The German organization Dekra crashed an 18-year-old Hyundai Getz with a mileage of 270,000 kilometers. The experts decided to test the reliability of a car that has been in operation for a long time, as well as to evaluate work of safety systems, namely airbags and seat belts. They mimicked a head-on collision with a stationary obstacle at a speed of 50 kilometers per hour.
After 17 milliseconds after the collision, the seat belt pretensioners are activated, after another two milliseconds the front airbag covers are opened. In conclusion, experts say that all systems work in only 37.9 milliseconds – for comparison, a person blinks at a speed of about 100 milliseconds.
Experts from Dekra praised the quality of workmanship and durability of the old Getz. As a result of the impact with a stationary object, the body is deformed, but it is possible to open the doors without any problems, and the front struts remain intact.
It should be borne in mind that modern cars significantly exceed the mass of budget cars produced almost 20 years ago, so it is difficult to compare their reliability, but in general Dekra concludes that 15- and more-year-old cars are not as dangerous in a collision as they try to make some.
–
