The US government may take a lot of heat as opposing sides to nearly every discussion share their thoughts about some issues, but safety regulations for vehicles certainly isn’t one of those issues. The safety of vehicles has grown by leaps and bounds and many cars of today that are sold in the US are safer than they’ve ever been to help make it easier for us to enjoy surviving in a crash. If you somehow don’t think that safety standards have improved over the years, check out this video.
This video pits the Nissan Versa against the Nissan Tsuru. The Tsuru is the cheapest vehicle sold by Nissan in Mexico and was originally the Sentra from 1991 that we can remember. This car continued to sell south of the border at a price of about $7,000 but certainly hasn’t had the same upgrades in safety equipment that are present on today’s models in the US. During this crash you can see a seriously distinct difference in what the Versa does to keep the driver save versus the Tsuru. Just looking at the video you’ll see a huge difference and feel like you’ve been transported back to the pre-airbag era.
The crash used is a front offset crash and both cars are demolished, but the Versa drops the engine down which helps keep the engine from moving into the cockpit where the driver is sitting. Conversely, the Tsuru is completely destroyed and the engine is pushed back, crushing the driver of the vehicle. The crumple zones of the Versa also help to ensure the safety of the driver and keep them in a bubble of protection, which is much different from the Tsuru which creates a crushed space where the driver is seriously injured.
From the cameras inside the cars you first see the Tsuru which allows the driver to bang their head around in many ways and doesn’t offer any protection of airbags which would help keep the driver safe. If a driver were to actually survive this crash they would likely be paralyzed for life and never walk again, but only if they survived.
In the Versa you see a different story. The steering wheel and side curtain airbags both deploy and help to protect the driver to keep them from harm. The driver would easily survive this crash and might incur minor injuries, but nothing more when in this type of crash. This shows a huge difference in the build and safety used for each of these two vehicles.
Thankfully, our neighbors to the south have already begun to address these types of issues and starting in 2017 cars will be required to have much more stringent safety regulations. It’s a good thing because these cars aren’t built to withstand a crash and allow anyone to survive. It’s time for Mexico to become modernized and offer their citizens the safety they want and need on the road so they can walk away from some of these accidents.
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