[CWuestefeld]

lighter, deadlier cars

Lighter <> Deadlier

For one thing, lighter frequently means "more agile", i.e., better able to avoid a crash.

But even given a crash, modern engineering can yield great safety with light weight. See the results of a "Crash Test 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air VS. 2009 Chevrolet Malibu (Frontal Offset)" [1]. In it, the dummy driver of the big iron Bel Air is pretty thoroughly killed.

[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joMK1WZjP7g

[aidenn0]

While I agree with the statement that lighter is not equivalent to deadlier, it's a straw man to compare a 50 year old car (That doesn't even have seatbelts!) against a modern car. The trivial come-back is "think of how safe a car we could make with modern engineering if it weighed as much as a '59 bel-air"