, and the interior designed with padded surfaces and non-gouging controls, but a lot of thought went into things such as fuel tank location and crush zones.

I've been sideswiped in a '70 96 -- was participating in a rally and got nailed by a Triumph TR4 that was doing nearly 70mph when he hit me. His car was totalled; I pried the front fender away from the tire on the 96 and drove it home.

I've also been rear-ended in a rustbucket '63 GT-850 (glad it had the deluxe seats with headrests!) What interested me about this accident was how the car behaved: the the fenders bowed out and the embossed sheet-metal panels aft of the wheel wells folded up gradually, dissipating the crash energy, but the rigid rear-axle tunnel structure stayed intact to protect the fuel tank (which is located between the rear wheels to isolate it in as many directions as possible.) In other words, it behaved exactly the way Keith Ayling said it would in the old '60s "Saab Guide" book. Mercedes claims to have invented "crumple zones" (they got the first patent, anyway) but looking at the structure of a 96 suggests that the Swedes were at least thinking along the same lines.

So if I were forced to be in a crash in a 1960s/70s compact car, a 96 would be my first choice! -- far and away over a VW Beetle or (gasp!) Renault, and probably over, say, a Volvo 122 because of fuel-tank location and other details. Of course, my REAL preference would be not to crash at all...

posted by 24.252.59...


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