This has been a fun diversion...
There are many more serious injuries from auto accidents that used to be fatalities. Even minor accidents 50 years ago would be fatal depending on how you hit the windshield with your head or how you were ejected from the vehicle. Even today, you hear the usual weekend reports of teens in accidents and the minute you hear, "two were ejected from the vehicle and were dead", you immediately know that the idiots didn't have their seat belts on. Some would argue that it's natural selection. My kids were trained that the car didn't start unless everyone was belted. They, as teen drivers, enforced that with their friends.
It's also interesting that many of the technical advances in auto engines today were developed out of aircraft and diesel engine technology from the 40s. Overhead cams, roller lifters, fuel injection, turbo-chargers, all were WWII developments. Even fuel injection. The only really modern development is the application of computers to control everything. That's the part that took it out of the hands of the backyard mechanic. It's also maybe a reason why there's such a draw about restoring old cars since the technology is manageable by people without $10,000 worth of computerized diagnostic equipment.
Incidentally, I taught Power Technology in Jr and senior high in my early career. We fixed gas and diesel. I even had a gas turbine auxiliary power unit donated by the US Navy. The was between 1968 and 1975, and the pollution control equipment was starting to destroy engine performance before they figured out how to get clean burn, high efficiency, and high horsepower all at the same time. It looked bleak for a while, but then the Japanese invasion really hit, upped the competition and Detroit had to get their act together or else.
Even engine assembly... how many people have seen a car burning oil lately? Pistons are fitted digitally so the cylinder bore size and piston size is matched, ergo, no more "loose or tight" engines. Metallurgy has evolved so aluminum blocks are the norm, not the exception. Both the Acura and the Buick have spectacular engines. Both have variable valve timing. The Buick is even more high tech with direct (think diesel) injection. 303 HP out of a medium-sized V6. You needed a pretty robust V8 in the 50s to get that.
And Lee, I would love a Chevy Volt. With the limited driving I now do in the Acura, I would never have to add a drop of gas. I'd need to burn it just so it wouldn't get stale in the tank.
