Safety Sells

All vehicles are safer these days, but Consumer Reports has crunched the crash-test numbers to find the best. The biggest safety factor, though, is still the person at the wheel.
You're wandering through the maze of a car dealership parking lot when all of a sudden it hits you: The car you've hunted for months is sitting right in front of you. It's the right color and has all the extras. It's perfect. You take it for a test spin. You love it and you've got to have it.But have you stopped to consider its safety rating? Is it really the best car for you or is it just a cleverly disguised death trap?

Let's face it, many drivers think safe means boring. But it's not boring to insurance companies, which base their rates, in part, on the safety of the cars and their occupants. Kim Hazelbaker, senior vice-president of the Highway Loss Data Institute, says insurance companies factor accident records of vehicles when setting premiums. However, crash-test results are useful to the insurance industry if there's not a lot of real-life accident data on the newer models of vehicles. Vehicles that do well in crash tests generally perform well in the real world, he says.

Who gets the insurance discounts?

Newer vehicles generally cost more to insure than older ones. But consumers can get discounts on the newer models if the vehicles have the latest safety features.
What's more, manufacturers increasingly are aware that safety can boost their bottom lines.
"Safety sells," says David Champion, director of automobile testing at Consumer Reports magazine. " More and more companies are using good crash-test results as an advertising ploy to get a leg up on the competition." And David Zuby, vice president of the vehicle research center at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety agrees, "Most manufacturers realize consumers want crash protection."

Safety by design

There are two major factors at play: prevention, or how well the vehicle is designed to prevent an accident, and crashworthiness, how well the vehicle performs in a crash.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a government agency, performs full-frontal crashes and side-impact collisions and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which is sponsored by the insurance industry, tests vehicles in an offset-frontal crash, a more common type. Consumer Reports magazine uses the test results of these two agencies to compare 85 vehicles in terms of accident avoidance, crash protection and overall safety. Higher overall scores go to the models that have done well in accident avoidance and crash protection and can improve your chance of avoiding or surviving a crash.

As for avoiding accidents in the first place, the magazine looks at braking performance on both dry and wet pavement, the effectiveness of the anti-lock braking system, emergency handling, acceleration, driving position, visibility and even seat comfort. A vehicle that accelerates quickly makes it easier to merge safely into traffic. Driving position can affect comfort and your ability to see the road clearly, and visibility increases your awareness of road conditions and other vehicles. Seat comfort plays a role, also. A driver who is tired or uncomfortable may concentrate less on the road.

The top factor: Who's behind the wheel, Daniel Pund, associate editor for Car and Driver magazine, says there's no such thing as a totally safe car.

There's no question that cars are better designed these days to handle crashes. "Tires also are much better today than they were 30 years ago, which means better handling, he says. Seat belts are also better designed so that the belt itself does not injure an occupant and still protects you from hitting the windshield. In the end, no matter how safe the vehicle is, the way it's driven can have a lot to do with whether you'll suffer a serious injury. "The safest car in the world is one that never leaves the garage," says Champion. "How safe a vehicle is depends a lot on the way it's driven."

Safety sells, and so do eco-friendly, fuel-efficient cars.  Which one do you think is more important?

Eco-Racer is a fun game that allows you to race eco-friendly cars.