How well do you figure this product worked back in the day?

[True Dough]

[Phoenix61]

1. In the days before seatbelts it was better than nothing.nt

[True Dough]

2. And still

a major hazard in itself!

[Ritabert]

3. It's a miracle we all survived the days of no seatbelts.

My father would pack all six of us into the station wagon and drive up into the mountains. No seat belts and few guardrails.

[Ocelot II]

4. Maybe a little better than my mom's arm,

which she threw across whatever kid or sack of groceries that was in the passenger seat when she stopped the car suddenly.

[True Dough]

5. I did that once!

My wife and I got into a rollover accident about 20 years ago. Both of us were wearing our seatbelts, but I instinctively (and meaninglessly) still threw my arm in front of her as if to protect her while we were going over and over.

Who says chauvinism is dead? At least we aren't! Thanks, seatbelts!

[Intractable]

6. Ummm, I think the word you want is "chivalry."

But your particular word substitution is really funny.

[True Dough]

7. I'm glad you see it that way. It was intended to be chivalrous!

But my wife is a feminist and I'm lucky she didn't shove my arm away and tell me she didn't need me to save her like a chauvinistic fool.

[JoseBalow]

16. That's my move!

[hlthe2b]

8. Well, at least the cars during that time were built like tanks so they had that going for them...

Looks like the minimalist dog seatbelts--though even they are better designed now with seats even for large dogs available.

[walkingman]

10. They really were (built like tanks), my 46 Ford is an example...

You could take a hammer and barely dent it. Today's "boss hog" trucks are lots of HP covered by a plastic or aluminum shell and a computer more powerful than the original Apollo spacecraft.

[hlthe2b]

12. That's pretty cool!

[Jerry2144]

11. they were built like tanks

and didn't collapse to absorb the energy of impact. All that energy and those forces went directly to the meat bags sitting inside the crumple-proof car. Today's cars are designed to absorb as much energy as possible so less energy gets put into the flesh inside. The downside it you hit a mosquito and the car is destroyed.

[chouchou]

9. If there was such a contraption nowadays..

..it would cost 49.97 at your local department store.
(Child not warranty)

[wnylib]

13. My parents had a 1949 Ford until 1955 when they traded it in for a new car.

I remember the running board on the side and a hump that ran through the middle of the back seat floor on the inside.

I used to stand on the hump in order to see where we were going. If the car stopped quickly or turned sharply, my brothers (both older than me) grabbed me to keep me from falling.

My parents repeatedly told me to sit, but I always got back onto the hump in order to see better until they solved it by making my brothers take turns giving up a side window seat.

[Ocelot II]

14. We had a Ford sedan, I think it was a 1948, that had suicide doors.

I have no recollection of the incident, but I was told much later that while I was riding in the back seat, one of the doors opened suddenly and my mother had to grab me to keep me from falling out. The only things I remember about that car was that it was big and gray and there was a running board.

[wnylib]

15. That happened to my younger sister who was

almost 3 by the time we got a newer car.

My father turned onto a state highway from a rural county road and the door flew open. I was next to my sister and grabbed her, but could not reach the door. One brother reached over us and got the door while the other brother held the first one to anchor him.

This all happened quickly while we simultaneously yelled at my father to stop the car.

When we got the door closed and locked, my sister and I were placed in the middle, between my brothers and we all linked arms in case the door opened again and so we could use combined strength to rein in one of the boys.

We were on our way home in the city from a visit to my grandparents' farm.

We got the newer car not long after that.

Remember the straps that hung up high on both sides of the interior? They were for grabbing onto to steady yourself on turns.

[Niagara]

17. My parents had a 73 caprice classic

My usual place was in the backseat.

I didn't really sit most of the time, I stood up. My left foot on the left side of the hump, my right foot on the right side of the hump.

Although I really wasn't a backseat driver, I just wanted to see where we were going. I didn't have any siblings to keep me from falling.

I pretty much got shotgun when I was with one parent in the car instead of both parents. At least I sat in the passenger front.