# How safe is the B13?



## nassin93 (Jul 5, 2005)

My boyfriend recently replaced his 89 325i daily driver with a 93 B13 for fuel efficiency reasons. (I made the sn and gave it to him to use, so he'll probably see this thread. If there is some wierd posting going on with this name, that is the reason.) I never felt unsafe in the E30 (BMW 3 series 85-91), probably because as a kid my mom had one, and a few of my friends have walked away from very serious accidents in E30s. 

I want to trust his sentra, but the car is lighter than the E30 by 400 pounds. Also, the E30 had rotors at all 4 corners and ABS, which are both non existant in his new Sentra. But at least the Sentra has a driverside airbag, unlike the E30.

Finding safety data from back then is difficult. Can anyone share some experiance or knowledge on the matter? 

Thanks.


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## KurtCocain (Jul 6, 2004)

Talking about safety? Does it have an airbag?? Mine does not.


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## nassin93 (Jul 5, 2005)

He has a driver side airbag. I believe they became federally mandated in 92 or 93 in passanger vehicle, and a few years later in trucks.


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## gtlaw (Jun 24, 2005)

personally i don't see airbags as a useful saftey device being they cause many injuries (i have an aunt who ran over a curb and is now legally blind in her left eye) and only help if your the one doing the hitting.
most japanese tin boxes seem crumple up just the right way so as not to hurt the people in the vehicle, but it's probably not as safe as the BMW that was engineered for autobahn speeds.


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## znamya (Sep 21, 2004)

nassin93 said:


> My boyfriend recently replaced his 89 325i daily driver with a 93 B13 for fuel efficiency reasons. (I made the sn and gave it to him to use, so he'll probably see this thread. If there is some wierd posting going on with this name, that is the reason.) I never felt unsafe in the E30 (BMW 3 series 85-91), probably because as a kid my mom had one, and a few of my friends have walked away from very serious accidents in E30s.
> 
> I want to trust his sentra, but the car is lighter than the E30 by 400 pounds. Also, the E30 had rotors at all 4 corners and ABS, which are both non existant in his new Sentra. But at least the Sentra has a driverside airbag, unlike the E30.
> 
> ...



First of all, The weight of the car has nothing to do with the safety of the car. Very simple example is this, when you hit a wall at 35mph with Honda Civic and Lincoln Towncar, You will be more safer in the Honda Civic. This is not my opinion, it is a fact. As answer to your question, I think Sentra is safe enough.


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## znamya (Sep 21, 2004)

gtlaw said:


> personally i don't see airbags as a useful saftey device being they cause many injuries (i have an aunt who ran over a curb and is now legally blind in her left eye) and only help if your the one doing the hitting.
> most japanese tin boxes seem crumple up just the right way so as not to hurt the people in the vehicle, but it's probably not as safe as the .


With all due respect to you, you are saying that airbags is not useful because it didnt work on your aunt's accident. Was she wearing the seatbelt? You also say that there are many instances like that. First, if you a reasonable person, you should think in how many cases it worked and how many cases it didnt work. If you say there are many instances that it didint work, there 1000*many instances it worked. Also, do you think you can think better than ALL the auto brands enginners? Why do you think all companies are installing it increasing the sale price. I tried to find it, but couldnt find it, Volvo crashed two S40 models head by head each going at 60mph, They repeated the test without airbags, the head of the dummy cut off (seatbelts were on by the way.) "BMW was engineered for autobahn speeds" I think this is pretty sad comment.


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## znamya (Sep 21, 2004)

Please see the below website:

http://auto.consumerguide.com/Auto/Used/reviews/full/index.cfm/id/2081/Act/usedcarreviewspecs/


As a compariosn please see the Honda Civic's tests

http://auto.consumerguide.com/Auto/Used/reviews/full/index.cfm/id/2049/act/usedcarreviewspecs/


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## nassin93 (Jul 5, 2005)

I personally don't mind even not having airbags... The only cars I would be nervous driving 30,000 miles a year are those ford fesitvas and the like.

I had 3 cars with no Airbags and got into two accidents, both of which I walked out of without a scratch.

My girlfriend on the other hand is just being careful and over protective... lol


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## nassin93 (Jul 5, 2005)

znamya said:


> First of all, The weight of the car has nothing to do with the safety of the car. Very simple example is this, when you hit a wall at 35mph with Honda Civic and Lincoln Towncar, You will be more safer in the Honda Civic. This is not my opinion, it is a fact. As answer to your question, I think Sentra is safe enough.


You are right to an extent. If the weight is placed in areas that don't shield the driver, like electronics, or wheels, then yes, weight has nothing to do with the safety of a car. But if that weight is in thicker steel and stronger reinforcements, then the added weight has a lot to do with safety. Why else would the National Highway Traffic Safety Admin class vehicles by weight and not by size?

And don't put too much thought into the civic vs. towncar thing. Taken from the nhtsa website:

_which is equivalent to a head-on collision between two similar vehicles each moving at 35 mph. Since the test reflects a crash between two similar vehicles, make sure you compare vehicles from the same weight class, plus or minus 250 lbs., when looking at frontal crash star ratings._

The Sentra has a 4 star rating where as the E30 has a 3 star. Although the femur load is well over half in the E30 than it is the Sentra. It troubles me how that can be so. Does the Sentra lack safeguards against the engine/steering column coming into the cockpit?


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## nassin93 (Jul 5, 2005)

nassin93 said:


> I personally don't mind even not having airbags... The only cars I would be nervous driving 30,000 miles a year are those ford fesitvas and the like.
> 
> I had 3 cars with no Airbags and got into two accidents, both of which I walked out of without a scratch.
> 
> My girlfriend on the other hand is just being careful and over protective... lol


Both of which were E30s


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## SergioCR (Sep 18, 2002)

Hi!
I found a couple of links that might give you some info, one is about crash test: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/testing/ncap/index2.cfm?myYear=1992&myMake=Nissan&myModel=Sentra and the other is about Fuel economy: http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/findacar.htm 

I found them very useful and has information on practically all cars available.


Good luck!




nassin93 said:


> My boyfriend recently replaced his 89 325i daily driver with a 93 B13 for fuel efficiency reasons. (I made the sn and gave it to him to use, so he'll probably see this thread. If there is some wierd posting going on with this name, that is the reason.) I never felt unsafe in the E30 (BMW 3 series 85-91), probably because as a kid my mom had one, and a few of my friends have walked away from very serious accidents in E30s.
> 
> I want to trust his sentra, but the car is lighter than the E30 by 400 pounds. Also, the E30 had rotors at all 4 corners and ABS, which are both non existant in his new Sentra. But at least the Sentra has a driverside airbag, unlike the E30.
> 
> ...


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## gtlaw (Jun 24, 2005)

> With all due respect to you, you are saying that airbags is not useful because it didnt work on your aunt's accident. Was she wearing the seatbelt? You also say that there are many instances like that. First, if you a reasonable person, you should think in how many cases it worked and how many cases it didnt work. If you say there are many instances that it didint work, there 1000*many instances it worked. Also, do you think you can think better than ALL the auto brands enginners? Why do you think all companies are installing it increasing the sale price. I tried to find it, but couldnt find it, Volvo crashed two S40 models head by head each going at 60mph, They repeated the test without airbags, the head of the dummy cut off (seatbelts were on by the way.) "BMW was engineered for autobahn speeds" I think this is pretty sad comment.


this aunt is old and shouldn't be driving it wasn't really an accident she ran over a curb in a parking lot and it set off the airbags
airbags are government mandated and i said they work if you are hitting something but are useless and even dangerous in some cases it is an explosive charge going off in your face. 
all german manufacturers are expecting accidents at higher speeds because of the autobahn mercedes invented the airbag


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## RBI*04 (Sep 10, 2004)

my B13 coupe held up well when i got rearended last year...i was doing 25, i had to stop for traffic ahead, and the guy behind me was doing about 45ish. when i looked in my rearview mirror i saw him coming up fast and i had no time to do anything but brace for impact. he hit me in his 96ish corrola, and sent me into the back of a jeep G.C.....i rmemeber looking in the car and there was shit EVERYWHERE....my radio was lying atop the shifter, and the can of soda i had in the cupholder was on the floor, and half its contents were sprayed ALL OVER.



when i finally got home (i was actually able to drive it ~40 miles home @ 70mph) all i could complain about was a slight pain in my neck.... :dunno":


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## nassin93 (Jul 5, 2005)

RBI*04 said:


> when i finally got home (i was actually able to drive it ~40 miles home @ 70mph) all i could complain about was a slight pain in my neck.... :dunno":


Dude that sucks... haha funny story though


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## RBI*04 (Sep 10, 2004)

nassin93 said:


> Dude that sucks... haha funny story though


funny thing is- i was going out east to go christmas shopping, and this all happened on my way out there, so i wnet home empty handed.


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## nassin93 (Jul 5, 2005)

RBI*04 said:


> funny thing is- i was going out east to go christmas shopping, and this all happened on my way out there, so i wnet home empty handed.


awww *e-tear


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## Tavel (Aug 21, 2004)

from what i've seen, sentra's are really squishy. it's bad for the car but good for you.


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