Ca 1956, a high school classmate of mine’s father, a physician, had his sternum crushed which in turn ruptured the ascending aorta which killed him.
So sad. That was very common in that era. If the steering column didn’t get you, getting thrown through the windshield did. Or hitting your head on the unpadded steel dashboard got you.
The front seat was extremely dangerous in those days in head-on collisions (or colliding with a wall, tree or pole) without dash padding, collapsible steering columns and 3-point seat/shoulder belts.
The other thing that got people was the ignition key perfectly aimed at your knee. That destroyed a lot of patellas. At least it didn’t kill you.
We rail a lot about government regulatory overkill, but all of these regulations really improved auto safety.