I'm sitting here steaming at the articles I just finished reading from so-called experts and it sure proved the old definition of an "expert"
EX = A HAS-BEEN
SPURT = A DRIP UNDER PRESSURE
One article disses the OLDSMOBILE ALERO for being at the bottom of the safe car list.
Dammit, how long has it been since GM DISCONTINUED the Oldsmobile brand?
And so it goes.
Then another article goes on to say that size does NOT matter but the very next paragraph says that YOU NEED CRUSH SPACE TO ABSORB IMPACT.
That is EXACTLY WHAT YOU HAVE IN OUR BEAUTIFUL FLEETWOODS!
I am really fuming since I sit here in the den beneath my silly gold seal plaques from the American Society of Safety Engineers, and others validating my time when I passed my Boards and became a Safety Professional so I have to look over at the bookcase at a book I just had to buy a few years ago and know these jerks must have worked from it.
The title is:
"How to Write Like an Expert About Anything"
subtitle
"Without Knowing Anything About What You're Writing About."
:mad2:

According to the Fleetwood website, the ratings for the Fleetwood seem to be very good.

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
Driver Death Rates By Model - A rating of 100 is average. Lower numbers indicate vehicles that are involved in fewer fatal accidents than average, while higher numbers indicate involvement in more fatal accidents. A rating of 25, for example, represents a driver death rate of one-fourth the average, while a rating of 295 is nearly three times the average.

1993-95 Cadillac Fleetwood = 32
1992-95 Cadillac Seville = 40
1994-95 Cadillac DeVille 4-door = 74
1992-95 Cadillac Eldorado = 87

This is a topic which has always interested me. I've owned lots of big RWD full frame GM vehicles. I've also owned plenty of unibody full size cars- (bonnevilles, my SLS, olds 88s, and so-on).

I was in a terrible accident a few years ago in a 98 Bonneville. I won't go into the gorey details, but it involved a very large SUV, the jaws of life, and a very long rehabilitation for my girlfriend.

The bottom line is though, we both survived, and probably wouldnt have, say, in a cavilier.

But there are definately two arguments when it comes to vehicle safety. I don't think that these big cars really ARE safe, if they are going to be in an accident with something solid. For example. If you were to lose control, and hit a tree one of these gigantic Fleetwood's we drive, I'd bet you are less likely to survive the impact than if you were in a full size unibody vehicle, a Mercedes for example, or even a newer Buick.

Airbags aside, the full frame vehicles do not have much "give" to them to soak up that impact. You're gonna get most of it. Whiplash from rear impacts is common in these vehicles.

I think what makes them so safe is the times. Chances are if you have an accident with them now, it might be with a Honda Civic. That's not a fair fight, and the Honda will soak up the impact for you.

So it's kind of a catch-22, I think it has a lot to do with the circumstances of the accident itself, which is a given anyway. But on the road, I think these big old tanks are the safest place to be. If something else happens, and you're going to be hitting something that does not move, I'd rather be in a unibody car with airbags any day.

I'm not basing this on the 93+ Fleetwoods, I don't know enough about them, and I'm sure they do have airbags in them. But that's my opinion about the older ones.

I'll drive any car that I like though, life's too short to worry about it!

-Aaron

I am not sure what the original post is really about... but...
There is a lot more related to safety and crumple zones than just sheer size. The design and materials are critical. Also involved is the type of accident.
Even the testing labs can only test it so many ways. A lot of collisions cannot be tested for and there is no real way to predict how you are going to wreck. It is all based on statistical data regarding types of crashes and testing for wrecks that you may... or may not be in.

Even some tiny cars do well in crashes because of what they are made out of and how they are constructed. Most of the older, bigger cars are made with much more ridgid materials which don't absorb energy at all, but simply transfer the energy to the occupants.

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
Driver Death Rates By Model - A rating of 100 is average. Lower numbers indicate vehicles that are involved in fewer fatal accidents than average, while higher numbers indicate involvement in more fatal accidents. A rating of 25, for example, represents a driver death rate of one-fourth the average, while a rating of 295 is nearly three times the average.

1993-95 Cadillac Fleetwood = 32
1992-95 Cadillac Seville = 40
1994-95 Cadillac DeVille 4-door = 74
1992-95 Cadillac Eldorado = 87

Driver Death Rates tell us more about the DRIVER than the Car - the name of the statistic is appropriate. Cars that attract safer drivers will have lower death rates because they drive their cars in a safer manner. Sometimes that means not driving the car at all - I can't believe how many low-mileage Cadillacs there are out there.

Excellent statistic for calculating insurance rates - misleading if you're discussing the safety engineering of the car.

ewill brings up an excellent point.
The Mercedes Benz sedans of 1959 were extremely rigid, unit body vehicles which survived collisions very well.
Unfortunately, the occupants bounced around inside them to their detriment.
Diamler Benz, the parent company, started the "crush space" thing with a rigid passenger compartment between two boxes.
I well recall the promo film which can still sometimes be seen on the National Geographic Channel showing two 1960s M-B's colliding, HEAD-ON at about 40 mph on a test track.
White-coated workers immediately run to the wreckage, and OPEN ALL THE DOORS AND REMOVE THE CRASH DUMMIES EASILY.
As far as weight goes, those boxy Mercedes went about 3,500lbs and were not all that heavy. I bought a used 1960 220Sb in 1964 and kept it until 2002.

ewill -
To answer your question about "what it was all about - - -"
Yahoo ran an entire series of "auto safety" references which directed their clients to various sites which were the epitome of total insanity, IMHO.
I say that based on over four decades of accident investigation and getting my nose rubbed in the messes left after the fact, picking up the pieces, etc.
What is infuriating is that politicians rather than engineers and technicians have dictated safety policy for the last 25 or 30 years to the detriment of us all.
As a quickie:
Look up the ORIGINAL STANDARD (NSC) FOR FATAL ACCIDENTS VERSUS OSHA STANDARDS
and you'll see the shell game perpetrated upon the general public.
Remember the Ford Motor Company Pinto fiasco?
That was because Ford decided it was cheaper to gamble to not put a $15.00 shield in the car to protect the fuel tank over the life of X number of cars versus so much per the cost of a LIFE in a lawsuit.
In the past, INSURANCE COMPANIES (yes, those companies we all love to hate) used to have snoops going around to businesses keeping them honest under pain of losing their insurance.
Today, a business gambles with safety thinking that they'll get away with something and MAYBE pay a small OSHA FINE.
Thus, you see far more scaffolds collapsing and trenches caving in and the like than you ever saw before.
The same kind of thinking goes with the automobile.
Have you noticed that LIBERTY MUTUAL no longer shows those auto safety commercials on TV with their safety engineers like they used to?

I've been working in insurance for a couple of years and can tell you right now that the odds are considerably better for the people in the heavier vehicle in a crash. Yes, the design of the interior (eg sharp edges everywhere) angle of impact and occupant fragility can play a role but the odds ares still better in the heavier car especially if the weight difference is more than 10%.
One crash I came across was a headon between Ford F series pickup and honda crx the 2 people in the crx were killed and no one was injured in the ford-as far as physics go its no contest.
Minor dings its not so important as that will often come to the types of bumpers and towbars involved eg if a toyota with a towbar backs of a park into the side of your cadillac you'll get a nice dent in the caddy's door while the toy motor will have no damage