- IIHS crash-tested a 2026 Blazer towards a 1996 one.
- The brand new Blazer driver would maintain minimal accidents.
- The older Blazer driver may have been fatally injured.
Regardless of what some armchair “consultants” would have you ever consider, new automobiles are far safer than their older counterparts. To show it, the Insurance coverage Institute for Freeway Security (IIHS) lined up a 2026 Chevrolet Blazer towards its 1996 S10 counterpart from 30 years in the past for a head-to-head reasonable overlap crash take a look at. The outcomes converse for themselves.
The driving force of the 2026 Blazer would have seemingly walked away from the crash with bumps and bruises, because of improvements like crumple zones, high-strength metal development, bolstered facet safety, and extra airbags. As for the 1996 Blazer driver, they might have sustained extra critical and even deadly accidents.
Watching the crash footage and seeing the aftermath of the take a look at, the older Blazer’s passenger compartment was compromised with a bent A-pillar and roof construction. The dashboard and steering column had been pushed into the crash dummy’s lap, and the totally inflated airbag hit the dummy within the chin, snapping its neck again.
The IIHS says the crash dummy exhibits a human driver would have virtually actually suffered head or neck accidents, and sure leg accidents as nicely. The 2026 Chevrolet driver might have sustained a small damage to their proper foot or decrease leg, however that’s far decrease than the extent of threat within the older Blazer mannequin.
Some folks wrongly assume that as a result of new autos use extra plastic relatively than steel, outdated autos had been constructed to a better normal and are someway safer. It is essential to dispel these misconceptions with movies like this, so customers see how priceless testing from the IIHS might be and the way it makes autos much less harmful over time.
The IIHS says that almost 50,000 lives have been saved in 30 years on account of the adjustments automakers have applied because the institute started its crash take a look at packages. It has additionally saved round $500 billion in societal financial advantages.
The institute continues to push for additional security enhancements, together with adding safety ratings to heavy-duty trucks, a measure that has been desperately wanted for years. 6,535 folks had been killed in crashes involving HD or medium-duty vehicles and light-weight vans in 2023, so it solely is smart to measure them by the identical requirements as passenger autos.
