Many people don't know exactly how safe the 1983-88 Cougars and Thunderbirds are. While the Fox chassis safety debate has raged for years, generally it's a good chassis with some drawbacks (such as the fuel tank in the very back of the car). Still, these cars have shown to perform extraordinarily well over the test of time. Remember that as much as you love your car, its main job in the event of an accident is to protect you at all costs. And that's why the U.S. government puts so much emphasis on crash testing. The 1980's saw significant advances in crash testing, such as sensor-laden crash dummies. Since the 1983 Cougar and Thunderbird were the first in Ford's new aero line of vehicles, they were also the first to get tested. You can view the results of the tests at this external link:

http://www.crashtest.com/explanations/archive/crash.htm

You can see that the 1984 Cougar got better ratings than the 1983 car. How can this be, since they were basically the same car? My guess is that the crash dummies probably showed more injury to the legs from the harder plastic dash used in the 1983 Cougars. In 1984 Ford addressed this with more padding on the glove box. Structurally there were probably a few changes that helped aid the rating as well.

That doesn't mean that the 1983 cars are not safe. In fact, I'll officially go on record by saying that for the last of the pre-airbag, pre-ABS cars, the 1983-88 Cougar and Thunderbird were probably THE safest cars on the road in the U.S. and Canada, bar none. If you think about all the other vehicles on the road in the mid-to-late 1980's, very few had the structural rigidity of the unibody Cougar and T-Bird. Our direct competition, the GM G-bodies (Cutlass/Monte Carlo/Regal/Grand Prix), even with their full frame construction, had notoriously weak bodies and often had T-tops, which presented a lot of problems with roof rigidity. Other GM cars, front and rear drive alike, used composite body panels that did not absorb impacts like metal. Ford's safety concerns were at the forefront starting with our cars. Our cousin, the Lincoln Mark VII, added ABS as early as 1987 and had driver's--then passenger--airbags later on. And the 1986-95 Taurus/Sable still are some of the safest cars on the road, despite the earlier models not having airbags. Hands down, when it came to safe vehicles, Ford clearly won the 1980's on the domestic front. Obviously our cars are not accident-proof by any stretch, but they have demonstrated an amazing ability to protect the driver and passenger since their introduction to the buying public.

If you need further proof, visit a salvage yard and find wrecked Fox Cougars and Thunderbirds. In my observation of over 15 years now, they are some of the few cars that withstand fatal-quality impacts. And that speaks volumes about the cars we drive.

This was Jim K.'s 1985 Cougar. He was hit head-on by a drunk driver who didn't have his headlights on at night. Jim walked away with minor scrapes and a headache caused by the windshield (as noted by the hole in the photo). The car was totalled by the insurance company, but if you ask Jim, his old black '85 will always be his guardian angel.

If you would like more infomation about safety in these cars, or if you'd like to see a list of recalls, visit this site:
http://www.autosafety.org/autodefects/FORD-Tbird.htm

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