http://www.dump.com/plasticcar/

[iMiEVNZ7]

http://www.dump.com/plasticcar/

so what happened to the use of plastic in modern cars, it usually breaks easily....I always wondered what would happen if all cars were made of rubber instead, or polystyrene with plastic harder shell outside. If a foam and plastic shell works for bike helmets, why not one to protect the car ?.

Possibly the softness of steel helps with asorbing the energy in a crash. Ideally, if we could simply eject from the car and land softly as the airbags are triggered or a bigger airbag protected the car it would be cool.

 

[MLucas]

I've never seen that before, that is a very interesting clip. Especially since in 1941 they really didn't care much about automobile safety at all. The first padded dashboards and seat belts were a hard sell in the 1950s. I guess people enjoyed being impaled by steering columns and steel dashboards back then. I can still remember when seatbelts were stored in clips just above the front doors and no one used them and no one bothered wearing seatbelts in the back seats in the 1970s. The backseat belts were simply stuffed into the crevasse between the top and bottom portion of the seat.

Saturn of GM made plastic cars from the late 80's throughout the 90's. I know they struggled with cost as the early models still had steel hoods and trunk lids when I went to go look at one in 1990.

As far as being ejected from a vehicle, well - it's actually safer to stay inside of a vehicle. Ask any motorcyclist about an ejection from their motorcycle, even with a marshmallow suit. In the five years I rode, I always wore all the gear, all the time and fortunately I never had a getoff while in motion. Yet, I've had several friends that departed their motorcycles while in flight and even with all the gear they still suffered broken bones, lacerations and abrasions. The steel acts as a slow release to the energy absorbed by the impact. The secondary crash (the body hitting something inside the car) is where the airbags come into play.

Aside from all that, travelling is a risk and all risk can not be mitigated. Even staying home laying on the couch has a risk (heart disease?).

Great ideas on the plastic car of the past. Thanks for sharing.