It seems a bit wasteful to me to discard my old Subaru Forester which works just fine - but I have concerns about the safety of it were I in an accident.
Is there any way to significantly improve the safety of an old car?
All jokes aside, buy the best road tyres and brake pads (inc. discs) that is most suitable for your common driving environment.
Down here in rural Ireland I’ve got “wet / rain” tyres. Not only can I stop on a penny, the car (Audi TT mk1) can also shift pretty quick for safely manoeuvring hazards. 99% of time I drive like a grandpa :-)
Be hyper aware of drivers around you too. If there’s a driver following who clearly shows they are _determined_ to overtake then the safest option is to pull over and let them. Their sense of judgement might be poor and result in a collision where you are collateral damage.
- your speed engages you onto a distance. It's what books call 'total stopping distance' . But you can as well consider it's a full segment on which you already are. If something appears on it, you will have no way to avoid it. (hence the car being a trailer thing.) Just adjust your speed so that you can FULLY see everything on the total breaking distance. Consider where you will be at the end of the stopping distance, not now.
- you're not a pilot. Your moves will be limited to a single gesture in an emergency situation. I learned that while doing bike. I found out I couldn't change lane AND brake AND ring my bell in emergency. At best I could just close my hand, so i had to adjust the bike and bell levers to be able to use both with a single gesture.
- always consider forces on you car. You're an engineer if you read this post. So learn about tensors, resulting forces, what what would happen when you speed up or brake at each time. (plot twist : if your brakes are mounted on the forward wheels and you're in any kind of turn, without ESP, your car will quickly go deeper into that turn.)
- if you have the bandwidth, do some live FMECA or HAZOP analysis about the traffic and other drivers, and anticipate what you would do in any kind of abnormal behaviour (eg if the car in front of you suddenly stops, if some car on a parking lot drives back toward you,...). and KEEP your DISTANCE !
Most drivers think with heuristics and rely on what other drivers would logically do. Guess what ? You're not driving their own car ! So yeah, some drivers won't see you and won't yield, or they will speed up to clear the intersection before you. And some will stop for no reason. Don't drive with probabilities !
Consider that other cars want to harm you, and prepare to avoid them. Automotive safety in ISO 26262 is about when to pick up a fault, what you do in case of a fault, and how you get out. Do the same ! Check in the mirrors before a junction, drive accordingly to threats of the cars behind. And know when to honk, break, or continue through a junction.
- At last, it's in every single book about driving. But it's still important to mention that you should assess the intent of other driver (and check if they even saw you), and you should allow them to get yours (so don't go 60mph, do a dirac on the brakes at a stop sign, and yell at oncoming cars for stopping while they had the priority, which wastes your time) (yup, I saw this more than once)
If you’re going to neglect those, you can easily kill yourself with a two year old car.
Auto safety divided to active and passive parts.
Active part are what working before accident - powerful engine, reliable brakes, good suspension, right tires, and in many cases you could just install best components and will have better safety than on median new car.
Passive part, what works if accident happen - strong safety shell (tube frame addition like in rally cars), multi-point belts (4-5-6 points, instead of standard 3-points), possible to install some soft and non-flammable interior panels.
For some design flaws it is possible to add fixes - for example, first ZAZ-1102 Tavria's have flaw, that on accident hood broke off the hinges and flies through windshield accurately to driver neck, and in later machines welded to hood safety corner, which hooks to frame if hinges broken.
Also you could add reinforcing arcs and many other addons.
And least, armored capsule made auto much safer, but it cost/weight could be prohibitive. Usually it implemented on large autos, like f-250, with large size/weight and large engine, but technologies grow, once it will be acceptable for smallest cars.
Active safety systems are a net meant to prevent a bad decision from turning into a worse one.
It‘s a pretty safe car for the driver and passenger. The modern tech generally avoid accidents (notably esp,abs, ebd). Keep your beakes & tires in a good shape, check the integrity of your seat belt ( loose screws, torn belts) and airbags(if any).
The studies are mixed, but for a few more bulbs, you'll be a bit safer.
His Subaru was designed in the 90s, this video below highlights the advances: