[njsteve]

In a front end impact would you rather be in the 59 or the 09?

Compare the fixed one-piece, steel, non-collapsible, metal spear-pointed horn buttoned, steering column to the collapsible column with multi stage airbag.

There is no surviving in the old cars when you hit those old non-collapsable steering wheel/column assemblies with the center of your chest.

Watch the interior shots of the crash and you see the dummy hit the 59's column just as it is being forced up into the driver's position. The dummy is traveling at 40 mph forward onto a steel spike traveling toward him at 40 mph. It's a steel projectile moving at 80 mph combined speed. The dummy just gets impaled and then catapulted away. Doesn't take too much imagination to picture what the internal organs would look like at that point. (no pun intended)