Just because it's in print, it must be 'true' and other lies electronically flying around the web.
A reader sent me a copy of Quicksilver, the magazine of the International Mercury Owners Assn., whose winter 2012 issue contains a piece by John Harvey claiming that the well publicized offset crash test between a 2009 Chevrolet Malibu and a 1959 Bel Air was rigged. The crash test was conducted at an event to celebrate the contributions of auto insurers to highway safety progress over 50 years since the 1959 founding of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. IIHS was making a simple — and to me indisputable — point. In a real collision similar to the test, occupants of the newer model would fare much better than in the vintage Chevy. It is Harvey’s contention that the Bel Air did not have an engine in it when IIHS crashed the disparate Chevys in a spectacular 40 mph impact.
This is pure, unadulterated hooey from Harvey. The Bel Air was in running condition, and the offset crash test was conducted in the presence of the news media. The Bel Air – its engine forced rearward into the occupant compartment, has been on display ever since at the IIHS Vehicle Research Center in Virginia. No, it’s not the April Fools issue, but should be. Maybe they should stick to Mercurys…
