Quite by accident, I think I’ve stumbled across a new word. I was meaning to write Saab Safety in the headline and got the two mixed up.

Saafety. It works for me.

Saab marketing people, please feel free to use it – no obligations at all (maybe a thankyou note would be nice). As always, we’re here to help.

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So why was I writing about Saafety?

I received an email from Chris B over the weekend. The story will tell itself:

Swade,

I never paid that much attention to the safety stuff, we just bought a Saab because we liked it. Last week, my wife was in a horrific pile-up on a highway in New Jersey. Her 9-3 wagon was struck by 2 SUV’s from behind at high speed. Unlike some of the people involved, she walked away unhurt. Thank you Saab Active Head Restraint. The 9-3 is probably a total loss.

We are off to test drive some new cars. She thinks she wants a 9-5 Aero Sedan this time. I can not argue against a Saab at this point.

I am sending the same message to Saab USA.

Chris B

…..and I’m sure Saab USA will appreciate receiving it.

I’m very pleased to hear that your wife came away from this unscathed, Chris. We saw a similar looking accident involving a WRX/9-2x last year that snapped the driver’s seat and left some occupants with mild spinal injuries (IIRC).

Saab can’t emphasise their safety enough. It’s a leadership point and a concern of many buyers.

Best of luck with your new purchase, Chris, and thanks for sending this through.

Click to enlarge the photos.

The humble safety belt, or seat belt, has been around for quite a while. It’s a key part of any automobile’s safety equipment and is one of the front lines of occupant safety. First invented in the latter parts of the 19th century for use in early aviation, the seat belt is now known to give vehicle occupants a significantly higher chance of crash survival as well as reducing injuries suffered by crash victims.

Whilst Saab didn’t play any part in creating the seat belt, they were the first company to fit seat belts as standard. In 1958 the Saab GT750 debuted at the New York Auto Show and one of it’s features put ‘safety as standard’ on the map.

Saab were the first automotive company in the world to offer seat belts as standard equipment.

I’m pretty sure they would have been lap belts at the time. A Volvo guy patented some 3-point seat belts the next year and Volvo also offered them as standard equipment. After the Swedes led this off, it soon became a commonplace practice. Seat belts have gone through a number of transformations in years since.

It’s hard to believe such a simple device could have so many iterations, but it has. First they were fixed length, then they became retractable. They added intertia reels. Some companies electrified and automated them, which would have been totally weird.

It’s also hard to believe that some jurisdictions don’t mandate the use of seatbelts. My home state of Victoria, right here in Australia, were the first jurisdiction to make the wearing of seat belts compulsory. That was 38 years ago and today there’s still some places where seat belts are optional. There’s also some Live Free types who insist that it’s best left to choice. Personally, I can’t see any reasons other than obstinance, laziness or stupidity that would explain not buckling up.

Saab seatbelts have had a few – if not unique, then unusual – features over the years.

Owners of certain 1970′s Saabs, especially 99s, would be familiar with one of the more unsightly but incredibly practical seat belts in Saab’s history. The seat belt had no buckle on it, the buckle being in the receiver unit bolted in the floor. As you can see in the photo, this made the receiver unit rather large and unattractive. The good part was that you never had to look/feel for the buckle on the belt. Just grab the belt itself, slot it in and close the buckle.

Saab’s early convertibles had their seatbelts on the pillars, just like the regular cars. When Saab’s latest convertible came out in 2004, they built the seat belt into the seat itself. That way, it’s always at your shoulder regardless of seat position, and it doesn’t get in the way when passengers step through to the rear seats.

First we had the case of the flying 9-7x…..

Now, another unidentified Saab gone on an airborne adventure in Pittsfield, Maine, in the US.

In one of the more spectacular area car accidents in recent memory, a Burnham man in a Saab sailed off an overpass and landed on a guardrail on Interstate 95.

Franz Spiegel, 43, of Burnham, complained of chest pains, but survived. He was the only person involved in the accident, according to Maine State Trooper Derrick Record.

“When I heard the call, I was expecting a fatal,” he said. “He probably wasn’t going a ridiculous speed for the road, but it was probably too fast for conditions.”

I’m glad we have another driver that’s OK. But please people, stop trying to fly your Saabs!

And if you ever see an accident like this happen, please render assistance:

Several drivers witnessed Spiegel’s Saab slide along six sections of guardrail along the Johnson Flat Road overpass — roughly the width of the two interstate lanes plus the areas on the shoulders — before plummeting to the highway below, Kinney said.

No witnesses stayed at the scene, however.

Poor form, that.

Yes. Sadly, the Saab 99 has not fared well in the latest Folksam safety report. In all honesty, you should stay right away from it if you want to get to the shops and back in any state that remotely resembles being alive*.

But the rest of the Folksam report is good news for pretty much anyone looking at any Saab from the 900 onwards. Whilst some don’t have the electronic aids we’re used to these days, they still all rate pretty well for their age. I figure as long as it’s not a red dot then you’re doing OK with a classic.

Folksam base their results on over 117,000 crashes recorded since 1995.

The categories you see dots and stars for are as follows:

Real life accidents
Euro NCAP rating
Whiplash protection
Electronic Stability Control
Environment

It’s interesting that ESC is optional in the Swedish market. It’s standard here in Australia and just assumed it would be there too.

The full results, with notes and a whole host of different cars, is available in English from Folksam’s website.

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* don’t let anything keep you from a Saab 99. An absolute classic!

Thanks Ian M!