1990 Lumina Crash Test

['93RegalGS3800]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehV8fPuHVX0

 

Got a 1990 Lumina going face first into a wall. Was curious to see how the chassis fared the impact and it looks acceptable for 30 MPH.

 

The passengers on the other hand were thrown all over the place. Kinda feel uncomfortable about that. Gotta love passive restraint systems. Heck if the seat belts locked then that would improve everything by miles.

 

I could not help but notice the dash fly apart on the passengers side. Guess the dummy hit it rather hard.

 

How do I feel about this? Feeling ok about it. Not great but ok. I'm glad that the Chassis didn't just fold up like 2000 F-150. I'm more worried about what the steering wheel will do to me than anything.

 

You guys with airbags will have a better time than those of us whose cars don't.

[94 olds vert]

I would be more interested in a front offset crash. Those are typical of most crashes, and do a lot more damage to the vehicle and occupants.

[Heartbeat1991]

I prefer to be without the airbags.

['93RegalGS3800]

I would be more interested in a front offset crash. Those are typical of most crashes, and do a lot more damage to the vehicle and occupants.

 

It would be interesting to see one as more force is applied to a smaller section of the car. I hope the A pillar stays intact but you never know when it comes to these older cars.

 

I prefer to be without the airbags.

 

That's ok. I can understand the concern when it comes to having something blow up in your face so suddenly. Knowing all the recalls lots of cars are having over airbags it's kinda daunting when you think about it.

 

I honestly think a locking seatbelt is enough to keep the occupant safe for most crashes. As long as you stay strapped in and stay in place then you should walk away in decent shape for the most part.

[Padgett]

Crash that hard and it still rolled. Impressive.

 

From a passenger standpoint impact to the rear is best. So if all else fails, spin it.

[LumiLTZ]

Car held up pretty well, though was disconcerting seeing the occupants fly around like they did.  Probably be pretty banged up, but at least the passenger compartment held its shape, though I too would be interested to see how it'd hold up in an offset crash with these.  Haven't seen one hit hard enough in the yards like that to see what one looks like from such a wreck.

[RobertISaar]

maybe i'm just remembering the monte carlo more, but are there no inertia locks for the seat belts on early 1st gens?

[primergray]

Mine has 'em...last time I checked.

[Euro]

I'm pretty sure mine had the locks, at least the rear belts did.  That driver got tossed like a rag doll   good bye nose!

[Heartbeat1991]

I don't know why the belts didn't catch.  Seems like they're useless if they don't lock up.

[GnatGoSplat]

If you're concerned about safety, a 25yr old W-body is probably not the right car for you.  My wife has been trying to get me to ditch 'em for years.

 

I'm sure the 1st gens don't do well in an offset crash.  A member posted pics of his 92-97 style Cutlass coupe that was totaled.  Light offset hit.  The area where the A-pillar and roof met was deformed.  A 35mph offset would have been seriously bad.  Granted, that one was a coupe.  A sedan might have fared better.  The 95-99 Lumina actually did okay if I recall correctly, although the safety cage part of the frame is completely redesigned from the 1st gens.

 

They do have inertia locks, but that video shows they don't work well.  To me, it does look like the driver side seatbelt locks right before the dummy would hit the steering wheel.  I don't think his chest actually contacted the wheel, to me it looked like the seatbelt locked just a couple inches short of the wheel causing its head to snap forward smacking into the top of the wheel and then significant rearward motion.  That dummy would have been a good candidate for internal decapitation, where the forces on the neck are so strong the vertebrae separates causing the spinal column to sever.  The passenger-side seatbelt appears to lock sooner, but is still a poor enough design the dummy's upper body is uncontrolled and its head hit that dash pretty hard.  A lot (or all?) modern cars have pretensioners in the seatbelts now to prevent excessive slack before the belts lock.

 

These cars weren't built for safety.  They were built on the cheap.  The whole reason we got those stinky "passive restraint" seatbelts on the doors is because airbags were expensive and GM wanted to save money.

['93RegalGS3800]

If you're concerned about safety, a 25yr old W-body is probably not the right car for you.  My wife has been trying to get me to ditch 'em for years.

 

I'm sure the 1st gens don't do well in an offset crash.  A member posted pics of his 92-97 style Cutlass coupe that was totaled.  Light offset hit.  The area where the A-pillar and roof met was deformed.  A 35mph offset would have been seriously bad.  Granted, that one was a coupe.  A sedan might have fared better.  The 95-99 Lumina actually did okay if I recall correctly, although the safety cage part of the frame is completely redesigned from the 1st gens.

 

They do have inertia locks, but that video shows they don't work well.  To me, it does look like the driver side seatbelt locks right before the dummy would hit the steering wheel.  I don't think his chest actually contacted the wheel, to me it looked like the seatbelt locked just a couple inches short of the wheel causing its head to snap forward smacking into the top of the wheel and then significant rearward motion.  That dummy would have been a good candidate for internal decapitation, where the forces on the neck are so strong the vertebrae separates causing the spinal column to sever.  The passenger-side seatbelt appears to lock sooner, but is still a poor enough design the dummy's upper body is uncontrolled and its head hit that dash pretty hard.  A lot (or all?) modern cars have pretensioners in the seatbelts now to prevent excessive slack before the belts lock.

 

These cars weren't built for safety.  They were built on the cheap.  The whole reason we got those stinky "passive restraint" seatbelts on the doors is because airbags were expensive and GM wanted to save money.

 

That bottom line sums it up pretty well.

 

I don't think the Regal has locking seat belts as I can pull them freely while buckled.

 

I remember seeing an old ad for the '93 Regal and it said the car was up to '97 impact standards, but that might just be a marketing trick.

 

Whats so messed up is that the 3rd generation F-bodys had locking seatbelts since at least '86 and a drivers side airbag by 1990. Other cars might have had them around the same time. Guess GM cut some corners on the W as the platform was so new back then.

 

[primergray]

How fast can you pull them while buckled, though...that's the thing. They have them...whether they're working right, need to be lubed, whatever...they have them. It would have been more expensive to NOT use the rollers from the parts bin that they'd been using since the late 70s...

[GnatGoSplat]

I don't think the Regal has locking seat belts as I can pull them freely while buckled.

 

I remember seeing an old ad for the '93 Regal and it said the car was up to '97 impact standards, but that might just be a marketing trick.

 

They do lock.  Service manual describes how they work.  They use inertia locks, which may explain why they lock up late.

I verified they definitely can lock.  I have a spare seatbelt assembly, and if the mechanism is tilted at all, it'll lock.  I seem to recall it has a pendulum inside.  I don't believe they lock based on velocity (how fast you pull them).

[mfewtrail]

You can test the inertia reel seatbelts on a hill at relatively low speeds by applying the brakes with a good amount of force.

['93RegalGS3800]

They do lock.  Service manual describes how they work.  They use inertia locks, which may explain why they lock up late.

I verified they definitely can lock.  I have a spare seatbelt assembly, and if the mechanism is tilted at all, it'll lock.  I seem to recall it has a pendulum inside.  I don't believe they lock based on velocity (how fast you pull them).

 

I never figured they did lock. Guess I'll have to look into it when I'm near the car again. The action is not obvious like it is in other cars I've been in.

[primergray]

Yeah...they lock front and back...been driving around with my kid in his booster seat for the past two years. If they didn't lock, someone might have made a stink about having pointless shoulder belts, at least some sort of noise about it at some point in the past 28 years or so. 

[digitaloutsider]

Automotive safety has come a very long way since these cars were designed in the early-mid 80s. Modern crumple zones and the like were really in their infancy at the time.  The "passive belts" were a workaround for the automatic electronic pieces of shit that were common in the 80s.  GM could have fitted the cars with a driver side airbag, but I assume the development was too far along to consider them (also GM is cheap).

 

That being said, I would never put my family into an early 1G W car.  The cars weren't stellar when they debuted and it hasn't gotten any better (the '88-93 Lumina/GP/Regal/Cutlass achieved a 2 star crash test rating, for example).  I really had reservations about moving from my SE-R which had belt retractors, active headrests, and frontal/side/front and rear curtain airbags down to my Regal which only has frontal and driver's side-impact bags.  Safety wasn't something I thought about when I first started driving, but it's definitely something I consider when it comes to a daily driver.

[GnatGoSplat]

I DD my 89 in Spring, Summer, and Fall.  I'm hoping the risk of a serious crash in bumper-to-bumper rush-hour traffic is very low.

 

I did quit taking 1st gen W-bodies on road trips when I got the Silverado 14yrs ago.  Some people think for a long trip they want to take the most fuel-efficient vehicle, but I prefer to take the biggest and safest one.

[White93z34]

I can confirm from crashing a Lumina that they worked out the inertia locks sometime after 1990. Did not neat steering wheel in my 93'

 

Its pretty amazing how far things have come since then. That said it wouldn't stop me from taking the car on a long trip or whatever. 

[Nas Escobar]

Whats so messed up is that the 3rd generation F-bodys had locking seatbelts since at least '86 and a drivers side airbag by 1990. Other cars might have had them around the same time. Guess GM cut some corners on the W as the platform was so new back then.

Trust me its not as messed up as you think. GM did nothing for the mass market cars. J bodies, N bodies, W bodies were not had with airbags until it was mandated. The F body and the Y body were the halo cars. They kinda needed em to have that junk in order to not have the passive restraint. Imagine a Camaro with the rolling seat belts the Japanese used. I mean Nissan couldnt get away with that on the Infiniti G20. I think a lot of this had to do with how long they planned to sell them originally and i don't think GM planned the 1st W body to be ran for 9 model years, which is funny because the saginaw steering column could be fitted with an airbag as the 90 Camaro, 91 B bodies, the H, C and K bodies showed us. GM did the stupid decision of not using their signature steering column on the W only to have to come back with it in 94. What's the most disturbing thing is how GM manufactured the FWD A body with few enhancements from 1981 to 1996. The Century and Ciera had no business to exist since 1989 yet somehow it did. Then there's the fact that GM completely let the Camaro/Firebird die after its 1993 redesign. You know its bad when the Firebird had the 1G GP wheel and the Camaro received the 1.5 wheel after the fact they were no longer being built.

 

The W body program was just shortsighted. You can tell with the Sedans and the Lumina. As if someone told them after the fact that they had to replace the Monte Carlo and the Celebrity sedan.

[Go4DaMo]

1990 dashes were different from 1991+. A 91 dash likely wouldn't explode from a headbutt for 2 reasons: this test car's dash looked shoddily put together in the vid (trim didn't look stock, radio was old) and 90 dashes quickly sagged, pivoting clockwise around the left-of-center steering column, leaving the passenger side sagging and driver's side above the interior trim lines on the matching door panels. Cool video you found, by the way.