Safety

Standard ot the seventies

Thank goodness we buckled up!

In the 1960s, Daimler was among those in Germany taking a systematic look at what happens to cars and their occupants in a crash. How much could a car body deform? And what if you designed it to crumple in specific places? In those days, many passengers died from broken necks. Head restraints, where available, were an optional extra. Regulators didn’t require them.

My own crash came in 1987, and we were lucky it happened when it did. We went off a national road in southern France at 100 km/h and rolled four times. My beautiful, rusty Corona Mark II ended up bent like a banana. We walked away without serious injuries, thanks to the head restraints and three-point seat belts.