[wyager]

Modern lightweight cars are significantly safer than old, heavy cars. Thick steel is good for protecting you from explosions, not collisions.

[a8da6b0c91d]

Equivalent car classes are much heavier now than they were 20+ years ago. It's because of the weight of airbags and safety features.

[jcromartie]

Airbags and ABS and crumple zones don't weigh much. The cars are just bigger.

[a8da6b0c91d]

Are you sure about that? I read about people stripping all the airbags out of new Civics and getting dramatically better gas mileage.

[jcromartie]

An airbag weighs 10 lbs max, usually 5-8 lbs. Anybody who removes this for "performance" or "fuel savings" is a blithering idiot who should not be allowed near a motor vehicle.

[a8da6b0c91d]

I'm not sure I buy your 10# claim, but even if that's accurate there are six of them in a modern sedan and that's not a trivial amount of weight for a car.

[gambiting]

What? Seriously? Why don't they strip out the seat belts and headrests while they are at it. In fact, they should strip everything out, so the car is rally-style: nothing but seats, steering wheel and gear stick inside. They would get absolutely AWESOME milage then. Fuck the safety then, eh?

[barrkel]

Car class distribution has changed in the past 20+ years.