Guess what

[Patrick]

Yes, but Brewer and I have some taste! 

Your statement is backed up by the studies, Mercedes E-class is the safest vehicle.

And if you want to follow "The Millionaire Next Door," purchase your vehicles by the pound and get a Ford Crown Victoria. Heavy, cheap, and relatively safe.

 

[MasterBlaster]

A Crown Victoria would fit the bill well if it weren't for the exploding gas tank issue.

For those not familiar with this issue, The gas tank on that car is placed unprotected behind the rear axel where in a rear collision it can rupture causing very severe fires and injuries/death.

State troopers/highway patrolmen often drive Crown Vics and park them along side of interstates. Drunks and in-attentive drivers (cell phones etc) sometimes (too often) plough into the rear of these police cars.
There have been a large number of very controversial fires after collisions and a large number of policemen burned alive. The car has a poor reputation amoung policemen.

 

[laurence]

You won't catch me buying an SUV for exactly that reason. I own a midsized wagon and a minivan, neither of which tends to roll over and both of which are pretty heavy and got good crash test ratings. I suspect that in a moderate accident the van would get totalled simply because it would cost so much to replace the dozen airbags, though.

So I'm preaching to the chior. Does the wagon have side airbags, and I wonder what side airbags do to improve the safety of compact cars in side impact crashes?

EDIT: Oh, and I'm a hypocrite since I drive a Jeep Grand Cherokee. But that was purchased in ignorance, before I knew about rollover risk.

 

[brewer12345]

So I'm preaching to the chior.  Does the wagon have side airbags, and I wonder what side airbags do to improve the safety of compact cars in side impact crashes?

EDIT: Oh, and I'm a hypocrite since I drive a Jeep Grand Cherokee.  But that was purchased in ignorance, before I knew about rollover risk. 

The wagon doesn't, since it is a 2003 legacy, which didn't offer side airbags. That and stability control will be high on my list next time. FYI, side airbags made a significant difference in the side impact test. IIRC, the only small cars that got acceptable rating had the side bags (Corolla and Cobalt, I believe).

 

[laurence]

O.K., so I did a little checking, the civic coupe is a little risky, but the sedan got 5 stars everywhere except, drum roll please, side impact (4 stars there with the side airbag, 3 without). That was the '05 model, testing on '06 not available yet....

 

[Andre1969]

For what it's worth, you have to rear-end a Crown Vic at something like 70 mph to make it explode! It's basically the same old story as those old GM pickups with the saddle tanks mounted outside the frame. Sure, they'll blow up. If you hit them hard enough. Or if you do like Dateline did and strap on a few pounds of explosives! And, incidentally, the accident that caused all the controversy over those GM pickups came up when one got T-boned at something like 73 mph!

I remember reading somewhere that overall, the death rates of GM's big pickups from that era were slightly LOWER than their Ford and Dodge competition. Interestingly, even the Pinto, that infamous Barbeque that Seats Four had an overall death rate about similar to other small cars of the time.

As for hanging gas tanks out behind the rear axle, car makers had been doing that almost since the dawn of automotive history. Just about every RWD car ever made, at least until they started coming up with independent rear suspensions and finding ways to get the gas tanks up under the back seat, had the tank mounted behind the rear axle. I think the problem with Ford, though, might have been that their design was a bit different. Most RWD cars just strapped on a wide, but shallow gas tank under the trunk. Ford made the gas tank more vertical and put it right behind the rear axle. The result was that the trunk had a nice, deep well behind the gas tank, and a more shallow shelf up over the tank and the rear axle, where the spare tire went. Other cars had trunks that were wider and went further forward, but didn't have that nice deep well.

Well, when a car gets rear-ended, especially a body-on-frame car, the first place it usually buckles is right over the rear axle. Now you'd think that having a gas tank further forward would be safer, and a Crown Vic has its tank further forward than something like a Caprice, Diplomat, etc. But when the car buckles, the tank would get pinched between the trunk well and the rear axle, and rupture.

I used to have a Gran Fury, and it had a little shield mounted between the rear axle and the gas tank. It just looked like it was made out of rubber, and I don't know if it would've done much good in a rear-ender. But evidently, Chrysler saw fit to put it there, so maybe they knew something that Ford didn't?

Still, I wouldn't be afraid of a Crown Vic just because of the fire incidents. If you spend most of your time stopped along high-speed freeways, then you might want to reconsider. But they're not going to blow up if someone backs into it in the parking lot. Or bumps it at 11 mph with a '72 Impala...
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1977/09/compress.mov

 

[HFWR]

Speaking of old Impalas, I was rear-ended in a '71 by an Isuzu p/u. Put a small dent in my bumper; pretty much wiped out the pickup's doghouse. Just drove away... 8)

 

[laurence]

My step-mother had a big green Ford Grenada (70 something), got hit head on by a Nissan 300zx, similar result, softball sized dent in bumper vs. total obliteration of the 'Z.

 

[brewer12345]

A Crown Victoria would fit the bill well if it weren't for the exploding gas tank issue.

For those not familiar with this issue, The gas tank on that car is placed unprotected behind the rear axel where in a rear collision it can rupture causing very severe fires and injuries/death.

State troopers/highway patrolmen often drive Crown Vics and park them along side of interstates. Drunks and in-attentive drivers (cell phones etc) sometimes (too often) plough into the rear of these police cars.
There have been a large number of very controversial fires after collisions and a large number of policemen burned alive. The car has a poor reputation amoung policemen.

That's my dad's ride. He has liked big US cars for a long time: 1970s Olds 98, 1983 Buick Electra Wagon, 1980 Cadillac, 1983 Suburban, 1987 Olds Delta 88, 1972 Olds Cutlass convertible (holy crap was that thing big), etc. His latest is a 1998 Crown Vic he bought at a police auction for peanuts. It was and still looks like an undercover car, so people get the h3ll out of the way when he is on the highway. I know he was looking at the next auction for another car simply because he likes to drive old bombs and gets the next one before the current ride gives up the ghost. Cheap way to drive, though.

 

[Andre1969]

I think one of the most embarrassing accidents I got into was about 13 years ago. I rear-ended a 1955 DeSoto with a 1957 DeSoto! Knocked it about 20-30 feet. The only thing it did to the '55 was give it a matching set of dings in the metal bumper guards, to go with a set of dings it already had. Did nothing at all to my '57!

And I know the odds of an accident like that have got to be astronomical, but I was following a buddy to an antique car show, so that's how two cars of a brand that hadn't been built in over 30 years came to collide!

 

[SteveR]

In the old days of car design....the car was indestructable but the people died.

Today, the cars destruct so the people can live. The story about the 1955 DeSoto is a case in point. Back then there were no seat belts and the metal dashboards and non-safety glass caused many deaths but the cars sustained only minor damage. The cars today are designed to absorb impact forces buy crumpling so the energy never makes it to the passengers. That means todays cars are disposible. Buy a safe one but one that is reasonable in cost (whatever that is?). Size does matter but so does construction. Small cars can be safe and large ones not as much as you think. Buy the biggest, safest most economical car that meets your needs and wallet.

 

[Lazarus]

I have a Ford F-150 and was rear-ended by a Nissan Xterra. The Xterra got shortened a foot and taken away on a truck. I drove my Ford home with a dented bumper and tailgate. BTW the Xterra driver had no insurance, registration, or inspection. The Police I called had a good day.