I drive a 2000 Corolla with over 100K and am considering buy a new car. My second car is 2000 Mercedes SLK 320 (2 seater convertible). I drive 70% hwy and 30% local and 20K a year and am planning to have a kid next year. Both of my cars are compact size, but my wife and I never have a space problem. I really like a Pruis for an amazing gas mileage, high tech stuffs, smooth riding and hatchback, but I am not sure it is a safe car. I am a good driver for 23 years with no accident by my fault except one small readend to a police car at the exit ramp. She didn't even claim. I have 4 rearend, 3 side and 2 front collision total. I checked Prius' NHTSA Ratings for safety, and they are all "good" except one excellent for driver side. Camry(30 mpg avg) and CRV(24 mps avg) has all excellent rating. I got a whipflash from a rearend early this year and the back pain is reocurring now. Prius is still the first choice, but some friends have a concern about the safety and the insurance coverage. Welcome to your suggestion and advice.
Prius is a very safe car with both front and side airbags. I feel safe in it, and my other car is a big 7 series BMW
NHSTA did not use the curtain side airbags in its testing. you should also take a look at this link http://www.newstreet.it/home/article_Id_627.html Toyota Prius gains 5-star Euro NCAP accolade. Hybrid car gets class-best 34 points and highest ever child protection score. Prius is first ever hybrid to be tested by Euro NCAP. A further 125 actual crash tests confirm optimum passive safety. this prius also uses whiplash reducing headrests. so really... its one of the safest out there
It is very safe. It comes with a whole list of active and passive safety features. Active features include standard traction control, standard ABS with EBD and optional vehicle stability control (VSC). Passive safety include Whiplash Injury Lessesning (WIL) seats (I didn't make the name up), dual-stage dual front airbags, headrest for EVERYONE, optional front seat-mounted side airbags and full length curtain airbags. Have a look at the link. http://www.newstreet.it/home/article_Id_627.html Search this forum. There is one thread about the Prius being broadsided (i.e. T-boned) by a Buick and one that was smashed head-on at 50mph.
The advanced brake system (VSC, TC, ABS) will help prevent accidents proactively. The airbags will reactively protect occupants during an accident. With both, the Prius is very safe.
My first Prius was totalled when it was rear-ended by a Land Cruiser going at about 35 mph. I didn't suffer any injuries other than feeling crappy for a day or two, despite the fact my seat back was bent backwards at a 45 degree angle. If my kids had been sitting in the rear seat they would have been similarly unharmed as the seating area was not violated (if that's not too strong a word). Terrific engineering if you ask me. Doug Wilkinson
we're looking at having kids sometime soon too. this was a factor when we were looking for cars last spring. we looked at the camry as our other option. would have been cheaper with his dealership-employee discount, but we liked the prius better by far. i like the fact that there are so many airbags. and after seeing pictures of prii that have been in accidents, and seeing how intact the passenger compartments always are... i feel very safe.
