Crash tests with old and new vehicle models demonstrate the development of passive safety : are they in correlation with the published national statistics?

In this poster, it is stated that the national statistics published in Germany and Great Britain since the seventies are evidence of major improvements in road safety. The reasons for that are manifold. Contributory factors include, inter alia, improvements in the passive safety of vehicles. The overall effect is demonstrated for example in the falling numbers of fatalities in Germany and in Great Britain, but it cannot be attributed to individual factors. In recent years, the frontal impact performance of cars has significantly improved. The move towards vehicle design which performs better in offset crashes has caused improved energy-absorbing frontal structures and safety cells which work in conjunction with highly effective restraint systems to protect the occupants in severe impacts. This can be demonstrated with results of crash tests with older and newer car models. An example is given for the Ford Fiesta (1985 and 1998 model years).