Safety ratings vary based on make, model year and Web site. (Charlie Riedel/Associated Press)With my old station wagon headed to the 125,000 mile mark, I am in the market for a new car for the first time in more than seven years.
I had recently read about a car model that had ranked particularly high in crash testing, so ventured to a dealership to check it out. I liked the car, but didn’t like the sticker price on the 2008 model. I found a 2003 model with surprisingly low mileage. It was so affordable I almost bought it on the spot. But I opted instead to think about it over the weekend.
I’m glad I did. I checked out the 2003 model on two great car safety Web sites — www.SaferCar.gov, the car safety site for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, as well as www.iihs.org, from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. While the 2008 model I had been looking at was one of the top safety picks on both sites, I was surprised when I looked up the 2003 version. Between the two sites I learned the 2003 car had ranked “poor” in terms of neck injury and had a high risk for thigh injury for front-seat passengers involved in a crash. In fact, the problems continued until the 2007 model, which received high rankings in all the safety categories.
Even though I’ve written about car safety testing for years, my experience was a good reminder of how important it is to check not only the results for the make and model of a particular car, but also to check out safety ratings for other years as well. It’s also important to look at both sites, because the two groups perform different types of tests. A car that scores well on the SaferCar site may get low scores on a different type of safety measurement listed on the Insurance Institute site.
The safety ratings of used cars are particularly important for parents shopping for a car for their teen. Last year, journalist Joseph B. White wrote about buying a car for his daughter and balancing cost and safety. Read the column here.
Healthy living doesn't happen at the doctor's office. The road to better health is paved with the small decisions we make every day. It's about the choices we make when we buy groceries, drive our cars and hang out with our kids. Join columnist Tara Parker-Pope as she sifts through medical research and expert opinions for practical advice to help readers take control of their health and live well every day. You can reach Ms. Parker-Pope at 
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15 Comments
A related comment is that there’s a way to check the specific car’s history (carfax.com?) for past accidents that might lessen the safety of the car. Thanks for the info. You could bring some mobile internet device and check the car’s history right at the lot. I bet dealers would love that :)
— JesseIf you can find them, check out some crash videos from the testing that is done by IIHS and NHTSA. It’s amazing to me what qualifies as a “Good” rating!
— ADSSAlso check out the EU’s car-safety agency at EuroNCAP.com. Fewer cars are rated, but I find their ratings to more detailed and blunt.
— AliYou get what you pay for. The 08 model should be safer than the 03, that is the way engineering is supposed to work. How does the 03 compare with your current car? Just having 125,000 miles isn’t reason enough to buy a new one, I assume you are having troubles with your present car.
Don’t be misled by safety ratings. Today’s paper has a big blurb on how safe the new Smart car is, but it is only in comparison with other cars of similar size and weight. So if you hit or are hit by another Smart car you have top ratings. Except that doesn’t mean much if my wife hits you with her SUV.
— richSafety in automobile choice is a good and relevant topic for your blog. You miss, in a big way, the chance to consider other aspects of “wellness” that are inherent in your transportation-consumer choice. POLLUTANTS is the obvious “miss.” ____ Another car choice won’t come around for a good many years, so I think the impact on LUNG HEALTH (human, pets, wildlife), in addition to the health of the rest of the environment, should be seriously weighed and discussed. ___ …Maybe you already have that in mind for the next installment of this subject??? I’m hoping.
— Anno Nymous@5: TPP is a very responsible and thoughtful blog author who often takes on touchy environmental topics. That simply was not the subject of this particular column.
— sarahmasHow to select a safe car is perfect for this health blog. People often don’t realize how this important choice can affect their health and future healthcare costs. Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death among people age one to thirty-four and the third leading cause among forty-five to fifty-four-year-olds. The most common cause of unintentional injuries is motor vehicle accidents. In 2002, the death rate for motor vehicle accidents was triple the HIV death rate and 60 percent of the breast cancer death rate.
Clearly all vehicles are not created equal. I know this from personal experience having simply walked away from a serious accident. Although all vehicles seem strong with their metal frames, there are tangible engineering and design differences in motor vehicles. The outcome could be life or death. The result could be walking away from an accident or a life filled with disability.
Thinking critically about what you drive can impact your health. In fact, one study showed that the declining death rate in motor vehicle accidents over the past decade was not due to better drivers or improved roads, but to safer cars.
Davis Liu, M.D.
— Davis Liu, M.D.Author of Stay Healthy, Live Longer, Spend Wisely - Making Intelligent Choices in America’s Healthcare System
http://www.davisliumd.com
You should read Stanley Fish’s recent column about trading in an old car for a new. I’m glad to see our old Volvo still rates high! But in the next couple of years, we will be looking for a new (used) car, and these sites will be very helpful. Thanks.
— francoisGreat post. I’ve never even thought to check the safety ratings of the cars I’ve bought. I guess I just assumed that there’s no real difference. I’ll be looking this stuff up in the future.
— UsmanRe: Post #7 - Posted by Davis Liu, M.D.
What model was that in your crash? I’m locked into my current car at the moment but like to know about others, especially via actual experience regarding auto safety. Crash tests are good but limited by design; the tests are necessarily a compromise focused towards the most common collisions.
Tara, you make a good point with this post. Newer cars, just in the last few years, have improved quite a bit in how they hold up in typical collisions. The safety once included in expensive vehicles is available in average new cars - 100s of millions worth of engineering has been done. I finally busted my budget and bought a new car partly for this reason.
The ratings for neck injury have a lot to do with where the head restraint sits. Moving it forward until it’s somewhat uncomfortable is part of getting a good score on the test, so it wasn’t done in the past. Reported whiplash injuries, curiously, are much lower in countries where there’s no money to be collected from them… and remember it’s an insurance company sponsored entity not a medical body that runs the IIHS tests.
— RobertRe: Post #10 - Robert
The car I was riding in was my soon to be father-in-law’s prized Mercedes-Benz. The car skidded on an oil patch on a very busy LA freeway, ran up a hillside, and flipped on its side. The car was a total loss.
What was clear to me was that the engineering made a difference between my financee and I walking away, very shaken, but not injured, as opposed to being seriously injured or killed. The passenger compartment, while it gave slightly, stay intact protecting us. We’ve all see horrific pictures of motor vehicle accidents and often this compartment is obliterated. Was it because no amount of engineering could have overcome the tremendous forces involved in an accident or simply because safety wasn’t paramount to the design?
Clearly, no IIHS test does this real world scenario. Nevertheless, we must use some metric to measure safety and hope that the proxy is close enough to protect us and our loved ones if we ever need it. After that day, I’ve reviewed the IIHS website before purchasing a new car.
Davis Liu, M.D.
— Davis Liu, M.D.Author of Stay Healthy, Live Longer, Spend Wisely - Making Intelligent Choices in America’s Healthcare System
http://www.davisliumd.com
I second Dr Liu’s comments. The safety and insurance industry look first and foremost as what is the cost to human life. A life lost versus a car saved (little damage as in the 1950s and 1960s is weighted heavily. And, then, it’s the type of injuries that are likely to be suffered.
They also look at the different type of collisions - head on, offset, T bone - and the frequency of these type of collisions. Head-ons are much less frequent (except likely for the drunk or asleep into a fixed object.)
The insurance industry then also looks at the damage to the vehicle and what it costs to fix it. Hence, those fancy German cars are rated less because they cost so bloody much to fix ANYTHING! But, they are designed to have you walk away from an autobahn mishap.
Only recently have these institutes looked at that accident avoidance component - that roll-over tendency in the SUV (and less in the crossovers) because they have become so prevalent on the road.
— susanI was driving my year old Toyota Solara
— JOHNNY LEGENDin the rain. I accelerated from a stop at a red light. Traffic started moving and then stopped suddently. I hit the brake, skidde twenty feet or so and slammed into the back of a Ford Explorer.
The front end of my car was demolished with fluids leaking and smoke belching.
The brakes did not hold, the airbag did not deploy and the the entire front-end was smashed in. The Explorer did not have a mark on it. Although no one wa shurt, you can still draw two conclusions from thsi experience…
We’ll be safer buying bigger? Well think how safe we’ll all be in Hummers then. I wonder if these safety agencies are funded by the automotive industry.
The NA car manufacturers have been dragged kicking and screaming into producing a few smaller more fuel efficient cars. Seeing they’ve lost the game there it appears they are now countering this with fear-mongering.
I linked through to all the sites on your posted link. With a few exceptions, it’s all pretty heavy NA car sounding bias, and favouring what I would call gas guzzlers. Only Consumer Reports has a section for Best Buys on fuel efficient cars, and that’s not a safety rated list.
— NRJohnny Legend your car accident was caused by you, not the car.
I’ve driven Japanese sub-compacts only. Over 600,000 km. I was an ambulance chaser. No accidents. Take that.
If I could just get my hands on a Datsun 510 again:
http://video.google.ca/videosearch?q=datsun+510+%2B+red+flag+%2B+pack&hl=en&emb=0#
— NR