A scary crash between a Chevrolet S-10 pickup and a Chevrolet Sonic sedan highlights the ways that vehicle safety has improved in recent years.
We’ve all heard the age-old saying “they don’t make ’em like they used to” with regard to cars, trucks and SUVs. The general belief of people who say this is that older vehicles were made to a higher standard than today’s vehicles, and while this can be true in some circumstances, there’s one area where it rarely proves to be accurate: safety.
With stronger mixed material bodies, thicker doors and pillars, airbags and active safety technology, today’s vehicles are extremely safe. The aforementioned accident between a Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck and a Chevrolet Sonic sedan, which was captured on a home security camera, serves as a perfect example of just how much safer today’s vehicles are than what the industry was offering 20-30 years ago.
One might assume that a crash between a pickup truck and a Chevrolet Sonic would not end well for the driver of the little Chevy compact car. Making this situation worse for the Sonic driver is that the S-10 actually t-bones the Sonic, which can be a very dangerous type of collision for both vehicles involved. Thanks to the various vehicle safety improvements that have been implemented in recent years, though, the Sonic brushes off the impact and barely receives any damage at all. The S-10, meanwhile, takes a huge lick and ends up with some severe damage to the grille and hood.
The driver of the Chevrolet Sonic, likely a bit distracted by the fact that a pickup truck just slammed into them, lets their vehicle roll into the front of a nearby house after the collision, taking out a support beam. This secondary impact is thankfully quite minor, though we’re sure the homeowner wasn’t very happy to see that an affordable compact car just wiped out part of their porch.
“A car crashed into our house this afternoon,” the homeowner said in the video description. “This car ran a stop sign, crossing 50th street southbound, and clipped a truck heading east on 50th, which deflected it into my home.”
Check out the video of the collision embedded below to see just how far vehicle safety has come in recent years.
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Comments
For an entry-level truck that was engineering the 80’s/90’s, with no crumple zone, the S10 faired well lol
Glad all involved seem ok.! Now-a-days they’re probably both totalled? Question is, what will drivers replace their vehicles with? GM stopped building both vehicles. Sad.
You can still get a brand new Sonic, but I doubt that the S-10 guy could afford a new Colorado, instead he’ll settle for another S-10 or maybe a 1st gen Colorado.
Video shows the benefits of automatic post collision braking they have in new cars. The Sonic could have easily stopped before hitting the house, just the driver was in too much shock and didn’t hit the brakes.
Guess no one is going to comment on the obvious. If the driver of the Sonic had been paying attention and stopped at the stop sign, there wouldn’t have been an accident. Meanwhile, the S-10 driver was in full bore lock down mode trying to stop. Texting or other distraction by the Sonic driver? We’ll never know.
This article is misleading at best. Both cars did what they were designed to do. The truck didn’t sustain more damage because of poorer design. It hit the car with its nose, which was designed to crumple in order to absorb impact, and lessen the risk of injury to the passengers. Likewise, the car was impacted in the side of the cabin, which is designed to remain rigid, and NOT crumple in order to prevent the oncoming truck from crushing a would-be passenger. The two zones were designed to act differently, but for the same purpose: protect the passengers in the vehicle. Yes, the car is newer, and is probably better designed, but the truck’s design in this case was just as effective. Not inferior.
The homeowner’s shirt is appropriate for the situation!
considering it was a sc/sb S10 and a small car, the weight difference is most likely minimal, its an S10.. not a Silverado. and as mentioned by TexChopper, they impacted at different areas designed to react totally different, ive been rearended in my 87 1 ton (not made to wrinkle) and it barely even put a wave in the bumper, whereas the car that hit it was smashed nearly to the windshield, ive seen a car rearend a newer Jeep Cherokee with plastic rear bumper, almost no damage at all, but the car was completely smashed in the front… see where this is going yet?
I’m glad the driver decided to put on the hazard lights just in case another car Decided to drive through their driveway