LEAST Safe Cars...

[1sttruck]

"ok how about this [TOW launcher]"

I remember the first TOW company formed at our tank battalion. The launchers were on jeeps, and the claim at the time is that the gunners couldn't be over something like 21, and were selected for good eye/hand coordination. They could centerpunch 1 meter square targets at 1 kilometer with the early models, two kilometers with some later ones. They'd open up a tank like a tin can.

 

[BigAl]

Somebody sure seems to be an Anti-Korean Junkie. This obsession with picking on us lowly Hyundai/Kia/Suzuki owners seems almost pathological.

OK, my car is unsafe, tinny, and cheap. Audi is the best. Now go find something else to do.

 

[rpn453]

quote:

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Speaks volumes for not running into things..

These things are not meant to be crashed. Pay attention, stay off the phone, watch out for all the knuckleheads out there, and crashworthiness isn't an issue. Pretty soon, the safety-crats will have us all driving our cars wearing motorcycle helmets. It's all nonsense. You cannot crash-safe any vehicle. Best policy, don't crash.

Darwin takes care of everything.

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This is a very ignorant view, but I can't really blame you since I felt the same way when I was younger. Getting hit head-on at 65mph by a larger vehicle that you have absolutely no chance of avoiding would change your opinion too.

So buy an unsafe car and drive responsibly; Darwin may still get you.

 

[Propflux01]

Sometimes you can be driving an 18 wheeler and Darwin will still get you....if it is your time to go, doesn't really matter what you drive now does it?

 

[moribundman]

quote:

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if it is your time to go, doesn't really matter what you drive now does it?

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*jumps out of window to see if it's time*

 

[BigAl]

quote:

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Getting hit head-on at 65mph by a larger vehicle that you have absolutely no chance of avoiding would change your opinion too.

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So the answer is to keep buying bigger and bigger vehicles so the other guy always dies instead of you?

 

[moribundman]

quote:

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Um, I'm beginning to think Audi Junkie is a closet Hyundaisexual.

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Thanks for making me spew my lunch all over the keyboard.

While I myself am an Audiphile (And no, I don't believe Audi is the pinnacle of automotive design and engineering), I don't have anything against Hundai. Not that I'd ever consider owning one or anything while being sober.

 

[moribundman]

quote:

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moribundman ,
Star ratings are used for comparison only when the cars involved are within 500 lb. of one another.

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500 lbs is actually a pretty wide margin (at a 40 mph head-on crash!)

quote:

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Physics is still king, more mass is superior when you are involved in a crash, all else being equal.

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True, but it is possible to design small cars that are very safe. See MB A-class, Mini Cooper (new one!), Audi A2. They all seem to share sort of an "egg" design. Maybe they just bounce right off that 18 wheeler.

 

[brianl703]

quote:

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So the answer is to keep buying bigger and bigger vehicles so the other guy always dies instead of you?

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That doesn't work if the other guy (or gal) is a ****-poor driver who bought a bigger vehicle to be safe.

I engage in vehicle profiling when I drive; I know what types of vehicles tend to be occupied by poor drivers and I watch the moves that other drivers make and get the **** away from them after I've determined that they present a threat to my well-being.

 

[BigAl]

When a car doesn't have a straight piece of sheet metal on it, that's my first clue that the driver is iffy. When that car passes me doing 20 mph over the limit, that's my second clue. When that car passes me at 20 over the limit in a snow storm, then I'm sure.

(Why do I even read posts here? I just wind up getting wound up.)

 

[Jonny Z]

When it sleeted a few weeks ago, the road was iced up pretty good and I was doing 20 mph in 3rd gear to be safe. I was tailed-gated! Now that is a moron.

 

[rpn453]

quote:

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So the answer is to keep buying bigger and bigger vehicles so the other guy always dies instead of you?

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I guess that could be one way to do it, as long as the vehicle isn't excessively prone to rollovers. I don't think the extra fuel cost is worth it for me though, and I would feel horrible if I was at-fault and killed someone, so I'll stick with compact cars, and hopefully ones with decent safety ratings. Based on crash safety ratings and crash videos I've seen, I'm pretty sure my Mazda3 would leave me in much better condition than my '87 Grand Am did in the same accident, and the Mazda is only 200lbs heavier.

It sure would have been nice to be driving a 1-ton dually for that particular moment in time though.

[ December 29, 2005, 08:05 PM: Message edited by: rpn453 ]

 

[Audi Junkie]

So, the only accident we should consider is the death blow from a tractor-trailer at 90 mph?

What about the T-Bone from some teen in a sub-compact who runs a stop or a light at 20-30 mph? Do I want to be a little sore and walk away or be permanately disabled in a walker, wheelchair or paralyzed?

Some of those little cars such as Aspire or Festiva and the like are downright scary.

 

[Audi Junkie]

quote:

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When that car passes me at 20 over the limit in a snow storm, then I'm sure

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...that was ME!

 

[ekpolk]

Originally posted by TooCrazy:

quote:

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Speaks volumes for not running into things..

These things are not meant to be crashed. Pay attention, stay off the phone, watch out for all the knuckleheads out there, and crashworthiness isn't an issue. Pretty soon, the safety-crats will have us all driving our cars wearing motorcycle helmets. It's all nonsense. You cannot crash-safe any vehicle. Best policy, don't crash.

Darwin takes care of everything.

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Response by rpn:

quote:

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This is a very ignorant view, but I can't really blame you since I felt the same way when I was younger. Getting hit head-on at 65mph by a larger vehicle that you have absolutely no chance of avoiding would change your opinion too.

So buy an unsafe car and drive responsibly; Darwin may still get you.

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Rpn:

I’m right with you on that. Don’t waste your breath, though; he’s a troll. And an unwise one at that. He may fancy himself as the best driver in the world, and he may even be pretty good behind the wheel (who knows...), but he fails to account for the legions of others, armed with cell phones and Suburban, who aren’t so careful or skilled.

He’s also just plain wrong in claiming that you can’t crash-safe a vehicle. Oh yes you can. Almost three years ago, I got T-Boned on the driver’s side by a Tahoe doing, by its driver’s admission, “about 40 mph”. I was driving a 2002 Camry equipped with optional side curtain airbags. You sorta had to be there, but it is absolutely certain that I’d be dead were it not for those side curtains, which pretty obviously “crash-safed” my dearly departed Camry.

 

[Propflux01]

"True, but it is possible to design small cars that are very safe. See MB A-class, Mini Cooper (new one!), Audi A2. They all seem to share sort of an "egg" design. Maybe they just bounce right off that 18 wheeler"

Wow! bounces right off! Of course, the Audi doesn't get a scratch on it, either, You know, with that 8-star rating it gets and all..

'jumps out window during side impact--and doesnt make it'

 

[BigAl]

quote:

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...that was ME!

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You are right! I recognized you in the ditch a few miles down the road.

I'd like to go out and buy a super-safe car, but with two kids in college and health problems, I can't. I feel blessed that I can afford a reliable Korean car. It's a lot safer than the 1986 Dodge Lancer it replaced. Feel free to gloat that your car is better than mine.

[ December 29, 2005, 10:17 PM: Message edited by: BigAl ]

 

[Audi Junkie]

Al, maybe the point is just to look at the info and consider it next time you buy a car in your price range. There is nothing prohibitive about the price of a Honda Civic, and they do much better than those cars listed by Forbes. Also, I'm not the guy in the ditch. It's the RWD cars with "performance" tires and the SUVs that take longer to stop in dry...even worse in wet/snow.
BTW- I have NO IDEA what my next car will be, but I can eliminate a few.

 

[Audi Junkie]

"It sure would have been nice to be driving a 1-ton dually for that particular moment in time though."

The only objective way to ascertain safety is to test-crash a vehicle into a stationary object. Some cars do much better than others.

 

[BigAl]

AJ: I am quite tall, especially from the waist-up. I can't even sit up in a car unless it has close to 40" of headroom. I'd need to use a can opener to drive a Civic, and they don't make a wagon. I can't even sit up straight in most small SUV's or mini-vans. I doubt that I could even ride in your Audi unless I sawed off and re-welded the seat brackets. (I've done it on previous cars) For some reason, the Koreans are making cars with decent headroom. I looked and looked at the spec's and went from dealer to dealer trying to find cars that I could drive comfortably.

The Forenza wagon did everything I wanted it to do at a price I could afford. The frontal and offset crash tests look pretty good on this one. A rear crash test was not performed, because the head restraints were not deemed to be adequate, although they look about the same as everybody elses. In a side crash, I'm probably gonna smack my head on the top of the door frame in almost any car, so the typical side air bags likely are useless for me.

I'll just try to drive defensively, and watch out for insane Audi drivers passing me in the snow.

If I get killed, my wife will live very comfortably off of my life insurance anyway, so I've got that covered too . . .