Shopping for Safety in a Vehicle - Crash Worthiness

Shopping for Safety in a Vehicle Crash Worthiness
By Jim Addison, PresidentAddison Auto Center

Safety in a vehicle comes from two areas. One is the safety of the vehicle’s construction known as crashworthiness. The other area comes from a vehicle’s safety features that include air bags, anti-lock brakes, seat belts, traction control, head restraints, daytime running lights and child passenger equipment.

Crashworthiness is designed into the vehicle and is a result of how the vehicle is built. The better the crashworthiness the less risk of serious injury or death. Therefore crashworthiness should be considered the most important factor. A good structure design includes a strong passenger compartment and crush zones in the front and rear consisting of the area in front of the front doors and behind the rear doors. Cars are not designed equally when it come to crashworthiness. Some have crush zones, which are too stiff or too short, and some have passenger compartments, that are not strong enough. A crashworthy vehicle absorbs the energy before it begins to deform the passenger compartment. As the passenger compartment deforms, the risk of serious injury or death increases greatly. In general larger cars are more crashworthy because they have longer crush zones which will absorb more of the impact of the collision. As a percentage, small cars have twice as many occupant deaths in crashes as large cars. However, many small cars maneuver better than larger cars, trucks or SUVs and may be better at avoiding an accident.

Crash tests are done by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the results are published in the booklet “Buying a Safer Car 2000” or viewed on line at their website www.nhtsa.dot.gov. Two types of crash tests are done. One involves crashing a car into a stationary barrier at 35 mph, which simulates a head on collision with another car of the same weight. The second test simulates a side impact with a 3,015-pound barrier moving at 38.5 mph into a standing vehicle. Chest and head injury are the most common injury as a result of side collisions. In both these crash tests the cars are rated according to chance of serious injury. On the NHTSA website you can view the pictures of front and side impacts on each vehicle tested. Safety ratings are from one to five stars with five being the least lively to sustain serious injury or death.

Another website where you can view crash test photos with results and ratings is www.hwysafety.org maintained by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the Highway Loss Data Institute. Crash tests vehicles are rated from poor to good regarding safety cage and injury to head/neck, chest and each leg and foot.

OTHER SAFETY FEATURES

SEAT BELTS
There are a number of variables on seat belt design. Some have height adjustments for the shoulder strap. Some have pretensioners which reel in the excess slack in a collision. Some belts are designed to give during a collision to keep the energy forces from exerting too much pressure on the person’s chest.

AIR BAGS
Air bags have been around for about 40 years but were not common until federal law mandated their use in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Front driver and passenger air bags are standard equipment on all 2001 and newer model vehicles. There are also side air bags and air bags for head injury protection on side collisions. A child’s car seat should not be installed where there is an air bag. The rear seat is safest for children.

ANTI-LOCK BRAKES
Anti-lock brakes keep a vehicle from skidding, which allows steering control during panic braking. All passenger cars with ABS have four wheel ABS. SUVs, trucks and vans can have two or four wheel ABS. Two wheel ABS only works on the rear wheels and does not maintain steering control if the front wheels skid.

HEAD RESTRAINT
Head restraints should reach a point between your ears and the top of your head. If they adjust, they should lock in the adjusted position.

Finally when shopping for a vehicle pay attention to how things fit you. Can you reach the pedals comfortably while staying at least ten inches away from the steering wheel air bags? Does the seat belt fit and go across your chest? Is it adjustable? Does the vehicle have good visibility all the way around.

TEEN AGE DRIVERS
Besides the above-mentioned features two additional things should be considered for the inexperienced driver. One is not to have a car with too much power. Consider a plain four-cylinder engine over a turbocharged or six-cylinder engine. The other consideration is handling. How stable is the car in an emergency steering maneuver? A good way to check this is to do a quick lane change on an uncrowded interstate at 50-60 mph. Does the vehicle maintain control well or do you have to struggle a little to keep it in the lane?

© Copyright 2010. Addison Auto Center

Addison Auto Repair & Body Shop
2005 South Holly Street • Denver, CO 80222 • 303-691-9484

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