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My 2009 Land Rover, which I upgraded recently to a 2020 Land Rover, didn't even have airbags. 12 years is a very very long time in safety tech. I would not be h

My 2009 Land Rover, which I upgraded recently to a 2020 Land Rover, didn't even have airbags. 12 years is a very very long time in safety tech. I would not be happy driving around a vehicle that's over ten years old these days.

fibers 5y ago
do you mean the side airbags from the diagonal posts because this seems flagrantly illegal if it was the bags on the wheel/glove box
- chrisseaton 5y ago
  > seems flagrantly illegal Didn't have any airbags at all. Not illegal in the rest of the world but I think they didn't sell them in the US.
  - hn_throwaway_99 5y ago
    Yeah, that just seems weird that other countries would be so far behind. Front air bags have been required as standard equipment in the US since 1997.
    - chrisseaton 5y ago
      I think it's some exceptions for 'rugged' vehicles.
ericbarrett 5y ago
That’s pretty shocking. What country? My 1995 Mustang had airbags and ABS.
- chrisseaton 5y ago
  > What country? The UK, but it was the same model they sold everywhere that they sold them.
  - defaultname 5y ago
    https://www.autoblog.com/buy/2009-Land+Rover-Range+Rover+Sport/safety-features/ https://www.autoblog.com/buy/2009-Land+Rover-Range+Rover+Spo... This 2009 Land Rover model had front, side, and overhead airbags, ESC, ABS, etc.
    - chrisseaton 5y ago
      Ok? But the model I had didn't, and didn't anywhere it was sold. Do you think I'm mistaken about my own car or something?
      - defaultname 5y ago
        Just to be clear, every vehicle sold in the US, Canada, and a number of other nations had to have front left and right airbags as of 1998. By 2009 -- 11 years later -- even the lowest cars usually had a barrage of airbags, ABS was mandatory, and so on. So you are most certainly mistaken about the claim that it is sold "everywhere", although you have since edited that to be restricted to "where they sold them" which conveniently excludes all the places where it simply couldn't be sold.
        chrisseaton 5y ago
        > So either your vehicle was sold in no first-world nations, or you are indeed mistaken. I'm obviously not going to be mistaken about my own car, am I? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Rover_Defender#2012_updates https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Rover_Defender#2012_updat... Selling as late as 2016 with no air bags, in many Western first-world nations, obviously including such as the UK where it was built, but I think also France, Germany, etc. In fact they even specifically say: > However, safety regulations due for introduction in 2015 requiring minimum pedestrian safety standards and the fitment of airbags to commercial vehicles cannot be met without a wholesale redesign of the Defender. Another source. https://www.carbuyer.co.uk/reviews/land-rover/defender/sports-utility-vehicle/11588/review/reliability https://www.carbuyer.co.uk/reviews/land-rover/defender/sport... Which says: > it was never fitted with any airbags
- academonia 5y ago
  There are plenty of base-model US cars from the mid-90s without airbags. It's not as crazy as it sounds; with the front-impact ones, wearing your seatbelt works about as well, and you don't have to worry about Takata syndrome.
  - ericbarrett 5y ago
    Yes, but parent poster said 2009. I asked the country because not every market gets modern safety features in all cars; for example the original VW Beetle (as the "Volkswagen Sedán") was sold in Mexico until ~2003.
  - MandieD 5y ago
    I remember my 1990 Ford Escort and grandmother’s 1990 Camry having automatic shoulder belts that were mounted on the driver and front passenger door frames and would be pulled down when the door was opened and up when you closed it. You still had to buckle the lap belt yourself. This was apparently because at that point, manufacturers could get out of putting in front airbags if they put in those automatic should belts. Not sure when that was tightened up.
Silhouette 5y ago
It seems like that 2009 Land Rover might have been 12 years behind the times if it didn't have airbags. I was look at new cars in the UK around the turn of the century and airbags were widely used even then. A lot of the more recent improvements seem to be trying to compensate for either gross driver failures or much reduced visibility with modern vehicle designs. It will be interesting to see whether they end up significantly improving safety overall or just cancelling out the negative effects of less careful driving and less visibility.
kenned3 5y ago
Odd.. i recently got rid of a 2006 mazda 6. it had full airbags including the side "curtain" setup.
defaultname 5y ago
I have an 11 year old SUV that I use to tow a trailer. Came with loads of airbags, ABS, traction control, stability control, disc brakes around. I feel incredibly safe in it and have zero incidents. Age is being used as a really sloppy proxy for safety features, when a lot of these things were completely standard 10 years ago. As mentioned in another post, a 2009 Range Rover came with every major safety feature.

fibers 5y ago

do you mean the side airbags from the diagonal posts because this seems flagrantly illegal if it was the bags on the wheel/glove box

chrisseaton 5y ago
> seems flagrantly illegal Didn't have any airbags at all. Not illegal in the rest of the world but I think they didn't sell them in the US.
- hn_throwaway_99 5y ago
  Yeah, that just seems weird that other countries would be so far behind. Front air bags have been required as standard equipment in the US since 1997.
  - chrisseaton 5y ago
    I think it's some exceptions for 'rugged' vehicles.

ericbarrett 5y ago

That’s pretty shocking. What country? My 1995 Mustang had airbags and ABS.

chrisseaton 5y ago
> What country? The UK, but it was the same model they sold everywhere that they sold them.
- defaultname 5y ago
  https://www.autoblog.com/buy/2009-Land+Rover-Range+Rover+Sport/safety-features/ https://www.autoblog.com/buy/2009-Land+Rover-Range+Rover+Spo... This 2009 Land Rover model had front, side, and overhead airbags, ESC, ABS, etc.
  - chrisseaton 5y ago
    Ok? But the model I had didn't, and didn't anywhere it was sold. Do you think I'm mistaken about my own car or something?
    - defaultname 5y ago
      Just to be clear, every vehicle sold in the US, Canada, and a number of other nations had to have front left and right airbags as of 1998. By 2009 -- 11 years later -- even the lowest cars usually had a barrage of airbags, ABS was mandatory, and so on. So you are most certainly mistaken about the claim that it is sold "everywhere", although you have since edited that to be restricted to "where they sold them" which conveniently excludes all the places where it simply couldn't be sold.
      - chrisseaton 5y ago
        > So either your vehicle was sold in no first-world nations, or you are indeed mistaken. I'm obviously not going to be mistaken about my own car, am I? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Rover_Defender#2012_updates https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Rover_Defender#2012_updat... Selling as late as 2016 with no air bags, in many Western first-world nations, obviously including such as the UK where it was built, but I think also France, Germany, etc. In fact they even specifically say: > However, safety regulations due for introduction in 2015 requiring minimum pedestrian safety standards and the fitment of airbags to commercial vehicles cannot be met without a wholesale redesign of the Defender. Another source. https://www.carbuyer.co.uk/reviews/land-rover/defender/sports-utility-vehicle/11588/review/reliability https://www.carbuyer.co.uk/reviews/land-rover/defender/sport... Which says: > it was never fitted with any airbags
academonia 5y ago
There are plenty of base-model US cars from the mid-90s without airbags. It's not as crazy as it sounds; with the front-impact ones, wearing your seatbelt works about as well, and you don't have to worry about Takata syndrome.
- ericbarrett 5y ago
  Yes, but parent poster said 2009. I asked the country because not every market gets modern safety features in all cars; for example the original VW Beetle (as the "Volkswagen Sedán") was sold in Mexico until ~2003.
- MandieD 5y ago
  I remember my 1990 Ford Escort and grandmother’s 1990 Camry having automatic shoulder belts that were mounted on the driver and front passenger door frames and would be pulled down when the door was opened and up when you closed it. You still had to buckle the lap belt yourself. This was apparently because at that point, manufacturers could get out of putting in front airbags if they put in those automatic should belts. Not sure when that was tightened up.

Silhouette 5y ago

It seems like that 2009 Land Rover might have been 12 years behind the times if it didn't have airbags. I was look at new cars in the UK around the turn of the century and airbags were widely used even then. A lot of the more recent improvements seem to be trying to compensate for either gross driver failures or much reduced visibility with modern vehicle designs. It will be interesting to see whether they end up significantly improving safety overall or just cancelling out the negative effects of less careful driving and less visibility.

kenned3 5y ago

Odd.. i recently got rid of a 2006 mazda 6. it had full airbags including the side "curtain" setup.

defaultname 5y ago

I have an 11 year old SUV that I use to tow a trailer. Came with loads of airbags, ABS, traction control, stability control, disc brakes around. I feel incredibly safe in it and have zero incidents. Age is being used as a really sloppy proxy for safety features, when a lot of these things were completely standard 10 years ago. As mentioned in another post, a 2009 Range Rover came with every major safety feature.