15 years ago I had come across a complete set of ACRS diagnostic equipment, it was this black plastic suitcase which opened to reveal a brushed aluminum board housing several LED lights, connectors and a manual, listing operation and airbag fault codes. It was a New Old Stock item, still with the US post envelope depicting the address of where it was delivered and other original documentation in truly excellent condition (it was sent to some dealership, and dated 1973). I picked it up for $100.00. I kept it for a few years, knowing this was an automotive historical rarity. a time came when I wanted to sell it, unsuccessfully. After visiting several forums and other places, seeing there was no interest (much to my surprise) I ended up listing it on eBay and it sold for what I bought it for, $100.00. To this day I am beating myself upside the head for not keeping this relic. I hope the person who bought it off me realizes what they have.
@@everyhome9936 Thanks for the info, I just hope it's in a good home because really it was like brand new. People don't realize how advanced those were for the time, I guess costs and the wrong idea you didn't need a seat belt with airbags caused it to initially fail.
Not only did GM offer airbags back then, they also had eye level brake lights left and right on the backs of the Oldsmobile Toronado at that point. They also doubled as turning indicators.
@@davehoffman3481 Those lights were common, the Buick Riviera had the same thing. I forgot who was the first car to have them, but it wasn't GM. Starting in 1971, I think, the Toronados had them, and in 1974 Buick Rivieras had them.
@@petermartinijr.1012 Cadillac 1980's Deville's Broughams 87- 92 had it also really cool it also had indicators on the top front fenders indicating lights and signals, would let you see if a light was not working pretty neat features, like automatic headlights, high beam indicator automatically turns lights to low beams then back to high beams after passing a vehicle, digital outside temperature reader.
They came out with this 15 years ahead of everyone else, but by the late 80's they were mounting "automatic" seatbelts on the doors as a way to skirt the requirement for having an airbag.
I know right? 😂 in the late 1990s when I was a kid my Uncle Frank had a 1990 Cadillac Brougham, at the time I knew that was weird location for seat belts, as far as I know, everyone who rode in the car, just used the belts like manual belts. 3 belts in the front seemed kind of odd, but considering the car was more like an expensive leather sofa on wheels that's understandable. Having to flip the license plate downward to put gas in the car, really fascinating me to say the least. As I got older I would learn having the gas filler behind the license plate was actually a very common feature for many of the larger bodied GM cars at the time, and that having door mounted belts was short-lived and was actually a federal requirement, and many GM cars from about 1989 to 1993 were like that. When airbags became a requirement shortly afterwards the door mount belts were history
GM refused to install its ACRS in the station wagon versions of the cars. You could get some of the pillarless C-Body and B-body Cadillac , Buick, and Oldsmobile sedans with the ACRS installed
It easily added 10% to the retail price which could be a deal breaker. That is why the federal government should have stayed firm with the mandate for all car manufacturers to install them. Rain on everyone's parade so that no one car manufacturer would be able to claim they were being descriminated against.
This is news to me. Must me pretty rare to have airbags in the 1970s. Most of what I heard is wasn't till the early 1990s when they began to become standard, although I was told during the early to maybe the mid 1980s you could order as an option on some models, usually the more expensive cars as the technology was so new many people would not trust it to be the life saving technology that we know and love today.
my 2007 le cross didn't deploy ( and my understanding is it was theoretical programed to deploy nope it bludgeon me up good and had a gm rep later on say sorry for the recall but was unwilling to accept my injurys ect. from it ) 30-ish mph/rollover but 1st impact was the back-bumper 2st was the front bumper yes they/airbags can fail and yes the car was a 1-owner under warranty still
@@richardprice5978 , Yes, an acquaintance of mine from Taiwan bought a new Dodge Omni? Hatchback and a few years later got into a collision in which the airbags didn't deploy . She didn't like that car very much. Later I discovered that she had lied to me about her available funds to purchase a car in the USA while attending college in the USA. Turned out her family back in Taiwan had lots of money they would have been ready to give her. She didn't have a $10,000USD car purchasing limit like she told me. She could have gotten $30,000 USD from her parents to purchase a car in the USA. That would have meant she could have gotten the Volvo she said she really would have liked to buy.
You are 100% correct, you can even see the airbag in the episode. It has been questioned whether or not the show producers knew that this car was a special vehicle. Either a total coincidence, trying to find the “ugliest” car they could, or they were intentionally giving a nod to Cramer’s idiosyncrasies and of course he would have such a rare car.
I've seen this car at car show in MD - the owner lives local. He was having fun with people explaining the early airbag - but I already knew - the Olds dash giveaway. Edmunds, the car price guide, actually listed it as an RPO option in 1975 & 1976 - $300 - so GM made an effort to sell the system. Listed in 1974 too, but no price. Like the 1956 Ford and seat belts, it was not a hit. At about the same time we were given precursors of ABS too - sure track, max track, etc. Those did not sell either. Heck it wasn't until 1975 that steel belted radials became standard on most GM cars.
If the "special green color" is the color on the car in this clip, it is Paint code 46, Green gold Metallic. I had a 73 Imp in that color. No air bag though. It was one if the best cars I ever owned.
@@ssan3257 They are great cars. Wish I still had mine but it was totaled years ago in a head on collision. The lap and shoulder belts probably saved my life in the collision. Hopefully you wear both the lap and shoulder belts.
Wow! What a rare piece of history. What many may not know, was the original reason for the government pushing for airbags. Originally they were to combate low seat belt usage, as practically nobody at the time wore seat belts at the time, hence there were also known as air cushion restraint system. In fact a good number of cars from the late 1980s to early 1990s, did not have airbags just yet, but they had another system, automatic seatbelts. One design had the shoulder belt mounted on a motorized track, and would move around and clip you into place when you closed the door or turn the ignition key. Another type of automatic seatbelts, most commonly found on GM cars from the late 1980s to around 1994, had the seat belts mounted in the front doors. You would slide in underneath, close the door, and voila!! You were buckled up automatically. The reason now airbags are sometimes called "Supplemental Restraint Systems" or "Supplemental Inflatable Restraints " is the fact that airbags are never intended to replace a seatbelt, but rather used in conjunction with a seat belt for maximum safety and effectiveness.
The video's information wasn't spotless, but it's very interesting to see that this car still existed at the making of this particular video, which by no means looks made for RUclips.
@@petermartinijr.1012 Nope, never available on Corvette in the first offering. It is a test vehicle. I did manage to find the clip: ruclips.net/video/4nKDCZoTSOw/видео.html.
These 1,000 Impalas were not the only cars equipped with the ACRS system, in fact they were less than 10% of the total ACRS production. ACRS was a regular production option on some 1974-1976 Buick, Oldsmobile, and Cadillac vehicles, and 10,000 were made. The 1973 Impalas, built in late 1972, were the first airbag equipped vehicles made that saw widespread use on the road, but they were all sold to government fleets. Production on the Buick, Oldsmobile, and Cadillac vehicles equipped with ACRS began in December 1973, and they were the first vehicles with airbags that could be purchased new by the general public. The ACRS was discontinued after the 1976 model year, when the cars they were in were redesigned for 1977. The new body style had a better structure for crash energy management but no provision for airbags. It would be about 11 years before GM would offer airbags again, in November 1987 on the 1988 model Oldsmobile 98. This was a driver-only airbag system, as opposed to the dual airbag ACRS system. IIRC, GM wouldn't offer a dual airbag system again until late 1991 with the redesigned 1992 Pontiac Bonneville. The dual-stage deployment of the ACRS passenger airbag is common among vehicles from the mid-2000s and later, although modern systems are employed on both the driver and passenger sides, take into account far more variables and can actually shut off the passenger airbag if there's not enough weight on the seat. Dual-stage airbag systems didn't come back out on any GM vehicles until the 2001 model year. February 4, 2020 12:39 am
I had heard about airbags on GM cars back then, but always wonder what it looked like. Now I know. Now what you mentioned about the 1992 Pontiac Bonneville offering dual airbags before other cars getting dual airbags between 1994 and 1997, I got a used 1992 Pontiac Bonneville with dual airbags. The SE was driver side only until 1994. I had the SSE, which offered the passenger side as an option for 1992 and 1993, and standard on 1994 models. The SSEI was the turbo model, and that had dual airbags standard.
The IIHS sequence at 1:30 was shot in the early 90s - they found two of these cars, they were about to be crushed, so they crashed them. The bags worked perfectly.
I was just going to add that until I saw your comment. I thought I saw an Olds dash on his. Wonder if it's the same car. If so, I would have kept the ASSMAN plate.
It's been hit in the passenger side front fender - a lot of good the 5mph bumper did lol. The '69 camaro RS option (hidden headlites) & either 230 or 250 6 cylinder is THE rarest - i have NEVER seen one, but was orderable! Have you? & You could get a '68 caprice with hidden headlites - i only seen ONE my entire life!
The insurance companies told Congress that they could dampen down some predicted insurance premium increases if there was a way to limit the damage from a lot of front of car to back of car slow speed collisions. During the time the 5MPH bumper rule was in force this was true. I witnessed several of those low speed bumper to bumper traffic collisions. Drivers would get out, look underneath, and then drive away with neither car suffering a broken light or permanently damaged metal part. Now if you collide at 2 MPH you end up with $2000+ damages.
I've seen one two 68 Caprices with hideaways and probably eight or so 69 Caprices with hideaways. I saw one 69 Camaro RS convertible with a six banger in poor shape. I've never seen any GM car with the ACRS, have you? BTW, the car in this video is a 73 model, the 5mph bumpers didn't come out til 74
Actually the hidden headlights were a popular option for 68 and 69 Caprices. However there is a lot of dispute as to whether they were available on the Impala SS. They were not, although many owners added them to their Impalas, they bolted right on.
But as with other safety features, as modern cars (within the last 5 years or so) begin to add more and more safety features, (automatic emergency breaking, adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist/lane departure warnings, etc ) you reach a point of fighting a double edged sword. Yes the reduce the number of serious crashes, but on the other hand, they lead drivers, especially young drivers, to become complacent, taking unnecessary risks thinking the safety features in the vehicle will make up for their own ignorance. Ultimately, just like a firearm, a car is only as safe as its driver, and the drivers around it.
We need better driver training. Far too many younger drivers have no decent comprehension of how the limits of tire adhesion affect vehicle control. You see it a lot in the videos of police pursuits of front wheel drive cars. The young drivers don't comprehend how the stock Front Wheel Drive Honda Civic they are using doesn't have the same turning traction at the front tires as the Rear Wheel Drive police pursuit vehicle behind them does at its front tires.
i had one of these.was from city of los angeles said communications on the door. had a phone number to call if airbags deploy.number was not in service.also had a door plate not to be sold property of general motors
@@bradparris99, It was a struggle to get people at the time to even wear a lap belt. The ACRS wasn't intended to be a sole solution to the injuries and fatalities due to frontal collisions. Even the Insurance Institute for highway Safety's members said that the use of lap belts was necessary to maximize the injury and fatally reduction potential of any similar ACRS from any other automobile manufacturer.
@@davidhoffman1278 Those cars equipped with the early air bags only had lap belts as the separate shoulder belts were deleted when the air cushion restraint system was added. As a teenager back then I wore both the lap and separate shoulder belts when I drove the 1970 Buick Electra I had gotten from my grandfather. That's why I would have been nervous in one of the first air cushion restraint system cars that only offered lap belts. I always thought that old Electra drove and handled better with the lap and shoulder belts buckled, plus I just felt more comfortable and secure. And one night after being hit head on by a drunk driver, I can attest that those separate style lap and shoulder belts were quit effective, especially the shoulder belt in preventing injuries or worse. I walked away with only bruises from the belts and minor cuts and scratches.
Not Chevys. Only Caddys, Buicks and Oldsmobiles, and from 1974 through 1976. The airbags in the 73 Chevys were for testing only, not available as an option.
There are a few errors in this film......the GM film says that 1000 GM cars would have airbags...not sure that it's 1000 Chevy impalas with airbags.....clearly, airbags were in Oldsmobile and Buick cars too....secondly, GM DIDN"T put the program on hold after this.....Airbags were offered as an option on Buick, Oldsmobile and Cadillac cars.....not just the full sized cars but also on the Oldsmobile Toronado. That was in the years 1974 and 1975.
+OsbornTramain My pop has a fully loaded 1976 Black on Black Coupe Deville(including Astro roof and vinyl top ) with 2 Airbags and Anti-Skid.....early form of ABS.
The Toronados and Eldorados at the time were definitely full size cars. Almost the same total interior volume as a 2 door 98 or Coupe de Ville. Not having the transmission/drive shaft tunnel was great for comfortable center seat riding, front or back. With proper snow tires they were great winter in Chicago cars.
I had a 1972 Oldsmobile Toronado with the mid-line (at the top of the trunk; below the vinyl landau roof) lights (brake, turning indicator, emergency light set up). It too came with airbags. The 1973 Chevrolet Impala may have been the first mass production car with airbags, but it was not the first with airbags.
You must have had a 74 model. Experimental parts weren't even finished until the first quarter of 73 and the first fleet cars to have the airbags went out in June of 73 and they were all 1973 Chevrolets......or maybe you were on LSD thinking you saw airbags lol
At the time there were fucntional designs for both front and rear occupant compartments to have full width Supplemental Inflatable Restraint Systems to be use in combination with lap belts. If the mandate for the SIRS type systems had not been blocked and delayed we might have ended up with systems like that and no three point seat belts.
Cars had separate lap and shoulder belts before the air cushion restraint system and with that system the shoulder belts were deleted. The shoulder belt would have only been more protection along with the air bag.
the real retrospective question is it better to use air bags instead of 4-point~ seatbelts ( better than nothing as i have driven a older car that is that way and cars with just lap-belts ) in say something like a convertible/hardtop as mounting seatbelts is tricky to do and or more costly to manufacture ect. and what would the technology look like upto today if buckle and or belt-manufacture laws weren't passed but airbags were
The problem that I see with 4 point belts is the center latching device. The locking mechanism on some 4 point belts requires some serious torque to turn it from unlocked to locked or from locked to unlocked. That's a potential problem for arthritis sufferers, seniors etcetera.
my buddy had a 73 Cadillac Coupe Deville (also geen) in college with driver and passenger airbags..was always curious about the history behind that car.
Because where else is it going to come from? The glove box? So the door goes flying in your face before the bag does? Theres nowhere else for it to come from. They were working with a dash that was not intended to have bags shoot out of it when they came up with that dash design 3 years prior.
In this system a knee restraint was deployed first before the main restraint in order to help position the driver or passenger. Shown at 1:10 was the system deploying 100x slower than it would have in a crash.
@@pgtmr2713 The 1973 didn't have airbags either. GM didn't install airbags until the 1974 model years in Buicks, Caddys, & Olds. The only car, prior to the 1974 model year to have factory airbags were the 1973 Impalas, but they were built in 1972. I'm only talking about GM cars. In 1971 Ford offered airbags on fleet cars.
@@olddisneylandtickets Yeah, there's ALWAYS some nonsense story about their Uncle Bob who "special ordered" a Chevrolet with a Cadillac engine, or a 1977 Caprice Classic with a factory 454 - all hot air and pipe dreams, flowing like a river at your neighborhood bar.
It was incredibly advanced and brand new technology for the time. The option was $1000 on a car with a $3500 sticker price. The cars that had this option were actually even sold at a loss from GM.
@@joe6096 I keep reading they were a $1,000. It was only a $250 option. They were offered from 1974 - 1976, on most Caddies & some Buick & Olds models. . No one wanted them, so GM stopped offering them after 1976.
One thing i don’t understand is why there is absolutely zero aftermarket options for airbags for old cars. There definitely should be with the amount of stupid drivers we have on the road today.
What many people do not know is that there were SIRS designs for the rear seat passengers also. It involved a fixed partition between the front and rear occupant compartments that held the rear seat SIRS.
Hi perf vette 350cid. They should've gunned it to see what GM considered HI PERFORMANCE in 73. I saw airbags 1975 full sized Buicks as an option. Ugly ass steering wheels.
twoeightythreez Only two pointers and probably only rear outboard. How many lives did Detroit take and injure as the public had to wait many decades longer than necessary for three pointers, collapsable columns, break away contact points, crumple zones, enhanced roofs, and air bags? Detroit, especially GM, screwed off while our roads were killing fields. The technology was there while Detroit screwed off.
Fairfaxcat They had belts in all seating positions. Yes, only front driver and passenger had 3 point, but it was not any less unsafe than anything else in its era. Collapsible steering columns were standard starting in 1968. US FMVSS were actually among the strictest in the world btw. By 1973 the pillarless hardtop was disappearing due to rollover standards.... so really i dont understand the hate dude. American cars were extremely safe for thier day...and contrary to the popular bias of import fans, they actually handled well, way better than the largest luxury cars from Europe which were still much smaller than US land yachts. The "wallowing, floaty" ride was a result of worn base suspension. Nearly every us automaker had optional heavy duty suspensions available which you obviously never experienced...or your stupid bias would disappear. I never had problems keeping up with miatas with a Buick Roadmaster Estate Wagon with the towing package... lol... They arent NIMBLE, but far from dangerous. The handling was predictable and linear, even if the limits were low.
If some of the drivers had improved as much as vehicle safety has in the past 50 years, we would have nearly zero traffic deaths. Today, cars are thought of as safe and crashes considered survivable. The result is that more and more people apparently drop all inhibitions and act as though they were given carte blanche to drive as recklessly and brainlessly as possible, using their vehicles as battering rams and weapons to intimidate and threaten.
When I first went to the USA in 1997 I was surprised how many drivers never wore seat belts. I was in Nebraska and even myself I started not wearing a seat belt which was silly of me at the time. I am guessing now days the laws in all states require mandatory seat belt use.
@@wx4newengland I knew someone who crashed without a belt. He somehow flipped the 2002 Cavalier over dramatically, and it caught on fire. Hopefully, he was knocked out well enough.
There was a 7-week-old baby killed by the airbag in one of these cars on May 16, 1973. The infant was unbelted and was thrown forward in the crash and was in very close proximity to the airbag when it inflated. The incident did not attract any news until the 1990s, when airbags started becoming common and more children killed by them. After the 1973 crash, it would be 20 years (April 4, 1993) until a child airbag fatality would happen again. If the 5 year old in question was sitting properly and buckled up, I don't think this airbag would kill them, but it would probably do more harm than good. If the kid was unbelted or close to the dash, the airbag absolutely could kill them. Before the airbag fatalities started attracting widespread attention around 1995-1996, most people just assumed that an airbag would help protect a child sitting behind it. "They protect adults, so why not children?" was the reasoning. February 4, 2020 1:01 am
@@rileysmith9843 Actually, most light trucks and some cars still only had driver side airbags in the mid 1990s, and certain light trucks only had driver side airbags into the late 1990s. Some didn't have an airbag at all. The last truck (in the USA) with no airbags was the 1996 Mitsubishi Mighty Max; the last with only a driver airbag was the 1998 Toyota T100. Dual airbags were Federally required starting in the 1998 model year (Sept. 1, 1997) for most vehicles, though pickup trucks got an extra year. That means that they could have legally made a truck with no airbags until August 1998! The first pickup truck with an airbag was the 1994 Dodge Ram in October 1993, and that was just a driver airbag. Most pickup trucks got an airbag in the 1994 or 1995 model year, a few held out until 1996. The first pickup truck with a passenger airbag was the 1995 Ford Ranger, where it was an option. Passenger airbags became standard on almost all trucks in the 1997 or 1998 model year. April 18, 2020 7:44 am
No. Olds did not have the first airbags, nor did GM for that matter. Ford experimented with them on some 1971 fleet models. The very first GM car with airbags were the ones in this video. They were all 1973 Impalas build in 1972. But unlike what the video stated, they were not production cars. They were specially built to test them. From 1974 through 1976, as an option, you could get airbags on most Caddy's and some Buicks & Olds.
The “high performance Corvette 350”. Is actually a 145 hp L65 350 2bbl with single exhaust. Just like every other government fleet Impala at that time.
Good luck getting this 1973 system serviced even by the late 1970s. There may have officially been "1000 cars" built and I'm sure someone will pipe up and say they actually owned one of these cars, but these were more like prototype airbag installations that they actually sold to the public "once in a while" just to get a few out there on the street and hopefully get some crash data on. American car companies are really bad at parts and service support on these "limited production" options.
Well from what I've read they didn't need too much maintenance to keep working properly. Two were tested in crash tests during the 1990s, one had been stored since new and the other was a beater with over 100,000 miles on it. The airbag systems worked perfectly in both cases.
It wasn't that 1,000 cars were built with air bags. GM produced about 1,000 cars with air bags, as a test from 1972 - 1973, before going into production with them from 1974 - 1976. How many, in total, were built I do not know, but those original 1,000 cars were not available to the general public. They were built for fleet use to test the system in real world driving. automotivemileposts.com/cadillac/cadi1974acrs.html
@@EbonyBunny1 Hi there from Sydney< Australia. Just 10,231 new customer purchased vehicles over 3 model years were fitted with them 1974 to '76 where GM sold 19.4 million vehicles for the 3 years, so a very rare option. Available across all five GM brands and only in the senior full size sedans, coupes & wagons, not convertibles and not in the Cadillac series 75 Limousines. They were even an available item to be ordered in an Export specification CKD kit car (completely knocked down) as GM Holden Australia received the cars in pieces to assemble & build as a RHD version to be compliant for sale here in Australia. Our versions have heavier duty wiring to cope with Aussie heat and the brighter higher capacity headlights required by law, also a bigger radiator for cooling and a forward mounted electric cooling fan along with the standard one. But best of all we had NO EPA laws back then for automotive pollution, so we have a FULL POWER 8.2 litr engine fitted, not the awful, hobbled USA home variant, so our Aussie 501 cube Caddy's are more potent than a 60's US muscle car. Post 1968 GMH-A only received 2 such cars, the Buick Riviera and full size Cadillac Fleetwood Broughams. As GMH-A had for late '68 released their own replacement for a Chev Impala or Pontiac Parisienne, The Holden Brougham, a longer more richly trimmed Holden Premier. With a new clean sheet of paper design entirely in 1971, the new name was Holden Statesman in 2 levels, Custom and a higher level deVille. In july 1974 an up-spec ultra-luxury version arrived the Statesman Caprice and when it did there were no more new RHD Buick Riv's, or Caddy Fleetwoods from June '74. My '74 Talisman was completed may 9th '74 so one of the last RHD's built. I have owned now for 40 yrs & 5 months a GMH-A built at Pagewood, Sydney plant '74 Talisman the ultimate range topping Cadilac Fleetwood, not only does it have ACRS, but also Trackmaster abs & traction control system, but also has the roof mounted anti-porpoising pre-tensioning seatbelts too the G-force detectors for the airbags and abs brakes sense a possible hard braking emergency & take up the slack in the shoulder half of the belt, as by anti porpoising (like "fish" ) you cannot wiggle you stomach under the lap half, it locks tight the moment you fasten it. These stop broken ankles, broken lower legs in an impact as you are held firmly in your seat you cannot slide under the lap half and end up in the footwell. The ONLY two options my cars first owner did not want was a sunroof (and I also hate them too) and the goofy external thermometre in the left side exterior mirror. I was 26 years old when I bought it off its original elderly owner in sept 1982 he was 83 years old & suffered a bad stroke, he told me he felt it would be his last new car, and he ordered all the new "high-tech" stuff as he felt if he kept it a while all other new cars by then would have those features and he may need them by then too. But he went all out with the expensive UV light proof glass in every window & even ordered a black ice detection system which has two levels of warning amber flashing light & phase 2 a red light and horrible sound too, a small warming filament in the windscreen wash bottle to always keep the water fluid and not freeze, the GM sentinel security system (immobilizer, siren, strange sequenced opposed flashing of exterior lights)...the list of options just goes on and on and he ordered them all. When I had owned it 10 years & loved & looked after it, I hunted for another but as close as I could find from a deceased estate was an immaculate 19,000 mile female owned '72 white Fleetwood Brougham, which has all the same options as the black '74 Talisman, but has no Trackmaster , or ACRS as were not options available at that time it was built here and completed and road registered by November 8th, 1971. Rarity , here in Australia I have never seen another GM car with ACRS even years when ago parked, in a street or parking station back when US cars were more plentiful on the roads here, or in more recent times at car shows or car shows back 40 years ago. When I have attended shows and taken both the cars, people have clearly seen the different dash in basically an almost identical car, then when looking more closely have seen that it's an airbag wheel and asked questions. I have its original glovebox manual which has a chapter on ACRS, and an Aussie GM RHD service manual for it, so people can see it's a rare but GENUINE factory option. The original invoice for this car in 1974 gives a price that would have paid for a decent standard size family home. Also constructed in a non-production line way at GMH-A Pagewood makes them almost like a bespoke handbuilt car. I had finished high shool & started at uni in 1974 and one of my school mates of 13 years, dad was chief engineer at the Sydney GM Holden factory , so occasionally thru school breaks I'd gone with my mate Keith & his dad to have a look around the factory & I'd seen the 2 x US luxury car brands being built up from kit form as they needed a RHD firewall, dash, steering gear & also a RHD right side exhaust manifold. As the US LHD one is useless as the RHD steering column will not fit past it. When I bought the first one 40 years ago it had a cracked right side RHD manifold that had been poorly repaired as a new one was simply not available when the car was just 8 yrs old. When I looked at it to buy the second time, I took my grandad a retired Industrial engineer he gave me a nudge that he could make me a new one with ease so I bought the car. Whilst he was still alive Pa made me 4 spare manifolds a set of replacements for both cars, after making me the first one, so far, I have not needed them.
@@gregharvie3896 I am jealous you have a Tailisman. Leather or cloth seats. I prefer cloth, but the Leather has to be worth double since they were extremely rare.
@@EbonyBunny1 Hi there, I kind of bought it by default, mine is Black with Gold leather interior (kind of a mustard color) it looks fantastic. Not only is it a Talisman, however it has three rare options aerial mounted pre-tensioning seatbelts, Trackmaster (abs & traction-control) & Air Cushion Restraint System (early GH airbags). In my last years of high school we had moved, however I took a bus 12odd miles to school each morning & back again in the afternoon. When I was waiting to catch it the guy who had the Nissan-Datsun franchise for Australia, New Guinea, & New Zealand used to drop his daughter off in a Sable grey/brown Lincoln Conti' mk3 same as the one in the movie the French Connection, after the may 1971 school holidays he dropped her off in a big new Fleetwood Brougham in "Cambridge red firemist" which is a kind of Rose wine color , with a black Vinyl roof & black leather & fabric interior. The roof shape "made" the car, I just loved the look of the car, it also has extremely curved side glass even by 2023 standards and more curvature in the side glass than a de Ville/ Calais/Eldorado which shared their side glass with other GM brands. I had ordered & bought the premium Australian GM car in late 1980. A Holden Statesman Caprice, virtually an Australian Cadillac, it even uses a host of Cadillac pieces in the cabin and around the car. Painted in the same color as the '71 Caddy, however, GMH Aust' called it Venetian red. It was delivered to me on 15th January 1981, I only had it 22months, when it was stolen. security guards attempted to save it, but one was run down by the second thief in a 4WD. Police caught them but did not find the car. I decided to buy one of the Fleetwood Broughams of 1971 to 1974 as there were genuine Aussie RHD ones available back then years ago, whilst I decided whether to buy yet another big new Holden Statesman. Some months later I decided yes, I would buy another however would use my Black Caddy as my daily drive, so "Ebony Bunny" I have been doing that now for 40 years, the big Black Talisman makes a statement, these are EVERYTHING a classic American car ought to be and then some even more so in classic black. I even still have my second Holden Statesman too, in that same pretty rose wine color as the first one & the '71 Fleetwood. Now , tell me , what do you drive??
Matt clarke,joe sam no it wont. It has two impact arming sensors, amd a g force sensor for firing, just like a modern system. This whole "low tech American car" propaganda makes me laugh when nearly all the stuff was invented here. Everyone thinks Japan made the most modern stuff and likes to make fun of the big old land yachts... when in reality they were jealous that it was possible. btw the Japanese cars of that era were famous for ASSEMBLY QUALITY not tech. they actually wete some of the SIMPLEST cars sold back then.
They were only optional even into the mid 90's , at least for pick up trucks. 🥺 The first vehicle i bought after getting my driver's license, was a blue 1993 Ford Ranger, regular cab, 2WD, bench seat, 4 cylinder engine, 5 speed manual, and it did not have air bags at all. Which was strange because when i was in late Elementary and middle school my mother had a 1991 or 1992 Mercury Sable and i do remember it having a driver only airbag.
Ironically, Chrysler Corp. was the first company to adopt airbags as standard (1989). I am NOT a fan, I hate driving with a bomb in my face! Seatbelts (when used!) are better overall for safety. PS: airbags are no good if the crash ejects you! Buckle up, Baby!
It actually started with the 1988 Dodge Diplomat/Gran Fury/5TH Avenue all had a drivers side airbag. My 1988 5Th avenue and my buddy's 1988 Gran fury also had an airbag in 1988.
Chris Lemaster Yes, In 1988 MorPar did put D.S. Airbags (as standard) in the "M" bodies (Gran Fury, Fifth Avenue, Diplomat) But is was 1989 that Mopar put them in (as standard) on ALL North American built passenger cars.
I certain high speed carshes belt only systems put very high pressure loads on the human body. The SIRS spreads the crash load over a larger area thus reducing the pressure at any point.
Also the first car in an accident, with airbags, was a Chrysler. I do not remember the year, but 2 Chryslers were in a head on collision and both had airbags. That is the first reported accident with a car or cars with airbags.
OK, so because GM was stingy conservative fuck and didn't release it's patent unlike Volvo with the three point seat belt (or make more cars with airbags), that's why this innovation stayed in the wings for 12 years? Because airbags started to become a thing only in the mid-80's. Which would consequently be the time it takes for a patent to become defunct.
First of all GM was not the first car to offer airbags, in the USA. Ford was in 1971 . GM did offer them as an option on certain 1974-1976 cars and few ordered them.
![Rob49 - On Dat Money (with Cardi B) [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/fTFS58mHJh8/mqdefault.jpg)
15 years ago I had come across a complete set of ACRS diagnostic equipment, it was this black plastic suitcase which opened to reveal a brushed aluminum board housing several LED lights, connectors and a manual, listing operation and airbag fault codes. It was a New Old Stock item, still with the US post envelope depicting the address of where it was delivered and other original documentation in truly excellent condition (it was sent to some dealership, and dated 1973). I picked it up for $100.00.
I kept it for a few years, knowing this was an automotive historical rarity. a time came when I wanted to sell it, unsuccessfully. After visiting several forums and other places, seeing there was no interest (much to my surprise) I ended up listing it on eBay and it sold for what I bought it for, $100.00.
To this day I am beating myself upside the head for not keeping this relic. I hope the person who bought it off me realizes what they have.
They actually made many more of those diagnostic kits than the actual cars so there's lots of the kits floating around
@@everyhome9936 Thanks for the info, I just hope it's in a good home because really it was like brand new. People don't realize how advanced those were for the time, I guess costs and the wrong idea you didn't need a seat belt with airbags caused it to initially fail.
@@checazzovoleteOne sold recently at auction in London, it made £175
Not only did GM offer airbags back then, they also had eye level brake lights left and right on the backs of the Oldsmobile Toronado at that point. They also doubled as turning indicators.
Those Tornados were probably more rare than similar Caillac Eldorados.
@@davehoffman3481 Those lights were common, the Buick Riviera had the same thing. I forgot who was the first car to have them, but it wasn't GM. Starting in 1971, I think, the Toronados had them, and in 1974 Buick Rivieras had them.
@@petermartinijr.1012 Cadillac 1980's Deville's Broughams 87- 92 had it also really cool it also had indicators on the top front fenders indicating lights and signals, would let you see if a light was not working pretty neat features, like automatic headlights, high beam indicator automatically turns lights to low beams then back to high beams after passing a vehicle, digital outside temperature reader.
Chrysler-branded cars in the 1940s had a 3rd brake light, but not quite at "eye level"
When GM gets it right, they **really** get it right but their timing is often wrong.
Like the ev1
@@none-qs3sl I think the EV1 was timed very right (for an ideal world, at least) but internal politics and it's high price effectively killed it
They came out with this 15 years ahead of everyone else, but by the late 80's they were mounting "automatic" seatbelts on the doors as a way to skirt the requirement for having an airbag.
I know right? 😂 in the late 1990s when I was a kid my Uncle Frank had a 1990 Cadillac Brougham, at the time I knew that was weird location for seat belts, as far as I know, everyone who rode in the car, just used the belts like manual belts. 3 belts in the front seemed kind of odd, but considering the car was more like an expensive leather sofa on wheels that's understandable. Having to flip the license plate downward to put gas in the car, really fascinating me to say the least.
As I got older I would learn having the gas filler behind the license plate was actually a very common feature for many of the larger bodied GM cars at the time, and that having door mounted belts was short-lived and was actually a federal requirement, and many GM cars from about 1989 to 1993 were like that. When airbags became a requirement shortly afterwards the door mount belts were history
My friend had the same car in the station wagon version. His parents said it was the best car they ever owned!!!
GM refused to install its ACRS in the station wagon versions of the cars. You could get some of the pillarless C-Body and B-body Cadillac , Buick, and Oldsmobile sedans with the ACRS installed
It is not only safe (for that time) and affordable, but it looks nice and rides good.
It easily added 10% to the retail price which could be a deal breaker. That is why the federal government should have stayed firm with the mandate for all car manufacturers to install them. Rain on everyone's parade so that no one car manufacturer would be able to claim they were being descriminated against.
This is news to me. Must me pretty rare to have airbags in the 1970s. Most of what I heard is wasn't till the early 1990s when they began to become standard, although I was told during the early to maybe the mid 1980s you could order as an option on some models, usually the more expensive cars as the technology was so new many people would not trust it to be the life saving technology that we know and love today.
My 88 legend had a driver airbag.
Ironically GM was late to the 90's airbag scene because an airbag plant blew up. Mercedes had them in the early 80's as an option.
my 2007 le cross didn't deploy ( and my understanding is it was theoretical programed to deploy nope it bludgeon me up good and had a gm rep later on say sorry for the recall but was unwilling to accept my injurys ect. from it ) 30-ish mph/rollover but 1st impact was the back-bumper 2st was the front bumper yes they/airbags can fail and yes the car was a 1-owner under warranty still
@@richardprice5978 ,
Yes, an acquaintance of mine from Taiwan bought a new Dodge Omni? Hatchback and a few years later got into a collision in which the airbags didn't deploy .
She didn't like that car very much.
Later I discovered that she had lied to me about her available funds to purchase a car in the USA while attending college in the USA. Turned out her family back in Taiwan had lots of money they would have been ready to give her. She didn't have a $10,000USD car purchasing limit like she told me. She could have gotten $30,000 USD from her parents to purchase a car in the USA. That would have meant she could have gotten the Volvo she said she really would have liked to buy.
fun side fact, one of these 1973 air bag equipped Impalas was supposedly used as Cramer's car in Seinfeld in some episodes.
You are 100% correct, you can even see the airbag in the episode. It has been questioned whether or not the show producers knew that this car was a special vehicle. Either a total coincidence, trying to find the “ugliest” car they could, or they were intentionally giving a nod to Cramer’s idiosyncrasies and of course he would have such a rare car.
I've seen this car at car show in MD - the owner lives local. He was having fun with people explaining the early airbag - but I already knew - the Olds dash giveaway. Edmunds, the car price guide, actually listed it as an RPO option in 1975 & 1976 - $300 - so GM made an effort to sell the system. Listed in 1974 too, but no price. Like the 1956 Ford and seat belts, it was not a hit. At about the same time we were given precursors of ABS too - sure track, max track, etc. Those did not sell either. Heck it wasn't until 1975 that steel belted radials became standard on most GM cars.
If the "special green color" is the color on the car in this clip, it is Paint code 46, Green gold Metallic. I had a 73 Imp in that color. No air bag though. It was one if the best cars I ever owned.
I still have mine.
@@ssan3257 They are great cars. Wish I still had mine but it was totaled years ago in a head on collision. The lap and shoulder belts probably saved my life in the collision. Hopefully you wear both the lap and shoulder belts.
The Green Impala used in Seinfeld was actually an airbag equipped Impala. Automotive History
The Cosmo Kramer car
and the Live and Let Die car too.
ASSMAN
On "Seinfeld", Kramer owned one.
I thought he had the later square body Caprice?
تلي
Wow! What a rare piece of history. What many may not know, was the original reason for the government pushing for airbags. Originally they were to combate low seat belt usage, as practically nobody at the time wore seat belts at the time, hence there were also known as air cushion restraint system. In fact a good number of cars from the late 1980s to early 1990s, did not have airbags just yet, but they had another system, automatic seatbelts. One design had the shoulder belt mounted on a motorized track, and would move around and clip you into place when you closed the door or turn the ignition key. Another type of automatic seatbelts, most commonly found on GM cars from the late 1980s to around 1994, had the seat belts mounted in the front doors. You would slide in underneath, close the door, and voila!! You were buckled up automatically. The reason now airbags are sometimes called "Supplemental Restraint Systems" or "Supplemental Inflatable Restraints " is the fact that airbags are never intended to replace a seatbelt, but rather used in conjunction with a seat belt for maximum safety and effectiveness.
Seat belts were the number one safety feature. The air bag would help in a frontal collision but not in a side impact or roll over.
I had a 73 caprice with this I kept wondering why the dashboard resembled an old's delta 88
You did great considering they didn't put this in the Caprices.
I seen it before too very awkward at one point
If you bought the car new, you were safety conscious ahead of your time. Hopefully you buckled your lap belt.
The video's information wasn't spotless, but it's very interesting to see that this car still existed at the making of this particular video, which by no means looks made for RUclips.
I have also seen a video crash test of a 1972 Corvette with airbags here on RUclips, now I can’t find it.
Maybe because no 1972 Corvette had airbags, at least not from GM.
@@petermartinijr.1012 Nope, never available on Corvette in the first offering. It is a test vehicle. I did manage to find the clip: ruclips.net/video/4nKDCZoTSOw/видео.html.
These 1,000 Impalas were not the only cars equipped with the ACRS system, in fact they were less than 10% of the total ACRS production. ACRS was a regular production option on some 1974-1976 Buick, Oldsmobile, and Cadillac vehicles, and 10,000 were made. The 1973 Impalas, built in late 1972, were the first airbag equipped vehicles made that saw widespread use on the road, but they were all sold to government fleets. Production on the Buick, Oldsmobile, and Cadillac vehicles equipped with ACRS began in December 1973, and they were the first vehicles with airbags that could be purchased new by the general public. The ACRS was discontinued after the 1976 model year, when the cars they were in were redesigned for 1977. The new body style had a better structure for crash energy management but no provision for airbags.
It would be about 11 years before GM would offer airbags again, in November 1987 on the 1988 model Oldsmobile 98. This was a driver-only airbag system, as opposed to the dual airbag ACRS system. IIRC, GM wouldn't offer a dual airbag system again until late 1991 with the redesigned 1992 Pontiac Bonneville.
The dual-stage deployment of the ACRS passenger airbag is common among vehicles from the mid-2000s and later, although modern systems are employed on both the driver and passenger sides, take into account far more variables and can actually shut off the passenger airbag if there's not enough weight on the seat. Dual-stage airbag systems didn't come back out on any GM vehicles until the 2001 model year.
February 4, 2020 12:39 am
I had heard about airbags on GM cars back then, but always wonder what it looked like. Now I know. Now what you mentioned about the 1992 Pontiac Bonneville offering dual airbags before other cars getting dual airbags between 1994 and 1997, I got a used 1992 Pontiac Bonneville with dual airbags. The SE was driver side only until 1994. I had the SSE, which offered the passenger side as an option for 1992 and 1993, and standard on 1994 models. The SSEI was the turbo model, and that had dual airbags standard.
The IIHS sequence at 1:30 was shot in the early 90s - they found two of these cars, they were about to be crushed, so they crashed them. The bags worked perfectly.
Very interesting video! Had no idea about this!
Pretty sure Kramer had one of these in Seinfeld.
Gitty Up
I was just going to add that until I saw your comment. I thought I saw an Olds dash on his. Wonder if it's the same car. If so, I would have kept the ASSMAN plate.
ive seen one or two oldsmobiles for sale with the acrs on ebay in the past year or two
It's been hit in the passenger side front fender - a lot of good the 5mph bumper did lol.
The '69 camaro RS option (hidden headlites) & either 230 or 250 6 cylinder is THE rarest - i have NEVER seen one, but was orderable! Have you?
& You could get a '68 caprice with hidden headlites - i only seen ONE my entire life!
The insurance companies told Congress that they could dampen down some predicted insurance premium increases if there was a way to limit the damage from a lot of front of car to back of car slow speed collisions. During the time the 5MPH bumper rule was in force this was true. I witnessed several of those low speed bumper to bumper traffic collisions. Drivers would get out, look underneath, and then drive away with neither car suffering a broken light or permanently damaged metal part. Now if you collide at 2 MPH you end up with $2000+ damages.
I've seen one two 68 Caprices with hideaways and probably eight or so 69 Caprices with hideaways. I saw one 69 Camaro RS convertible with a six banger in poor shape. I've never seen any GM car with the ACRS, have you? BTW, the car in this video is a 73 model, the 5mph bumpers didn't come out til 74
Actually the hidden headlights were a popular option for 68 and 69 Caprices. However there is a lot of dispute as to whether they were available on the Impala SS. They were not, although many owners added them to their Impalas, they bolted right on.
But as with other safety features, as modern cars (within the last 5 years or so) begin to add more and more safety features, (automatic emergency breaking, adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist/lane departure warnings, etc ) you reach a point of fighting a double edged sword. Yes the reduce the number of serious crashes, but on the other hand, they lead drivers, especially young drivers, to become complacent, taking unnecessary risks thinking the safety features in the vehicle will make up for their own ignorance. Ultimately, just like a firearm, a car is only as safe as its driver, and the drivers around it.
We need better driver training.
Far too many younger drivers have no decent comprehension of how the limits of tire adhesion affect vehicle control. You see it a lot in the videos of police pursuits of front wheel drive cars. The young drivers don't comprehend how the stock Front Wheel Drive Honda Civic they are using doesn't have the same turning traction at the front tires as the Rear Wheel Drive police pursuit vehicle behind them does at its front tires.
I think driving is seen now as more a "right" than a privilege..
i had one of these.was from city of los angeles said communications on the door. had a phone number to call if airbags deploy.number was not in service.also had a door plate not to be sold property of general motors
I would have been nervous to drive a car with only a lap belt.
@@bradparris99,
It was a struggle to get people at the time to even wear a lap belt. The ACRS wasn't intended to be a sole solution to the injuries and fatalities due to frontal collisions.
Even the Insurance Institute for highway Safety's members said that the use of lap belts was necessary to maximize the injury and fatally reduction potential of any similar ACRS from any other automobile manufacturer.
@@davidhoffman1278 Those cars equipped with the early air bags only had lap belts as the separate shoulder belts were deleted when the air cushion restraint system was added. As a teenager back then I wore both the lap and separate shoulder belts when I drove the 1970 Buick Electra I had gotten from my grandfather. That's why I would have been nervous in one of the first air cushion restraint system cars that only offered lap belts. I always thought that old Electra drove and handled better with the lap and shoulder belts buckled, plus I just felt more comfortable and secure. And one night after being hit head on by a drunk driver, I can attest that those separate style lap and shoulder belts were quit effective, especially the shoulder belt in preventing injuries or worse. I walked away with only bruises from the belts and minor cuts and scratches.
Those are massive airbags
Remember, that the passenger side system had to protect a possible center seat passenger sitting on the split bench seat.
These cars must be rare as hell now....I wonder how many have survived?
Anthony 5 and 4 of them are in a museum
First production car with airbag :)
Uhh Volvo Found Seatbelts not Chevrolet
Nope 👎 The oldmoblie toronado had the first airbags
@@originalpadoru
What year?
Somewhere in the eighties or seventies or sixties lol
Quadra [GMD] for what
Oldsmobile was the first passenger car to offer airbags.
The ACRS was only available on all full size 1973 and 1974 Chevrolets, Cadillacs, Buicks and Oldsmobiles as an option.
Not Chevys. Only Caddys, Buicks and Oldsmobiles, and from 1974 through 1976. The airbags in the 73 Chevys were for testing only, not available as an option.
There are a few errors in this film......the GM film says that 1000 GM cars would have airbags...not sure that it's 1000 Chevy impalas with airbags.....clearly, airbags were in Oldsmobile and Buick cars too....secondly, GM DIDN"T put the program on hold after this.....Airbags were offered as an option on Buick, Oldsmobile and Cadillac cars.....not just the full sized cars but also on the Oldsmobile Toronado. That was in the years 1974 and 1975.
+OsbornTramain
My pop has a fully loaded 1976 Black on Black Coupe Deville(including Astro roof and vinyl top ) with 2 Airbags and Anti-Skid.....early form of ABS.
D McNamara
Put some pictures of the black Caddy. I know it's a beauty
It's on RUclips, it must be true. Seriously though, I hate when fuckers put these videos together and then give the wrong info.
OsbornTramain 1000 Chevrolet Impalas with ARS
The Toronados and Eldorados at the time were definitely full size cars. Almost the same total interior volume as a 2 door 98 or Coupe de Ville. Not having the transmission/drive shaft tunnel was great for comfortable center seat riding, front or back. With proper snow tires they were great winter in Chicago cars.
I had a 1972 Oldsmobile Toronado with the mid-line (at the top of the trunk; below the vinyl landau roof) lights (brake, turning indicator, emergency light set up). It too came with airbags.
The 1973 Chevrolet Impala may have been the first mass production car with airbags, but it was not the first with airbags.
Did you wear a seat belt back then?
You must have had a 74 model. Experimental parts weren't even finished until the first quarter of 73 and the first fleet cars to have the airbags went out in June of 73 and they were all 1973 Chevrolets......or maybe you were on LSD thinking you saw airbags lol
Nice Impala
Kramer’s car sent me here
This was the first year for the 'uniset' points & condenser inside the distributor.
I love how giant they are in that car lmao
The system was designed to provide some protection to a possible passenger sitting in the center of the bench seat position.
At the time there were fucntional designs for both front and rear occupant compartments to have full width Supplemental Inflatable Restraint Systems to be use in combination with lap belts. If the mandate for the SIRS type systems had not been blocked and delayed we might have ended up with systems like that and no three point seat belts.
Cars had separate lap and shoulder belts before the air cushion restraint system and with that system the shoulder belts were deleted. The shoulder belt would have only been more protection along with the air bag.
the real retrospective question is it better to use air bags instead of 4-point~ seatbelts ( better than nothing as i have driven a older car that is that way and cars with just lap-belts ) in say something like a convertible/hardtop as mounting seatbelts is tricky to do and or more costly to manufacture ect. and what would the technology look like upto today if buckle and or belt-manufacture laws weren't passed but airbags were
The problem that I see with 4 point belts is the center latching device. The locking mechanism on some 4 point belts requires some serious torque to turn it from unlocked to locked or from locked to unlocked. That's a potential problem for arthritis sufferers, seniors etcetera.
my buddy had a 73 Cadillac Coupe Deville (also geen) in college with driver and passenger airbags..was always curious about the history behind that car.
I bet he didn't wear a even the lap belt much less the shoulder belt.
74 was the first for the liquid chains for the snow.located on the top of the rear wheel.
Liquid chains?
@@davidhoffman1278 it was a spray that they had. two cans one can per side above the tires to spray on tire to melt ice.
Actuaĺly, liquid tire chains were available on the '69 Camaro.
@@jonathanmorrisey5771 the 1969 caprice also. I’m sure about the Impala.
Soooooo cool
Can I buy it
1:10 why does the passenger airbag deploy from the knee not from the dash
Because where else is it going to come from? The glove box? So the door goes flying in your face before the bag does? Theres nowhere else for it to come from. They were working with a dash that was not intended to have bags shoot out of it when they came up with that dash design 3 years prior.
In this system a knee restraint was deployed first before the main restraint in order to help position the driver or passenger. Shown at 1:10 was the system deploying 100x slower than it would have in a crash.
Haha
Was this the same system as in the Oldsmobile Toronado from 69?
Considering in 1969 Olds did not have airbags, I would say no.
@@petermartinijr.1012 1973 Toronado... I was close.
@@pgtmr2713 The 1973 didn't have airbags either. GM didn't install airbags until the 1974 model years in Buicks, Caddys, & Olds. The only car, prior to the 1974 model year to have factory airbags were the 1973 Impalas, but they were built in 1972.
I'm only talking about GM cars. In 1971 Ford offered airbags on fleet cars.
Body by Fisher
At high speeds that airbags not stopping anything
Geez we had to wait years for dual airbags and advanced airbags, but GM had both from the beginning in early 70's! 👍
If they just perfected this then we would still have front split bench seating🏟️
The car did not get a corvette engine. It got the basic 350
That did seem rather dubious that these test models got the vette 350, that would make them more expensive and have nothing to do with the air bags.
@@olddisneylandtickets Yeah, there's ALWAYS some nonsense story about their Uncle Bob who "special ordered" a Chevrolet with a Cadillac engine, or a 1977 Caprice Classic with a factory 454 - all hot air and pipe dreams, flowing like a river at your neighborhood bar.
I want one can I buy it
América cria e os alemães aperfeiçoa.
They should have made ACRS STANDARD on all '73 cars!!!
It was incredibly advanced and brand new technology for the time. The option was $1000 on a car with a $3500 sticker price. The cars that had this option were actually even sold at a loss from GM.
@@joe6096 I keep reading they were a $1,000. It was only a $250 option. They were offered from 1974 - 1976, on most Caddies & some Buick & Olds models. . No one wanted them, so GM stopped offering them after 1976.
1:10 big airbag
Parece o carro de homer Simpson.
One thing i don’t understand is why there is absolutely zero aftermarket options for airbags for old cars. There definitely should be with the amount of stupid drivers we have on the road today.
The only aftermarket airbag development I read about was for the steering wheel only. It was a mechanically activated system.
Just imagine how many injuries and deaths could have been prevented in cars had these been mandated.
What many people do not know is that there were SIRS designs for the rear seat passengers also. It involved a fixed partition between the front and rear occupant compartments that held the rear seat SIRS.
Cool story.
They should make cars like this again they had real style not round like today's piece of shit cars
Hi perf vette 350cid. They should've gunned it to see what GM considered HI PERFORMANCE in 73.
I saw airbags 1975 full sized Buicks as an option. Ugly ass steering wheels.
chevy always first in my book
No seatbelts but three airbags.. That doesn't make any sense
They had lap belts.
by 1973 cars had lap and shoulder belts, but next to nobody wore seat belts yet
Dortsingans Dradinedum American cars were required to have seat belts in all seating positions starting 1966. try again.
twoeightythreez Only two pointers and probably only rear outboard. How many lives did Detroit take and injure as the public had to wait many decades longer than necessary for three pointers, collapsable columns, break away contact points, crumple zones, enhanced roofs, and air bags? Detroit, especially GM, screwed off while our roads were killing fields. The technology was there while Detroit screwed off.
Fairfaxcat
They had belts in all seating positions. Yes, only front driver and passenger had 3 point, but it was not any less unsafe than anything else in its era.
Collapsible steering columns were standard starting in 1968.
US FMVSS were actually among the strictest in the world btw.
By 1973 the pillarless hardtop was disappearing due to rollover standards....
so really i dont understand the hate dude. American cars were extremely safe for thier day...and contrary to the popular bias of import fans, they actually handled well, way better than the largest luxury cars from Europe which were still much smaller than US land yachts.
The "wallowing, floaty" ride was a result of worn base suspension. Nearly every us automaker had optional heavy duty suspensions available which you obviously never experienced...or your stupid bias would disappear.
I never had problems keeping up with miatas with a Buick Roadmaster Estate Wagon with the towing package... lol...
They arent NIMBLE, but far from dangerous. The handling was predictable and linear, even if the limits were low.
If some of the drivers had improved as much as vehicle safety has in the past 50 years, we would have nearly zero traffic deaths. Today, cars are thought of as safe and crashes considered survivable. The result is that more and more people apparently drop all inhibitions and act as though they were given carte blanche to drive as recklessly and brainlessly as possible, using their vehicles as battering rams and weapons to intimidate and threaten.
Why does the airbags take so long
Kenji Lol because it was slowed down. He said that in the video.
Ooooooh, lol, thanks
Even at full speed it takes long
The airbag is developed because the public refuse to wear a seatbelt !
mercedes benz actually, you still need to wear a seatbelt for the airbag to work at its full potential.
True! Sadly, airbags often lead people to NOT use their seatbelts! of course that's stupid, but stupid people drive.
Folks still refuse to use seatbelt. A lot people fear they will get trapped.
When I first went to the USA in 1997 I was surprised how many drivers never wore seat belts. I was in Nebraska and even myself I started not wearing a seat belt which was silly of me at the time. I am guessing now days the laws in all states require mandatory seat belt use.
@@wx4newengland I knew someone who crashed without a belt. He somehow flipped the 2002 Cavalier over dramatically, and it caught on fire. Hopefully, he was knocked out well enough.
Kramer's car
Imagine being 5 years old in one of these getting into a accident
There was a 7-week-old baby killed by the airbag in one of these cars on May 16, 1973. The infant was unbelted and was thrown forward in the crash and was in very close proximity to the airbag when it inflated. The incident did not attract any news until the 1990s, when airbags started becoming common and more children killed by them. After the 1973 crash, it would be 20 years (April 4, 1993) until a child airbag fatality would happen again.
If the 5 year old in question was sitting properly and buckled up, I don't think this airbag would kill them, but it would probably do more harm than good. If the kid was unbelted or close to the dash, the airbag absolutely could kill them.
Before the airbag fatalities started attracting widespread attention around 1995-1996, most people just assumed that an airbag would help protect a child sitting behind it. "They protect adults, so why not children?" was the reasoning.
February 4, 2020 1:01 am
whattheheck1000 In the mid-1990s certain light trucks had only driver side airbags.
@@rileysmith9843 Actually, most light trucks and some cars still only had driver side airbags in the mid 1990s, and certain light trucks only had driver side airbags into the late 1990s. Some didn't have an airbag at all. The last truck (in the USA) with no airbags was the 1996 Mitsubishi Mighty Max; the last with only a driver airbag was the 1998 Toyota T100. Dual airbags were Federally required starting in the 1998 model year (Sept. 1, 1997) for most vehicles, though pickup trucks got an extra year. That means that they could have legally made a truck with no airbags until August 1998!
The first pickup truck with an airbag was the 1994 Dodge Ram in October 1993, and that was just a driver airbag. Most pickup trucks got an airbag in the 1994 or 1995 model year, a few held out until 1996. The first pickup truck with a passenger airbag was the 1995 Ford Ranger, where it was an option. Passenger airbags became standard on almost all trucks in the 1997 or 1998 model year.
April 18, 2020 7:44 am
whattheheck1000 the last SUV with no airbags in the American market was the Land Rover Defender.
Oldsmobile had it 1st. Then GM used it in other makes and models such as Chevy Impala
No. Olds did not have the first airbags, nor did GM for that matter. Ford experimented with them on some 1971 fleet models. The very first GM car with airbags were the ones in this video. They were all 1973 Impalas build in 1972. But unlike what the video stated, they were not production cars. They were specially built to test them. From 1974 through 1976, as an option, you could get airbags on most Caddy's and some Buicks & Olds.
The “high performance Corvette 350”. Is actually a 145 hp L65 350 2bbl with single exhaust. Just like every other government fleet Impala at that time.
Really? That sucks. How do you know that?
Good luck getting this 1973 system serviced even by the late 1970s. There may have officially been "1000 cars" built and I'm sure someone will pipe up and say they actually owned one of these cars, but these were more like prototype airbag installations that they actually sold to the public "once in a while" just to get a few out there on the street and hopefully get some crash data on. American car companies are really bad at parts and service support on these "limited production" options.
Well from what I've read they didn't need too much maintenance to keep working properly. Two were tested in crash tests during the 1990s, one had been stored since new and the other was a beater with over 100,000 miles on it. The airbag systems worked perfectly in both cases.
It wasn't that 1,000 cars were built with air bags. GM produced about 1,000 cars with air bags, as a test from 1972 - 1973, before going into production with them from 1974 - 1976. How many, in total, were built I do not know, but those original 1,000 cars were not available to the general public. They were built for fleet use to test the system in real world driving.
automotivemileposts.com/cadillac/cadi1974acrs.html
@@EbonyBunny1 Hi there from Sydney< Australia. Just 10,231 new customer purchased vehicles over 3 model years were fitted with them 1974 to '76 where GM sold 19.4 million vehicles for the 3 years, so a very rare option. Available across all five GM brands and only in the senior full size sedans, coupes & wagons, not convertibles and not in the Cadillac series 75 Limousines.
They were even an available item to be ordered in an Export specification CKD kit car (completely knocked down) as GM Holden Australia received the cars in pieces to assemble & build as a RHD version to be compliant for sale here in Australia. Our versions have heavier duty wiring to cope with Aussie heat and the brighter higher capacity headlights required by law, also a bigger radiator for cooling and a forward mounted electric cooling fan along with the standard one. But best of all we had NO EPA laws back then for automotive pollution, so we have a FULL POWER 8.2 litr engine fitted, not the awful, hobbled USA home variant, so our Aussie 501 cube Caddy's are more potent than a 60's US muscle car. Post 1968 GMH-A only received 2 such cars, the Buick Riviera and full size Cadillac Fleetwood Broughams. As GMH-A had for late '68 released their own replacement for a Chev Impala or Pontiac Parisienne, The Holden Brougham, a longer more richly trimmed Holden Premier. With a new clean sheet of paper design entirely in 1971, the new name was Holden Statesman in 2 levels, Custom and a higher level deVille. In july 1974 an up-spec ultra-luxury version arrived the Statesman Caprice and when it did there were no more new RHD Buick Riv's, or Caddy Fleetwoods from June '74. My '74 Talisman was completed may 9th '74 so one of the last RHD's built.
I have owned now for 40 yrs & 5 months a GMH-A built at Pagewood, Sydney plant '74 Talisman the ultimate range topping Cadilac Fleetwood, not only does it have ACRS, but also Trackmaster abs & traction control system, but also has the roof mounted anti-porpoising pre-tensioning seatbelts too the G-force detectors for the airbags and abs brakes sense a possible hard braking emergency & take up the slack in the shoulder half of the belt, as by anti porpoising (like "fish" ) you cannot wiggle you stomach under the lap half, it locks tight the moment you fasten it. These stop broken ankles, broken lower legs in an impact as you are held firmly in your seat you cannot slide under the lap half and end up in the footwell. The ONLY two options my cars first owner did not want was a sunroof (and I also hate them too) and the goofy external thermometre in the left side exterior mirror. I was 26 years old when I bought it off its original elderly owner in sept 1982 he was 83 years old & suffered a bad stroke, he told me he felt it would be his last new car, and he ordered all the new "high-tech" stuff as he felt if he kept it a while all other new cars by then would have those features and he may need them by then too. But he went all out with the expensive UV light proof glass in every window & even ordered a black ice detection system which has two levels of warning amber flashing light & phase 2 a red light and horrible sound too, a small warming filament in the windscreen wash bottle to always keep the water fluid and not freeze, the GM sentinel security system (immobilizer, siren, strange sequenced opposed flashing of exterior lights)...the list of options just goes on and on and he ordered them all. When I had owned it 10 years & loved & looked after it, I hunted for another but as close as I could find from a deceased estate was an immaculate 19,000 mile female owned '72 white Fleetwood Brougham, which has all the same options as the black '74 Talisman, but has no Trackmaster , or ACRS as were not options available at that time it was built here and completed and road registered by November 8th, 1971.
Rarity , here in Australia I have never seen another GM car with ACRS even years when ago parked, in a street or parking station back when US cars were more plentiful on the roads here, or in more recent times at car shows or car shows back 40 years ago. When I have attended shows and taken both the cars, people have clearly seen the different dash in basically an almost identical car, then when looking more closely have seen that it's an airbag wheel and asked questions. I have its original glovebox manual which has a chapter on ACRS, and an Aussie GM RHD service manual for it, so people can see it's a rare but GENUINE factory option. The original invoice for this car in 1974 gives a price that would have paid for a decent standard size family home. Also constructed in a non-production line way at GMH-A Pagewood makes them almost like a bespoke handbuilt car. I had finished high shool & started at uni in 1974 and one of my school mates of 13 years, dad was chief engineer at the Sydney GM Holden factory , so occasionally thru school breaks I'd gone with my mate Keith & his dad to have a look around the factory & I'd seen the 2 x US luxury car brands being built up from kit form as they needed a RHD firewall, dash, steering gear & also a RHD right side exhaust manifold. As the US LHD one is useless as the RHD steering column will not fit past it. When I bought the first one 40 years ago it had a cracked right side RHD manifold that had been poorly repaired as a new one was simply not available when the car was just 8 yrs old. When I looked at it to buy the second time, I took my grandad a retired Industrial engineer he gave me a nudge that he could make me a new one with ease so I bought the car. Whilst he was still alive Pa made me 4 spare manifolds a set of replacements for both cars, after making me the first one, so far, I have not needed them.
@@gregharvie3896 I am jealous you have a Tailisman. Leather or cloth seats. I prefer cloth, but the Leather has to be worth double since they were extremely rare.
@@EbonyBunny1 Hi there, I kind of bought it by default, mine is Black with Gold leather interior (kind of a mustard color) it looks fantastic. Not only is it a Talisman, however it has three rare options aerial mounted pre-tensioning seatbelts, Trackmaster (abs & traction-control) & Air Cushion Restraint System (early GH airbags). In my last years of high school we had moved, however I took a bus 12odd miles to school each morning & back again in the afternoon. When I was waiting to catch it the guy who had the Nissan-Datsun franchise for Australia, New Guinea, & New Zealand used to drop his daughter off in a Sable grey/brown Lincoln Conti' mk3 same as the one in the movie the French Connection, after the may 1971 school holidays he dropped her off in a big new Fleetwood Brougham in "Cambridge red firemist" which is a kind of Rose wine color , with a black Vinyl roof & black leather & fabric interior. The roof shape "made" the car, I just loved the look of the car, it also has extremely curved side glass even by 2023 standards and more curvature in the side glass than a de Ville/ Calais/Eldorado which shared their side glass with other GM brands.
I had ordered & bought the premium Australian GM car in late 1980. A Holden Statesman Caprice, virtually an Australian Cadillac, it even uses a host of Cadillac pieces in the cabin and around the car. Painted in the same color as the '71 Caddy, however, GMH Aust' called it Venetian red. It was delivered to me on 15th January 1981, I only had it 22months, when it was stolen. security guards attempted to save it, but one was run down by the second thief in a 4WD. Police caught them but did not find the car. I decided to buy one of the Fleetwood Broughams of 1971 to 1974 as there were genuine Aussie RHD ones available back then years ago, whilst I decided whether to buy yet another big new Holden Statesman. Some months later I decided yes, I would buy another however would use my Black Caddy as my daily drive, so "Ebony Bunny" I have been doing that now for 40 years, the big Black Talisman makes a statement, these are EVERYTHING a classic American car ought to be and then some even more so in classic black. I even still have my second Holden Statesman too, in that same pretty rose wine color as the first one & the '71 Fleetwood.
Now , tell me , what do you drive??
Airbags BEFORE airbags. It didn't really went common until the 1990s. Those were prototype uses, and they failed.
give it a bang on the bumper because it is a old car the airbag will come out
Matt clarke,joe sam no it wont. It has two impact arming sensors, amd a g force sensor for firing, just like a modern system. This whole "low tech American car" propaganda makes me laugh when nearly all the stuff was invented here. Everyone thinks Japan made the most modern stuff and likes to make fun of the big old land yachts... when in reality they were jealous that it was possible. btw the Japanese cars of that era were famous for ASSEMBLY QUALITY not tech. they actually wete some of the SIMPLEST cars sold back then.
So you mean to tell me out of the 1000 1973 Chevy impala with safety airbags there’s only one left ??? SMH 🤦♂️
Like any good product GM produced they discontinued immediately. Like the Corvair, EEV-1 and Fiero.
Airbags in 1970s cars as an option. Thank God that today's traffic safety laws made having an airbag as a mandated standard.
They were only optional even into the mid 90's , at least for pick up trucks. 🥺 The first vehicle i bought after getting my driver's license, was a blue 1993 Ford Ranger, regular cab, 2WD, bench seat, 4 cylinder engine, 5 speed manual, and it did not have air bags at all. Which was strange because when i was in late Elementary and middle school my mother had a 1991 or 1992 Mercury Sable and i do remember it having a driver only airbag.
They were actually optional on 1974-76 Olds-Buicks-Cadillacs.
At a price of $1000, not many were sold.
@@jonathanmorrisey5771 They were $250 not $1,000.
Ironically, Chrysler Corp. was the first company to adopt airbags as standard (1989). I am NOT a fan, I hate driving with a bomb in my face! Seatbelts (when used!) are better overall for safety. PS: airbags are no good if the crash ejects you! Buckle up, Baby!
It actually started with the 1988 Dodge Diplomat/Gran Fury/5TH Avenue all had a drivers side airbag. My 1988 5Th avenue and my buddy's 1988 Gran fury also had an airbag in 1988.
Chris Lemaster Yes, In 1988 MorPar did put D.S. Airbags (as standard) in the "M" bodies (Gran Fury, Fifth Avenue, Diplomat) But is was 1989 that Mopar put them in (as standard) on ALL North American built passenger cars.
I certain high speed carshes belt only systems put very high pressure loads on the human body. The SIRS spreads the crash load over a larger area thus reducing the pressure at any point.
Also the first car in an accident, with airbags, was a Chrysler. I do not remember the year, but 2 Chryslers were in a head on collision and both had airbags. That is the first reported accident with a car or cars with airbags.
Too bad GM is now behind Toyota in safety now. SAD!
Airbags only come on the LX model. I'm sorry, but you don't have the credit for that...
OK, so because GM was stingy conservative fuck and didn't release it's patent unlike Volvo with the three point seat belt (or make more cars with airbags), that's why this innovation stayed in the wings for 12 years? Because airbags started to become a thing only in the mid-80's. Which would consequently be the time it takes for a patent to become defunct.
First of all GM was not the first car to offer airbags, in the USA. Ford was in 1971 . GM did offer them as an option on certain 1974-1976 cars and few ordered them.