4 Star Government Safety Ratings- Will it impact sales?

One way you can look at it is that safety features save lives and even a single life is very precious so load up the safety features...

Another darker way to look at it is that there are 2-ways insurance companies can improve their bottom line...Raise rates and pressure the government to improve safety standards...

I'm not saying we should go back to the days of questioning seat-belts but Mom and Dad are still alive and their cars while bigger were lighter and had drum brakes and lap belts that were never used...

 

I'm well aware of that, however I have not had an accident due to any kind of braking issues. Instead of forcing ABS and air bags on us, why not do a better job of teaching people how to drive. Todays drivers tests are a joke at best.

 

Some Moms and Dads are still alive. With a large group, you will have some survivors even with bad odds. I suppose your point is that older cars were not necessarily flaming death traps, even without modern safety features. This is true, but it is also true that they were a lot more dangerous.

Tom

 

If I understand the rating system, no. Only two cars got five stars which means the mob has moved into the four star group.

If it were going to make a difference, there would need to be Gaussian curve so there would be distinct bands to choose from. Most of the cars should be in the middle, a side-band on each, and finally the tail vehicles (aka., tank and tanto.)

Bob Wilson

 

Indeed. Death rates from motor vehicle crashes were rising into the 1970s and were much higher than today, even though the total annual miles travelled were much lower back then. Safer cars and increased restraint use have improved the odds considerably and the rates continue to drop, though very slowly at this point.

 

That is my understanding, too. It seems to set up the possibility that those two 5-star rated vehicles could suddenly become 4-star vehicles when the next set of tests are released. That will make for a lot of confusion, even though the intent to provide more differentiation is legitimate.

 

Yes, the 4-star rating affected our decision. I'm not buying one, since I planned to use the vehicle to drive the kids to/from school, and carpool with my wife to work. "4" stars on a 20-year old test methodology is unacceptable. And the "5" star Camry using the old methodology only got "4" stars for rollover and "3" stars for the crashes using the new 2011 methodology. So how do you think the Prius will fare using the new and tougher method?

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the Prius V since I really want the improved mileage of a hybrid.

One thing that my wife and I were impressed with was the crash test ratings of the Honda Accord (not that we like the car that much). But you gotta tip your hat to a car that gets "5" stars throughout under the new methodology, even though the car came out in 2007.

 

Given those nasty old things called PHYSICS, the small Prius, IMhO, does pretty good. Face it, with so many Americans still in love with HUGE SillyUghleeVehicles....your best bet in a Prius is to drive alert and defensively! OTOH given the airbags it has that my '05 Honda Accord did NOT have...probably @ a wash.

My wife totaled her '08 Malibu by pulling out in front of a old Chevy pickup...the impact severly damaged the Malibu, but the impact's force DROVE the Malibu head on into a phone pole....that TOTALED the car. I wonder why I had traded a perfectly good '06 Honda Civic for that Malibu @ a year before??? The Chevy Malibu's structure and air bags worked: she ended up in ER for @ 3 hours and was sore/bruised, but otherwise ok. The wreck was replaced with a then new '09 Malibu.

She started throwing a hissy-fit when I got my Prius: I will not get her one nor allow her to drive mine....after 4 damaged and 1 TOTALED car on her "record"....anybody wonder why?

IMO the little car is reasonably safe to drive, despite its marginal handling...IF you stay alert, and for gas mileage + hopefully low overall operating cost$...seems hard to beat! DFO

 

I can honestly say that I have never even considered safety ratings when buying a car. I can see the benefits of the safety features for many drivers, such is the sorry state of the standard of driving here in the UK. But IMO most of the safety features in modern cars are just making it easier for people to pay less attention the their driving. Today it's like when you play a computer game, you take risks because you know you won't be killed, many drivers rely on the safety features to get them through their poor driving skills.

 

Is something preventing you from being a good driver in a saf(er) car ?

 

LOL!

If you think driving is bad on your side of the pond, you aught to see how we colonials make a hash of it!!!
Personally, I don't pay much attention to government crash ratings when I purchase a vehicle---I ride motorcycles quite a bit, and so it would be somewhat hypocritical for me to ding a Prius for having been given a 4.0 instead of a 5.0 by the East German judges.
It's a rather smallish sedan that's being sold for people looking for either crazy good fuel economy, or for the perception of being one who cares about getting crazy good fuel economy.
You know...saving the world and all like that.
Car makers like Volvo cash in on the perception (real or otherwise) that it's 'safer' to roll one of their rides.
I don't think that Priuses would be any harder to sell with a 3* rating, or much easier to sell with a 5* rating---since people who are kicking the plastic wheel covers on these things in the dealership's lot have pretty much made up their minds that they want a Prius, or at least have an open mind about joining the Prius clan.
If you're THAT worried about crash ratings...you probably wouldn't suddenly decide that a 3,060 pound Prius is as safe as a 5,906 pound Tahoe, which does enjoy 5-stars---at least for impact safety, since I'm sure that some zealot will quickly point out that an SUV has a higher probability for roll-over.
You pays your money and you takes your chances.

 

To followup on this, I am told that the ratings are made not relative to other models, despite some wording that seemed to indicate this. Once a car gets a rating, it will not change unless retested.

The Accord did very well indeed. The Hyundai Sonata is also impressive, with both a 5-star overall NHTSA rating and an IIHS Top Safety Pick, too. Proof that relatively inexpensive cars are among the safest on the road. (The Accord missed a Top Pick by virtue of an "Acceptable" roof crush test result, but still pretty impressive overall!)

AWD seems the best example of this around here. When the first snow and ice hits here in Chicago, it's always trucks and SUVs on the side of the road. Yeah, AWD can help you get going, but it doesn't help you stop at all.

I would agree- most people don't buy a Prius with safety as the main objective. It's fuel economy #1. On the other hand, while it may not affect sales a lot, I would not be surprised to learn that some consumers would avoid it if it gets relatively poor results like the Camry.

For overall safety, I'd rather have my family in a number of midsize sedans rather than almost any full size SUV. While I wouldn't want to be in the sedan in a head-on (the one type of crash where mass is an advantage) with one of those SUVs, that's only one small factor of overall safety. I'd also not want to be in a full-size SUV when it goes head-on with another full size SUV, for example. There is a lot of mass with relatively rigid frames in that kind of crash, meaning a lot of energy gets passed along to the occupants.

I've been considering a Highlander Hybrid to replace my Honda minivan. It was a pretty good performer in the IIHS and old NHTSA testing, but I will wait for the new test results before I buy one. If it does as poorly as Camry, I probably won't consider it at all. While I'd like to see a 5-star overall rating, a 4-star overall rating that didn't have any individual 3-star results would be acceptable to me. But this would be for a primary family hauler, where fuel economy is not the #1 criteria for me.

As for Prius, it's a new design. The details of the new NHTSA testing have been around for years and manufacturers like Toyota often self-certify. So, they have all the information in-house in regard to design and testing to the standard. While it may not impact sales much if Prius earns an overall 3-star rating, it is still a pretty major design FAIL. Even if you're a very safe driver, and of course everyone believes they are, you still can't control the other idiot who is texting while driving that big SUV. Sometimes, crashworthiness is all that is between you and an extended hospital stay, or worse.

 

Since I totaled my first Gen III and turned right around and bought another one a few weeks later, I'd have to say I remain confident in its safety attributes.

 

5 Star Government Safety Ratings- Will it impact sales?

I'm pleased to note that Prius did much better than Camry in the new 2011 NHTSA crash tests. It received a 5-star overall rating. In the individual tests, it received 5 stars for the frontal driver male, 4 stars for frontal passenger female and 5 stars for all three side impact tests (front male, passenger rear female and driver female pole impact). That is very good, as many cars that had done fairly well for the 2010 tests didn't do as well for the updated testing.