mmarshall

Thanks, Russ. The pandemic has got my new-vehicle write-ups on hold, so, instead, for a while, I'm doing some of the not-so-new ones

Toys4RJill

airbags are not on this list. They should be #1

mmarshall

I disagree.......three reasons why I did not include them.

First,​​​ although there is no doubt that airbags, particularly the second-generation bags that don't fire with too much force, were a noted safety advancement, the REAL safety gains (and far more significant), were when people first started using seatbelts. Notice...I said when people first started USING seatbelts....it makes no difference if they are in the vehicle or not if people won't actually USE them, and use them CORRECTLY...across the hips, not stomach. Seatbelts were what first really started to save lives, not airbags (which only improved upon an already-good thing).

Second, I listed the improvements most significant in my driving-lifetime...which basically means the 1960s. Seat-belts themselves go back to the 1948 Tucker Torpedo, but only 51 cars were built, and it was an insignificant part of the automotive scene back then. Ford tried marketing them (and padded dashboards) in the mid/late 1950s...but there were few takers, for the same reason that everybody smoked in those days...the public just wasn't that concerned about safety. Cars of that era were basically over-chromed image-monsters, and represented the Great American Spirit of Freedom...people considered seat belts overly-confining in those huge late-50s cars, when you sometimes had to reach a long way to get something. It took Ralph Nader, coming along some 10 years later, to really start wake people (and the government) up to the serious need for belts, but still, he was only leading some horses to water, not making them drink.

Third, GM first tried marketing air bags in the 1974 Oldsmobiles, but, like with the anti-lock brake option on the 1971 Lincoln Continental and Chrysler Imperial, there were few takers. Once again, air bags were not mandated by the government until the mid-1990s.

SW17LS

Obviously lol

Airbags have revolutionized car safety.

mmarshall

Seat belts revolutionized car safety. Seat belts were the biggest single improvement..air bags only added to what was already the main benefits of the belts.

See for yourself: https://www.iihs.org/topics/seat-belts

Toys4RJill

I think a couple other things truly leapfrog many of the items on the original list.

LED lights: Inside and out....have completely revolutionized how the auto exterior design is done. And the exterior/interior lights are fixed and there is no need for periodic replacement.

Onboard navigation as well (and aftermarket plugins). The need for paper maps has been completely eliminated. A revolutionary change.

mmarshall

Your opinion noted.....and, yes, NAV systems have been an important addition....IMO more so than LEDs. But I did not include NAV systems for a couple of reasons. First, I didn't have time to write a whole book (I spend enough time posting as it is). Second, NAV systems still have a lot of limitations. In fast-growing areas like the D.C. suburbs, they don't always keep up with new streets/route-numbers, they don't (and usually can't) show temporary construction areas with detours/re-routings, they don't show temporary or recent speed-limit changes, and they don't show school-zones and other low-speed areas where you have to slow to 25 MPH or less where yellow lights are flashing. Like it or not, there are some things that still have to be left to human brains and eyes.

Byprodrive

iTrader: (1)

I was a Pontiac Firebird fanatic 1st car was a '71 Formula 455 & later had a 1974 SD455 T/A. I liked to rebuild the engines but never got the art of Quadrajet modifications. Loved the sound of the huge secondaries when you floored it !