Safety technology has come a long way in the 30 years since ANCAP started crash testing cars in Australia.
The safety body marked the anniversary of its first assessments by re-crashing one of the first cars it tested, a 1993 Mitsubishi Magna sedan.
The results make for grim reading.
A head-on crash test in controlled conditions found that a driver in the 30-year-old car “would face a high risk of serious or fatal skull fracture and brain injury resulting from hard contact on the steering wheel without the cushion of an airbag,” according to the safety body.
“High injury measurements were also recorded for the driver’s upper and lower legs and pelvis, with moderate injury risk for the chest.
“The rear passenger would also have sustained serio...
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