Is safety/crash test a priority of yours?

[06RANGER]

Was that a big priority when you purchased your new car?

Seems like only high end vehicles score well in crash test, especially rear impact test reviews.

 

[Titan]

Subaru's have high test scores. I don't consider them high end, although my leather-appointed Legacy has received many compliments from collegues that have European cars with leather...several have said they'll consider a Subaru when their current BMW/Volvo/Mercedes is sold. We all drive a lot, and they're amazed at the ride quality, all-wheel drive, and low maintenance costs, not to mention being 1/2 the price and cheaper to insure and pay taxes on. We all consider crash scores to be important...

 

[VeeDubb]

Yes, especially for the family haulers. When shopping for a minivan, I restricted my search to those vans that had at least five star side impact scores where the kids ride.

For my personal vehicles, I don't consider cars with less than 4 star crash scores.

 

[01rangerxl]

Not really. For the most part, all cars sold in the US are fairly safe. Looks, reliability, options, the engine, etc... are all much higher priorities for me.

 

[JTK]

In order for it to be sold in the States, it has meet minimum Government mandated requirements. There are SOOO many different scenarios that can result from an accident, who's to say your 5-star will keep you uninjured? The "number" doesn't mean much to me for my personal vehicle, but I do research this for anything purchased for my family. A 5-star Subaru will crush like a pop can if it hits something hard enough.

Joel

 

[VeeDubb]

JHK,
Like everything else in life, there is no perfect information that accounts for all scenarios. But using imperfect information still improves my odds and sure beats a selection process based on randomly throwing darts at a car chart.

 

[Duffman77]

Absolutely Not.
I drive the odd antique once and a while and the safety levels of the 50s 60s and 70s just cant touch what we have today. Personally I think we have started going to far on the safety thing. Many times safety conflicts with our other design goals of good MPG, low cost or easy servicibilty of our cars. As our cars have got safer we have not realized an increase in saftey on the road. Nobody could drive at 85MPH 20 years ago. Nobody talked on cell phones while driving either. If the govt was serious about increasing the life expectancy of our drivers I think they could direct thier efforts elsewhere and have better results.

 

[BrianWC]

Safety is absolutely a priority for me. I drive too much to have a poorly rated car. Safety is improving by leaps and bounds in cars these days and that's only a good thing. I've lost a friend or two to car wrecks and my wife, as a doctor, has seen all sorts of kids ripped to shreds in accidents. I want the odds and the safety ratings on my side. That being said, driving skills are just as important. The safest car in the world in the hands of an idiot doesn't mean much.

 

[Master ACiD]

i dont put much if any stock in safety ratings because im a really good driver. i have never been the cause of an accident. all the accidents i have ever been in were people rear ending me. those type of accidents are not really tested and rated by car manf. the tend to focus more on frontal crashed.
i rely on my brains to keep me from crashing into someone. just drive with common sence and 99% of accidents are eliminated.

 

[smokey1]

yes , one of the reasons why we purchased a '07 PRIUS . Get the side impact / curtain airbags , Traction Control , Vehicle Stability Control , and A.B.S. . Now if the insurance companies would give discouts for the Vehicle Stability Control and traction Control .

 

[smokey1]

we had 2 cars totaled by careless drivers , one only few months before payed off and the other few months after paid off .

 

[brianl703]

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Now if the insurance companies would give discouts for the Vehicle Stability Control and traction Control .

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State Farm gives discounts for vehicle safety, up to 40%. These are based on claims history for the model in question. They give a 40% vehicle safety discount on the Saab 93--how much of that is due to the fact that they come with electronic stability program standard and how much of that is due to good real-world crash performance is something that State Farm is not saying, if they even know. All they're saying is that the Saab 93 generates significantly less medical claims than the average vehicle.

By the way, the cost to insure my Saab 93 with State Farm is about the same as it was to insure the 10-year-old car it replaced. This is due to the high vehicle safety discount and the good liability rating that the Saab 93 has.

 

[oilyriser]

Vehicle weight is the biggest predictor of crash safety, unless you hit a wall or a truck. Then the star rating really counts.

 

[mcrn]

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Vehicle weight is the biggest predictor of crash safety, unless you hit a wall or a truck. Then the star rating really counts.

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I think weight is very importance also. I think its odd when people buy an economy car based on safety such as a civic or something like that ( I dont know the safety ratings of economy cars just an example) but they think they are safe. Then you see a huge SUV or truck that gets a poor rating but it weighs over 5k lbs. If I had to be in one or the other I would take the SUV or truck.

 

[06RANGER]

The Grand Marquis has good safety ratings and is a tank.

 

[Panzerman]

I do with my wifes car anything happens to her, I gotta raise the kids.

 

[Titan]

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Quote:

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Vehicle weight is the biggest predictor of crash safety, unless you hit a wall or a truck. Then the star rating really counts.

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I think weight is very importance also. I think its odd when people buy an economy car based on safety such as a civic or something like that ( I dont know the safety ratings of economy cars just an example) but they think they are safe. Then you see a huge SUV or truck that gets a poor rating but it weighs over 5k lbs. If I had to be in one or the other I would take the SUV or truck.

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Have you seen how the single-car death rate rose in lock-step with the rise in popularity of the SUV? Seems roll-over of those bigger vehicles is a bigger killer than being hit by one. That's one of the problems with more weight...once you get it out of whack, it's harder to regain control, and if you don't regain control, they roll more easily. Everything is a compromise...don't fool yourself otherwise.

 

[i30krab]

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i dont put much if any stock in safety ratings because im a really good driver. i have never been the cause of an accident. all the accidents i have ever been in were people rear ending me. those type of accidents are not really tested and rated by car manf. the tend to focus more on frontal crashed.
i rely on my brains to keep me from crashing into someone. just drive with common sence and 99% of accidents are eliminated.

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Beam me up scotty

 

[BrianWC]

yep. 'round here there seems to be an epidemic of folks getting killed in Yukons and Subs lately.

 

[06RANGER]

I would think the short wheelbase SUV's would be more likely to roll, e.g. Liberty and RAV4's.