Photo: chuckbiscuito

A car’s ability to withstand a crash can mean the difference between life and death for its occupants.  Consumers do weigh safety into their decision to purchase a car – some more than others – but on the whole, I think it deserves more attention than it gets.  More to the point, I think there is an illusion of safety that has to do more with marketing than actual crash test safety data that needs to be debunked.

If you ask your average person which manufacturer they think makes the safest cars, more often than not they will say, “Volvo.”  Now, don’t get me wrong – Volvo makes very safe cars.  But if you look at the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) ratings, so do most car companies these days.  Most cars built in 2009 have either 4 or 5 star crash test ratings across the board.

To give you an idea of what these ratings mean, here are the definitions of frontal crash test ratings from the NHTSA:

5 stars: 10% or less chance of serious injury

4 stars: 11-20% chance of serious injury

3 stars: 21-35% chance of serious injury

2 stars: 36-45% chance of serious injury

1 star: 46% or greater chance of serious injury

When you’re talking about serious injury, a 10-20% increase in risk is a big deal.  So, when you buy your next car, it’s worth the time to take a look at the safety ratings before making a decision.  Advances in airbag technology and stability control systems alone have helped make today’s cars safer than ever before, narrowing the gap between the safest cars and all the rest.  This is one reason I prefer to drive newer cars and purchase them used every few years, though it’s definitely not the main factor in that decision.

Tire pressure monitoring systems also help – keeping your tires inflated to the correct pressure will improve your car’s handling so that you will be better able to avoid accidents in emergency situations.  This also reduces the chance of  tire failure and can improve your gas mileage.  Most tire failures do not result in crashes, so this is less significant (the NHTSA attributes 400 fatalities (about 1%) annually to tire failures – not all of which result from underinflated tires).

You can find the NHTSA crash test ratings for different cars at www.safercar.gov.  Not all cars have been tested, but usually at least one car from a family of cars has been tested (e.g. they may have data for an Audi A4, but not the Audi S4).  The NHTSA also puts out an annual report on safety ratings for the current model year vehicles to enable buyers to make an informed decision as to how their short-list of cars stack up in terms of safety.

When you make your next purchase, take a look at the data rather than relying on the reputations of different car companies which have developed through anecdotal information and marketing.