A Testament to Porsche’s Focus on Safety

Twenty-four years ago this week, Porsche made ABS and dual front airbags standard across their 1990 model lineup. Porsche was the first automaker to do this in the United States… not Volvo, not Toyota, not Mercedes-Benz, but Porsche. The 1990 model year was a sign of things to come. In the 20th century’s final decade, Porsche was very vocal about their safety emphasis.

As a child, in 1994 I watched the original VHS version of the above clip so many times, the tape wore out. The video above doesn’t beat you over the head with how safety-focused Porsche was in the 90s; nevertheless, their emphasis on safety was loudly and cleverly communicated. I thought it was cool how a company that wasn’t in the business of building family cars, focused on safety with Volvo-levels of fanaticism. But back when Porsche only built sports cars, people often used them to pick up their kids from school, get groceries, and all manner of family tasks. My parents were among those people. Whereas most people’s family cars were Chevy Astros, Dodge Caravans and Ford Tauruses, my family’s “truckster” was a Porsche 911. As a kid who grew up like that in the 1990s, when I saw Porsche being an industry leader in the safety realm, my innards would feel warmer and fuzzier than Tom Selleck’s chest hair.

Today, Porsche and crash worthiness are subjects seldom mentioned simultaneously. In 2013 your protection in a Porsche is assumed — we know how well the cars are built, but it would be nice to be reminded how safe we really are these days.

Here’s another piece of classic 90s Porsche marketing.

source [Autoweek]

image [RSIauto.com]