The old design cars is why old school stock cars had to have roll cages installed, glass removed, and doors welded shut.. not to mention having the fuel tank put INSIDE the passenger compartment.
olblu49 brings up another weak spot in the old trucks.. the door latches.. in the older trucks like the '46.. the door latch isn't a whole lot different than what you use on doors in your house.
Have a look in a modern car, or even cars made as early as the mid to late 60's.. padded dash boards.. padded steering wheels, lots of padding and plastic to help protect your head from cracking open.
A week ago I was at a tow truck yard, and a gal came in to get some stuff out of her mid 90's full size GMC suburban.. the whole side was bashed in, the frame was bent and in general the truck looked like a big U or a C (depending on which way you looked at it) the tow truck guy said when he arrived at the scene, the truck was laying on the drivers side door.
What hit this big ole full size suburban hard enough to cave in one side and flip it over on it's side, you might ask?
A 1991 Ford Tempo.
I don't know for certian, but my guess is a full size GMC Suburban probably outweighs a Ford Tempo.. I don't know that either vehicle walked away from that confrontation a 'winner'.. lucilly the occupants of both vehicles survived to tell the tale.
IMO, the best thing you can do to keep safe is to drive defensively.. keep your eyes moving, leave yourself an out, aim high in steering, make sure they see you.. most 'accidents' that happen daily in the U.S. really aren't accidents at all.. just cases of folks not paying attention or being careless.
