This Is the Most Revoltingly Ugly Part on the Lamborghini Diablo
When the Lamborghini Diablo went into production in 1990, cars were not required to have airbags under European law. In the US, however, required either automatic seatbelts or a driver's airbags. That wasn't such a huge issue for Lamborghini, which, like many limited-production carmakers at the time, stuck an ugly four-spoke steering wheel on US-spec Diablos and called it a day.
A 1996 US law requiring dual airbags for driver and front passenger, however, was a problem for Lamborghini. Following a worldwide recession and sale by one-time parent company Chrysler, the Italian automaker was strapped for cash in the mid-1990s. Passenger-side airbags needed to be added to US-market Diablos, but Lamborghini had to do it on the cheap.
And cheap is what they did. We forgot just how terrible the passenger-side airbag looked on early US-market Diablos equipped with one. It was a comical effort on Lamborghini's part. First, a picture of a European-market Diablo–specifically, a 1993 Diablo VT–with no airbags:
And now, from an eBay listing of a 1997 Diablo VT Roadster, the airbag:
Here's another view from a different 1997 VT Roadster on eBay:
Oof. That is not exactly great design. Fortunately, it seems like this bulbous airbag was only used on certain 1997 and 1998 US-market Diablos as a stopgap measure. Soon after, the Diablo got a facelift, which included a redesigned dashboard that made the passenger airbag look less like a hilarious afterthought:
It's easy to laugh at Lamborghini over this airbag–and believe us, we did–but the company did what it had to with the resources it had. And let's be honest: Even the world's ugliest airbag can't detract from the Diablo's status as a dream car.
When the Lamborghini Diablo went into production in 1990, cars were not required to have airbags under European law. In the US, however, required either automatic seatbelts or a driver's airbags. That wasn't such a huge issue for Lamborghini, which, like many limited-production carmakers at the time, stuck an ugly four-spoke steering wheel on US-spec Diablos and called it a day.
A 1996 US law requiring dual airbags for driver and front passenger, however, was a problem for Lamborghini. Following a worldwide recession and sale by one-time parent company Chrysler, the Italian automaker was strapped for cash in the mid-1990s. Passenger-side airbags needed to be added to US-market Diablos, but Lamborghini had to do it on the cheap.
And cheap is what they did. We forgot just how terrible the passenger-side airbag looked on early US-market Diablos equipped with one. It was a comical effort on Lamborghini's part. First, a picture of a European-market Diablo–specifically, a 1993 Diablo VT–with no airbags:
And now, from an eBay listing of a 1997 Diablo VT Roadster, the airbag:
Here's another view from a different 1997 VT Roadster on eBay:
Oof. That is not exactly great design. Fortunately, it seems like this bulbous airbag was only used on certain 1997 and 1998 US-market Diablos as a stopgap measure. Soon after, the Diablo got a facelift, which included a redesigned dashboard that made the passenger airbag look less like a hilarious afterthought:
It's easy to laugh at Lamborghini over this airbag–and believe us, we did–but the company did what it had to with the resources it had. And let's be honest: Even the world's ugliest airbag can't detract from the Diablo's status as a dream car.
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