Originally Posted By: BHopkins
Originally Posted By: Best F100
I currently have another topic running asking what is the safest (used) midsize car I can buy? Thanks for everyone's response. Which leads me to today's question:
Are other (new) sedans just as safe (as new) Mercedes and Volvos of the same size and weight category?
Absolutely! While Volvo has always been a leading innovator in automotive safety technology, in recent years the gap has been closing. There are a number of car manufacturers that have multiple models which have earned the IIHS Top Safety Pick+ rating. Volvo has four models with the TSP+ rating. Subaru has six with the TSP+. With the BRZ earning a TSP rating, every Subaru model makes the Top Safety Pick list. Toyota/Lexus has 10 with a TSP+ rating, and others with a TSP rating. And there are others, with Audi, Acura, Volkswagen, Mazda, and others, with TSP+ ratings. Many more have TSP ratings.
I'm not sure where the perception comes from that Mercedes produces exceptionally safe cars. Mercedes only has two cars that have earned the TSP+ rating, the E Class, and the M Class, with no cars with a TSP rating. But perhaps Mercedes hasn't submitted samples for testing, and that is why they don't have more models earning TSP or TSP+ ratings for 2015 models.
Volvo's goal of no fatalities in a Volvo is very admirable, and one that all car manufacturers should adopt. But when Volvo only sells 56,000 cars in the U.S. in 2014, and heading towards selling even fewer in 2015, the odds are in their favor.
Here are a couple links to some very interesting data. First is the IIHS top pics.
http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/TSP-List
And here is an article that ran several months ago, listing the car models with the lowest highway fatalities in 2014, with the top 9 having 0 fatalities in 2014.
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2...t-driver-deaths
Mercedes developed and put into use much of the safety technology that we have today, this has been going on since the 1930's.
