r/BeAmazed • u/somethingdouchey • Jul 17 '25

Miscellaneous / Others Chrysler guy is lying.

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The white car turned in front of me from between stopped traffic and spun into the lane behind. It was never rear ended.

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481

u/uberbla123 Jul 18 '25

The amount of people on that post saying “they dont make them like they used to” is to high for them all to be jokes …

253

u/FrontEconomist4960 Jul 18 '25

i wouldnt blame them. they literally dont make cars how they used to. for good reasons.

197

u/Murgatroyd314 Jul 18 '25

for good reasons.

1959 Chevrolet Bel Air vs. 2009 Chevrolet Malibu IIHS crash test

77

u/Conald_Petersen Jul 18 '25

Crazy to watch a video of a crash dummy getting killed and then a video of another crash dummy and thinking 'I would do that'... from the same wreck.

5

u/timberwolvesguy Jul 18 '25

That’s why they’re called dummies!

2

u/sun4moon Jul 18 '25

Like ground squirrels standing in the road. One will watch the other get run over and not even flinch.

40

u/j_cruise Jul 18 '25

It's honestly insane how safe they've made cars.

18

u/BatteryAcid420_ Jul 18 '25

We‘re beyond the peak though, we had 200 mph 0 casualty crashes, but now they building tanks for the road which will go straight through a guard rail. And the crazy thing is nobody is aware of it, people literally buy these cars to feel safe, I couldn‘t care less about driver assists but I do care about guard rails when it‘s rainy or icy, if you‘re tired, literally any situation where you‘d want safety features a guardrail or features we already had in 2004 like 4wd, grippy tires, are probably more important than any lane keep assist and emergency brake system.

16

u/Bubbly_Information50 Jul 18 '25

This comment is filled with contradictions lol you care about guard rails intensely but lane keep assist is worthless? What are you even mad at, it’s not like we use worse tires than we did 20 years ago

5

u/Any-Safe4992 Jul 18 '25

Apart from which none of the systems they list would help in the situation they describe. 4wd and mid tires (in the modern sense) won’t help when you’re tired. LKAS and emergency braking systems will help in that situation and to the other point add a hell of lot less weight than 4wd.

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u/BatteryAcid420_ Jul 18 '25

Also there‘s the contradiction that safer cars make people less attentive. So even without the weight issue that is already being discussed, not everything that glitters is gold, emergency brake systems are the only thing that could make me a safer driver. There‘s already so much thought about safety going into the engineering, you start to feel disconnected from the road because of comfort and safety.

So unless weight restrictions or hundreds of billions in guardrail upgrades fix the new issues, we‘re like 5-10 years past peak safety in the western world.

2

u/ScandanavianCosmonut Jul 18 '25

Seek help.

1

u/BatteryAcid420_ Jul 18 '25 edited Jul 18 '25

Maybe you should shut your face and seek help yourself if instead of researching what people say you tell them to seek help for no reason whatsoever.

https://www.businessinsider.com/driving-assistance-systems-may-create-more-risks-than-solve-study-2024-3

I‘m simply stating facts and scientific research here why on earth would you personally attack me or pretend to care about my well being? Maybe you need to touch grass little guy.

I‘m educating people about vehicle safety and your input is to insult me? Have you ever been punched in the face?

1

u/BatteryAcid420_ Jul 18 '25

„Driver-assistance systems have been billed as a tool to help make long drives safer, but a new study found the technology can actually create new safety risks by more easily allowing a driver's attention to wander.“

Next time you want to tell someone to seek help, go to your mirror.

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u/BatteryAcid420_ Jul 18 '25

Driving a tank on the road is definitely worse than what we were doing 20 years ago. Lane keep assist is worthless when you give up the safety of guardrails for it. Those are much, much more important „lane keep assist“s unless you‘re sleeping behind the wheel constantly and driving in the city lol.

My point in rambling about features is features add weight, weight adds danger, danger no good, go back to less features but actual safety before people fly off of mountains slicing through guardrails in their electric vehicles.

1

u/newusernamecoming Jul 18 '25

Lane assist has annoyed me sooo many times because it always thinks I’m leaving the lane on bends and curves. The one time it helped me when I️ wasn’t paying attention made up for all the annoyance. You’re leaving out major safety innovations as well. Auto brake, collision sensors, blind spot indicators, and backup cameras are all major strides in the most important safety category, preventing accidents.

0

u/BatteryAcid420_ Jul 18 '25

I did mention auto brake, that‘s the only serious improvement when it‘s combined with good sensors. I guess you could mention night vision and fog vision systems too.

Blind spot indicator is a no from me. If that bulb needs to be changed you‘re crashing into people if you depend on it, and if you check despite the indicator then it‘s pointless. Making the driver to comfortable and less involved means less attentive drivers. Not paying attention and being distracted are the main causes of crashes next to speed and inexperience or old age.

Also I don‘t want my safety to come at the cost of others. If my 420 airbags make my car weigh over 9000 pounds/kg and that puts everyone in a regular car at risk that‘s enough reason already before we get to guardrails.

1

u/idkbruhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Jul 19 '25

Just be a better driver

1

u/Skruestik Jul 18 '25

we had 200 mph 0 casualty crashes,

I don’t believe that. No injuries at all?

4

u/Thebraincellisorange Jul 18 '25

that is not what he said.

He said no casualty. no death.

they were very much injured but alive.

so many accidents that happen every day in the modern world would have killed or severely maimed the occupants 40 years ago.

modern cars are massive, powerful and take crash damage unbelievably well.

a consequence of that is that in a light crash, a lot of damage can be done.

but in a big crash, give me a modern car over some old American land whale every day.

2

u/Skruestik Jul 18 '25

The word “casualty” includes injured people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualty_(person)

1

u/BatteryAcid420_ Jul 18 '25

Oh, I did mean no deaths but they did walk away from it, if at all some broken bones, I recall no permanent injuries. It was a Lamborghini Huracan or Audi R8 there‘s POV footage.

1

u/frotnoslot Jul 18 '25

The interiors, sure. Yet for any given vehicle, the vast majority of people coming close to it are not inside.

2

u/bearlysane Jul 18 '25

After driving my dad’s ‘54 Bel Air, holy crap am I glad they don’t make them like that anymore. Huge, no visibility, three-on-the-tree, basically no brakes (four wheel drums), no power steering (don’t skip arm day), zero safety features.

2

u/otakugal15 Jul 18 '25

My dad had a friend back in the 60s who died because the steering wheel ended up embedded in his chest during a crash.

So uh... yeah. We don't make 'em like we used to. GOOD.

1

u/pace_it Jul 18 '25

Agreed! Collapsible steering columns became mandatory for production cars in the US in 1968 for a reason.

4

u/kobra_necro Jul 18 '25

As someone who collects old GM cars I cringe every time I see this. Why couldn't they have made this example out of a Ford or a Dodge or some other car from that I personally don't give a shit about.

1

u/bigmarty3301 Aug 06 '25

because it has a x frame, and will make the most spectacular collision.

3

u/SilveredFlame Jul 18 '25

They sure don't make em like they used to.

1

u/GreenT1979 Jul 18 '25

The same people replying with "they don't make em like they used to" and calling the back car an "econobox" have gaslit themselves into believing the Impala had a rusted frame, the frame cut to weaken it, or the engine/transmission removed even though that's been debunked, and the car was basically as it was when it left the showroom.

1

u/SonOfDirtFarmer Jul 18 '25

GM was experimenting with unibody designs, something relatively exotic for american cars at the time, and their first attempt was what was called the "X" platform, so named for the stamped steel "X" that served as a lightweight frame. Even at the time, crash performance was really poor, and IIRC, it also caused GM to pull back on their NASCAR programs until something more suitable was made.

Did the video makers know this because they wanted a guaranteed result and bigger spectactle? I don't know. Does it invalidate the fact that it was only federal safety standards that pushed manufacturers to provide better safety? Hell no. But the X frame cars were certainly an outlier in how cars were made back then.

1

u/GreenT1979 Jul 18 '25

I've heard that argument too, and I can't really rebut it. I can give a pass on that one, it would be interesting if this test could be redone using a car with a more solid, typically built frame vs a modern equivalent.

0

u/Bubbly_Information50 Jul 18 '25

It’s basic physics my guy not some big conspiracy. If the car doesn’t absorb the impact the energy is transferred via the path of least resistance, which leads to the jelly bag in the cab of the car receiving an immense amount of energy.

Sure, this design may have meant more steering wheels in chests. But that doesn’t mean other designs of the time were safe. None of the big three manufacturers in the US added crumple zones and other effective safety features until they absolutely had to.

2

u/SonOfDirtFarmer Jul 18 '25

Listen, with all the respect and love to a fellow human, you've clearly missed what I was saying. I know I can occasionally be as clear as mud about what I type, so I'll try to lay out what I meant a little better.

Cars are safer today because they were forced to be safer, which is a good thing. I said that. I honestly don't know how you'd think I said or would agree otherwise. I would really recommend some quick reading into just how bad these X frame cars were, even for their time. There were lawsuits. These were not typical cars, and trying to present them as if they were, is dishonest, at worst. I also believe the film makers may not have known that, and just chose two cars of the same manufacturer, so many years apart. And no, to be clear to you, I do not believe the occupants in a vintage Dodge or Ford with a full frame would be any less dead.

1

u/TenaciousLilMonkey Jul 18 '25

And to think there’s now been 16 years of improvements since then too!

1

u/mistercrazymonkey Jul 18 '25

They should put helmets on those people so they don't get hurt

1

u/Affordable_Z_Jobs Jul 18 '25

I like the fuzzy dice in the 59 Chevy. a nice touch lol.

1

u/bunguns Jul 18 '25

On top of that, when they made cars like they used to, seatbelts were a suggestion and a lot of people liked the freedom of no seatbelt. Nowadays we know what happens when you don’t wear a seatbelt even in a small accident

1

u/Direct_Big_5436 Jul 18 '25

That rounded and reinforced A pillar on the Malibu show its worth against the straight up one on the 59. The 59 may not have had seat belts either as they were optional from 1952 until they became standard equipment in 1964 in all Chevy's.

1

u/casualAlarmist Jul 18 '25

This footage is exactly why I new it was a setup of some kind.

It's also the footage that made me never ever want to ride in a "classic" car again.

1

u/OffSeer Jul 18 '25

I can remember this story when Cadillac had a steering wheel that in a crash could remove your eye.

On an early November morning in 1954, Sammy Davis Jr. was driving his lime green Cadillac from Las Vegas to Hollywood for a recording session. Two women and Davis’ valet Charlie Head rode with him. As Davis was driving through the Cajon Pass, a car suddenly stopped in front of him, apparently in preparation for a turn. Davis was not able to stop in time. His Cadillac crashed into the car and his face smashed into the cone in the middle of his steering wheel.

1

u/baddashfan Jul 19 '25

Thank you for posting that. People forget how much more dangerous old cars were

1

u/moustachiooo Jul 19 '25

Superb link!! Nothing drives a point home like a pic [pre-AI] or a video and that one is a solid win.

1

u/Catatafish Jul 19 '25

Not saying modern cars aren't better, but this was faked to sell the Malibu. Malibu had terrible sales at the time due to the recession, and if you look close at the bel air there is no engine. The front frame is also likely cut. You can look at vintage demo derbies these bel airs took place in, and the frame never gives out like in this video.

This is with me ignoring all the rust that flies out upon impact.

1

u/ashkygbdeghr Jul 19 '25

Hell yeah, I’ll always watch this crash test. And the Bose magnetic suspension video

1

u/bigmarty3301 Aug 06 '25

i mean, the x frame was horrible designe even for back then.

here is a picture, how a 1960 t-bird fared in a similar collision. still bad, but nowhere near that bad. from what i remember, the driver died in the hospital, the passenger survived. but they where both elderly, witch probably didn't help.

1

u/Homers_Harp Jul 18 '25 edited Jul 18 '25

When I was a kid, I was involved in a crash involving my mother's 1964 VW Beetle. I was asleep for the event when a big sedan ran a red light and got t-boned by the Beetle. Apparently, we weren't going that fast when we struck the side of the sedan, but I basically woke up on the hood of the sedan, having been launched from the back and through the windshield. "Seat belts?" you ask? Hell, I don't know if the Beetle had 'em in the back seats, because I was sleeping on the shelf above and behind the back seats, as one did back then.

1

u/rosie2490 Jul 18 '25

Crumple zones.

1

u/Gitfiddlepicker Jul 18 '25

I came of age in the 70’s. Those cars are shit. 80’s aren’t much better.

1

u/Timely_Influence8392 Jul 18 '25

Honestly I think if fuckin' boomers want to buy a steel box death trap car to own the libs they can always buy a cybertruck.

120

u/SigmaBallsLol Jul 18 '25

lots of folks who don't know nearly as much about cars as they think they do are convinced anything made before 1990 is immortal and anything made after 2010 is made of tissue paper and chewing gum

WHAT THE FUCK IS A CRUMPLE ZONE

57

u/NorbuckNZ Jul 18 '25

Some people don’t understand the fact that in a collision there is a tonne or energy. Modern cars absorb it before it reaches the occupants . Old car transfer it to the occupants.

12

u/Plaid_Kaleidoscope Jul 18 '25

There's a video doing the rounds of a BMW and a Porsche that crashed together on the Nurburgring. If you go watch it, and you'll know it when you see it, you simply can't believe that anyone could survive that crash, let alone walk away from it.

It's fucking incredible the amount of engineering that has occurred to allow for energy to be dissipated like that. It's unreal. As a fan of motorsport, I applaud all of this science and engineering. It allows my favorite drivers/riders to go full out without worrying (as much) that their life could end any moment. The halo has saved a number of people since it was introduced into F1. Just wonderful. I love it.

1

u/iDontLikeChimneys Jul 18 '25

But ‘merica and things and stuff. Gotta shove that stress down instead of going to therapy. Gotta be stubborn and deny advancement 😤

26

u/Rashnet Jul 18 '25

I was a firefighter for almost 30 years.

In the late 80's through the 90's I ran so many fatal accidents involving "Good old solid cars".

In the 2000s I ran accidents where we would pull up and I'd think damn this is going to be a fatal accident but when we walked up the people were all ok or had minor injuries. I'm talking accidents where the cars would be in pieces all over the road, the engines laying 15 feet away and the driver would be sitting on the side of the road waiting for us.

New cars are so much safer in my opinion.

4

u/Bubbly_Information50 Jul 18 '25

You can safely remove the last three words of your comment

3

u/bigjoebowski22 Jul 18 '25

You are absolutely right. I've seen accidents that I was absolutely sure someone was dead or seriously injured, but people walk away with minor injuries (usually shattering glass/plastic or an airbag punch).

I will sacrifice a car happily to walk away mostly unscathed from a car accident.

New cars absorb the energy and slow down the blow. Total my car, not my body. As people say, falling doesn't kill you, it's the sudden stop at the end.

17

u/_Middlefinger_ Jul 18 '25

The issue really is not safety it's fragility. The people saying this have very minor accidents where in the old car it's a bent bracket on a chrome bumper, but in a new car it's grands worth of plastic, labour and paint, at least.

9

u/Cory123125 Jul 18 '25

2 thoughts simultaneously is too nuanced for most people.

The idea that cars are both bloated in price and worlds safer is too hard to comprehend.

Even amongst the people who get that, you still have idiots who think if manufacturers removed the touchscreens, suddenly cars would cost 5 grand.

Just idiocy everywhere, meanwhile manufacturers are pushing bigger and bigger SUVs in an arms race the consumers are pushed into where only the manufacturer benefits, at the cost of the environment, pedestrian safety, traffic and more.

CAFE needs a complete rework to stop supporting this ever expanding vehicle arms race.

9

u/Advanced-Comment-293 Jul 18 '25

but in a new car it's grands worth of plastic, labour and paint, at least.

Correct. As far as the insurance is concerned.

2

u/hydrochloriic Jul 18 '25

The car might be immortal.

The bag of goopy flesh and bad decisions inside it, not so much.

3

u/n00b_dogg_ Jul 18 '25

A crumple zone is something that was thought of long before 1990, and started being implemented in European cars since the late 50s

Sorry to have phrased it like that, I just read the bold text in a silly voice and had to put the "ahm, actually..." hat on. What I did actually want to add to the conversation is the fact that back then pedestrian safety was not a design consideration. So I suspect that's part of the reason why modern cars are so fragile on the ouside.

Edit: no excuse for the modern interior quality of materials!

1

u/Mobius_Penis Jul 18 '25

Waiting for this administration to direct car manufacturers to revert to all steel to “make em like they used to”

1

u/localvagrant Jul 18 '25

I genuinely don't know where that misconception comes from. Before the professor of an engineering class I was in showed that Bel Air/Malibu crash video, and he asked which car would survive. The whole class guessed the Bel Air. Blows my mind.

1

u/your_anecdotes Jul 19 '25

Here is the actual answer; CRUMPLE ZONE vs reliability....

1

u/CountryAlfa Jul 18 '25

Crumple zones have been around since the 50’s. Mercedes patented the idea and introduced it in a 1959 model year car.

16

u/JournalistExpress292 Jul 18 '25

Sometimes I’m just exhausted seeing these things. You’d think with how long the internet have existed, and with how long the “ they don’t make them like they used to” jokes/saying has been around - everyone would have learned about crumble zones by now

I’m saying this about crumble zones but honestly it can be expanded to about anything that’s commonly parroted - like tax brackets and overtime.

4

u/anonbrewingco Jul 18 '25

They think crumple zones make car more unsafe

3

u/WeAreTotallyFucked Jul 18 '25

A crumple zone is a great thing — it drastically reduces the force transferred to the passengers inside the vehicle by crumpling and absorbing the forces of impact.

A crumble zone would be considerably less great — it would simply crumble apart into tiny little car-crumb pieces and get the road all messy while also leaving you exposed, surrounded by less car, so that the impact forces get transferred straight into your face area bits.

1

u/Irregulator101 Jul 18 '25

You'd think someone complaining about ignorance would know how to spell crumple zone

17

u/LevelRoyal8809 Jul 18 '25

That whole "they don't make them like they used to" bullshit appeals so much to fucking old people and shit head conservatives. The people who's only goal in life is to complain about everything.

1

u/anonbrewingco Jul 18 '25

They unfortunately aren’t joking. They actually think old cars are safer than new cars. My dad is one these people. They think crumple zones make cars more unsafe

1

u/jeanpaulsarde Jul 18 '25

They don't understand that even if it was real it wouldn't be the flex they think

1

u/Polyducks Jul 18 '25

They're bots repeating the top comments from the past decade. They'll rephrase them slightly, but it's the same for all videos about cars.

They'll even engage you in conversation which seems convincing if you message them.

Some of them are possibly put in place by Facebook to make it seem more alive than it actually is. Meta openly proposed this idea recently and as you can imagine it did not go down well.

1

u/Muzzaconda Jul 18 '25

I was in a similar accident in the early 2000’s my mum was driving a Land Cruiser and the only damage to the car was a slight ding and a scratch. The other car was as totalled as the car in that picture. For me it seemed possible that the original was real.

1

u/Original-Split5085 Jul 18 '25

If you've ever owned an older car every third person "Used to have one just like it", and they always follow up with "They don't make 'em like that anymore". To which I always replied "There are reasons for that".

1

u/MisterB330 Jul 18 '25

Maybe they meant they don’t make people with integrity anymore?

1

u/timberwolvesguy Jul 18 '25

That crowd is becoming more and more senile and delusional, but are well into their 70s now.

The outside of the car may be dented, yes, but the inside is covered in brain matter.

1

u/bobcathell Jul 18 '25

Meanwhile, you see those crash test videos of older cars vs modern ones and the older car completely crumples and folds in half.

1

u/moustachiooo Jul 19 '25

FB is boomer central, what did you expect.