Safety Matters  

Each motorist in the United States faces a 66% chance of being involved in an accident that injures someone in the car.

 

Passenger airbags are larger than driver airbags and are built into the dashboard of the car. The smaller driver airbag--which has less space to fill when deployed--is built into the center of the steering wheel assembly.
Other statistics reveal that every motorist can expect to be in at least one car crash per decade, and for about one out of 20 people this accident will cause serious injury.

Not surprisingly, safety is a big concern for car and truck shoppers in the '90s. In fact, some new car buyers are paying as much attention to safety features as they are to purchase price, quality and reliability.

Anatomy of a crash
NHTSA research shows that the major causes of injury inside cars during collisions are--in descending order--the steering wheel, the instrument panel, the doors, the windshield, the front roof pillar, the glove box area, the roof edges, and the roof itself.

According to the NHTSA, 52.5 percent of passenger car deaths occur in head-on impacts, 17.5 percent in side impacts, and 4 percent in rear impacts. Rollovers are particularly lethal because they are more likely to eject unrestrained passengers from the vehicle than other types of collisions. And fatality rates are four to five times higher for ejected passengers than for those who remain in the car.

The objectives of safety features are 1) to keep the occupants inside the vehicle; 2) to keep them from banging around inside; 3) to absorb some of the forces of impact rather than transferring them to the occupants; or 4) to help prevent a collision from happening in the first place.

The ideal restraint system
The ideal restraint system is a pair of airbags--one for the driver and one for the passenger--combined with manually fastened three-point seat belts. The shoulder belt should be attached to the central pillar of the car, not to the door. And the lap belt should ride across the pelvis, not across the stomach.

Above all, a seat belt must be comfortable when it's snug up against the body. If it's not comfortable, it's tempting to not wear it. And if it's not snug, it may not provide the protection it should. In fact, slackened seat belts may increase the risk of injury.

For these reasons, some 1996 cars and trucks have belt adjusters and belt tensioners. A belt adjuster is a simple slide device that allows the shoulder belt anchor on the car's pillar to be moved up and down to accommodate occupants of various heights and body builds. The design is fairly basic--it's a wonder all cars and trucks don't come equipped with them.

A belt tensioner is a little more high-tech and is typically found on upscale cars such as Acura, Audi, BMW, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, Saab and Volvo. The tensioner automatically tightens the belts around the occupants in the first milliseconds of a crash so there's absolutely no slack in the belts.

Shopping for airbags
Airbags have become important safety features since 1990, when automakers first began installing them in relatively large numbers of cars. Costs have come down, doubts about reliability have been laid to rest, and airbags are pretty much commonplace.

All 1996 cars (except a very few exotics) have a driver airbag, most have dual airbags, and a very few have the newly introduced side airbags. By 1998, all passenger cars will be required to have dual airbags. Meanwhile, about three out of four light-truck models have a driver's airbag, and 1995 was the first year a significant--though still small--number of light trucks had dual airbags. Not until 1999 will all light trucks be required to have airbags for drivers and passengers.

It needs to be understood that it is vital to wear a seat belt even in a car with airbags. Driver and passenger airbags provide only minimal protection in most side impacts, rear impacts and rollovers--accidents that account for nearly half of all highway fatalities.

A pamphlet entitled "Shopping For a Safer Car" from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), an insurance industry research group, explains why airbags are important safety items, even for those who always wear a seat belt: "Because (even) the best belts--those with tensioners--allow some occupant movement in a crash as the belt pulls tightly around the reel. Plus, there's stretch designed into safety belts to keep people from stopping as abruptly in a crash as the car does. This combination of looseness and stretch means that front-seat occupants wearing belts can still move forward enough in a serious crash to hit the steering wheel, dashboard, or windshield. Serving as a pillow between car occupants and the vehicle interior, airbags cushion people's heads and faces."

Car size still counts
Before the NHTSA, airbags, three-point seat belts and all the rest, if a person wanted a safe car, he or she bought the biggest car possible and depended on its mass for protection. Well, the laws of physics haven't changed. Modern technology may have made small cars safer, but in a crash a person's survival odds are still higher in a large car.

In one recent study by the IIHS, insurance-company injury claims showed that among the 17 cars with the highest number of claims, 15 of the cars were small. Two were midsize and not one was large. Conversely, among the nine cars with the lowest number of injury claims, seven were large cars, two were midsize and not one was small.

The big break in the death rate seems to come with cars that have a wheelbase of just over 100 inches (that's considered to be a midsize car). According to IIHS data, cars with wheelbases of 105 inches or more have 1.4 deaths or less per 10,000 registered vehicles, while cars with 104-inch wheelbases or less have 2.1 or more deaths per 10,000 registered vehicles.

Additional statistics from NHTSA show that your chances of being killed in a small pickup truck, one with a weight of 3,500 lbs. or less, are about 60 percent greater than if you're in a large pickup truck. Likewise, your chances of being killed in a small sport utility, one with a wheelbase of 100 inches or less, are about three and a half times greater than in a large sport utility, one with a wheelbase of 120 inches or more.

Structural crashworthiness
Besides the choices each automaker has regarding seat belts and automatic restraint systems, automakers can choose various structural features that make their cars and trucks more crashworthy.

Automakers build two important structures into a car to protect the occupants. The first is a collapsible energy-absorbing structure, known as a "crumple zone," designed to crush in a controlled manner, absorbing the energy of the crash and increasing the time it takes for the car to come to a stop.frames[0]. The second structure is a reinforced protective cabin that surrounds the car's occupants and protects them from injury by keeping the exterior impact from reaching them.

Each year, NHTSA crash tests popular models into a fixed barrier at 35 mph. The tests measure the crash's impact on the driver and passenger dummies' heads, chests and thighbones, using all the car's standard safety equipment. And the results, even among different models in the same size class, vary greatly. You can get information on NHTSA's crash tests by calling 1-800-424-9393.

The IIHS also publishes periodic reports, assembled from claims data collected from the institute's sponsoring insurance companies, that show injury frequencies for popular models. For more information, or for a copy of the institute's pamphlet "Shopping For A Safer Car," write IIHS Publications, PO Box 1420, Arlington, VA 22210.

Side-impact protection
Side impacts are second only to head-on collisions as the most serious traffic accidents. By 1997, all passenger cars must meet the federal requirements for "dynamic side-impact protection." In order to fulfill these requirements, the NHTSA has determined that all cars produced after September 1, 1996 must meet the standard; many 1996 models already do. All light trucks and minivans under 6,000 lbs. must meet side-impact standards by September 1, 1998. The standards call for a vehicle to withstand a broadside hit by another vehicle traveling at 33.5 mph. If a model passes, the vehicle's occupants will have better protection for the chest and pelvic areas during a collision. Most automakers are complying with the requirements by adding stronger steel beams beneath the body panels and adding interior padding.

In 1995 there was a new development in side-impact protection: side-impact airbags. Some automakers are considering side-impact airbags to enhance occupant protection. The designs include airbags that deploy from side pillars, doors or seats. (The first side-impact airbag available in a production car was on the 1995 Volvo 850, which used a seat-mounted airbag.) And because sport utilities are becoming more common on the roads, the NHTSA recently decided to require sport utilities to pass side-impact protection standards by 1999.

Two kinds of headrests
Headrests or "head restraints" serve the purpose of preventing an occupant's head from snapping back sharply in a rear-end collision. Although all cars and light trucks are required to have front-seat headrests, not all are alike. There are two basic kinds, adjustable and fixed. Adjustable units are fine--if they're adjusted high enough (about ear level) and far enough forward to contact the occupant's head, not his or her neck. The problem is, few people take the time to adjust their headrest properly. The fixed type are built into the seat itself, so the headrestraint is always high enough. This integrated headrest is probably the best kind for most people. Look for head restraints on the rear seats of passenger cars as well.

Crash avoidance features
Automakers actually build safety into their cars in two different ways. There are the crash survival features already discussed--from seat belts to head restraints. But of equal importance are features that help you avoid a crash in the first place. In this respect, almost anything that provides better control over the car is a safety feature--from good acceleration that allows safe merging with the flow of traffic, to good ventilation that keeps you alert during long spells behind the wheel.

Here are a few particularly important crash-avoidance features you'll want to consider for your 1996 dream car or truck:

Anti-lock brake system (ABS). Slam on the brakes during an emergency, and chances are your car will become totally uncontrollable as it skids down the road, especially if the road is rain-slicked or icy. Locking up the wheels--or skidding--is dangerous because it not only increases the distance before the car stops, the driver also loses the ability to steer the car.

An anti-lock brake system (ABS) pumps the brakes automatically, many times a second, to prevent lockup and help a driver maintain control. On dry pavement, ABS doesn't substantially shorten stopping distances. But on wet or slippery surfaces, ABS can help a great deal if a driver knows how to use it. Drivers are traditionally taught to pump the brakes on slippery roads to avoid a skid. But with ABS, firm and continuous pressure--not pumping--is required to activate the ABS feature.

In 1996 ABS is standard or optional on more models than ever. You can verify the availability of ABS on all vehicles in CarPoint by looking at Safety Features pages. ABS on light trucks is often available on the rear wheels only. CarPoint often points out these systems on Description pages as well.

Daytime running lights. Studies have shown that using headlights during the day can prevent some car-to-car crashes because of a vehicle's enhanced visibility when its lights are switched on. For 1996 some automakers, such as Chevrolet, are equipping many of their models with daytime running lights, automatically activated when the ignition switch is turned on. Others include Geo, Saab, Suzuki, Volkswagen and Volvo.

Traction control/all-wheel drive. Traction control uses sensors to determine when wheels begin to slip and reduces engine speed and/or gently applies braking to maintain optimum traction. All-wheel drive, on the other hand, sends power to all four wheels all the time, increasing overall traction and control over a wider range of conditions. Traction control and all-wheel drive are costly features, but they provide more control, and therefore an extra margin of safety on wet or icy roads.

Good visibility. Clear vision would seem an obvious given in vehicle design. Yet all too often window size and placement is dictated more by style than function. Make sure the car has plenty of glass all around and that the body panels separating windows aren't so thick that they will obstruct vision.

Proper ergonomics. A vehicle's sound system may reproduce music that's the next best thing to a live performance, but if the system's controls are so tiny you need bifocals to find them, they're a detriment to safety.