I feel safe in a Prius because.....

An unlicensed, uninsured, illegal immigrant driver, traveling 90+ mpg with no seat belts in a borrowed vehicle hit me in my 2005 Prius (cruise control set at 66 mph). Everyone in the other vehicle was ejected, the front right passenger was killed. All other passengers and the drivers left in an ambulance. My 2005 was total (rolled, front end ripped off). The Prius came to rest, I opened the driver's door and stepped out with only minor trauma.

I now drive a 2007 Touring. I drive prudently and feel reasonably safe.

 

I feel safe because it has 8 airbags.

I feel safe because it gets good crash test ratings. The car may have damage, but what's important is that the occupants are kept as safe as possible. We were told the same thing about what an "earthquake safe" building means. For instance, our house is on springs and is wrapped in earthquake straps. We were told that while the house may have damage, it shouldn't collapse and kill anyone.

I went from an Explorer with only 2 airbags to the Prius with 8. I feel much safer in the Prius.

Again - damage to the car and injuries to the occupants are two different things and the occupants are much more important than my front fender.

 

I'm still on the wait list but, my insurance rep said it has one of the better ratings and here's the 2008 Prius Consumer's Reports opinion: :thumb:

Safety
Antilock brakes Standard
Traction control Standard
Stability control Optional
Daytime running lights Not available
Tire pressure monitor Available
Safety belts
- Center-rear belt 3-point 3-point
- Pretensioners, front/rear Yes/no
Air bags
- Occupant-sensing system Front
- Side bags, front/rear Standard/no
- Side curtain air bags Standard
Accident alert system Not available
Crash and rollover tests
- IIHS offset-crash test Good
- IIHS side-crash test with side airbags Good
- IIHS side-crash test without side air bags NA
- Gov't front-crash test, driver Very good
- Gov't front-crash test, front pass. Very good
- Gov't side-crash test, driver Excellent
- Gov't side-crash test, rear pass. Very good
- Gov't rollover test, 2WD Very good
- Gov't rollover test, 4WDNA NA

 

I feel pretty safe in the Prius... however, the crash ratings only shows you how the vehicle may survive a collision with a like size vehicle. It doesn't take into account a heavier vehicle, a vehicle with a higher bumper, etc.

From what I've seen, the Prius does at least as well as any other car the same size with the same amount of airbags. Let's just say you're not giving up any safety to get the advantages of the Prius over another car the same size that gets much worse fuel economy. I would however rather be in my '08 Grand Cherokee also with front, side, and side curtain airbags than my '08 Prius in a collision. We can take that one step further, I would have rather been in my '06 Navigator... once again with an equal number of airbags than my Grand Cherokee...

 

Safety has always been on our minds when purchasing a car. I went from a Supercrew F-150 to the Prius, but for some reason I feel just as safe, if not safer, in the Prius. It does seem as though more people pull out in front of me in the Prius vs. the truck.

 

I feel very safe in my Prius. I drive 25 miles back and forth from work on winding, hilly, country roads. However, unfortunately under certain circumstances I suppose any car can be unsafe. One of my co-workers was riding as a passenger in his Prius last weekend. Another car crossed the center line and hit his car head-on. Wife in hospital bruised with broken ribs (but doing fine). 14 year old daughter with broken collar bone - released from hospital. Co-worker died at the scene. Both cars were probably going 50 + mph. I have no other details about exactly which seat he was in. The Prius apparently rolled into a field. But how many cars are built to take a head-on collision at 50+ mph?

 

I feel safe because because I'm a carefull driver, driving a car that I'm comfortable with and has a lot of nice safety features. Put me in a Hummer or on a motorcycle and I'd feel VERY unsafe because it's not what I normally drive.

 

I feel safe in my Prius because I can drive.
This may not reassure you.

I also mostly feel safe on my motorbike however I am very vigilant, not scared just vigilant.

If you don't feel safe in a car, any car, then you need a new driver.

 

Oh! I don't know! There was the Chevrolet Monza, I had a '61 myself and felt safe because I new it's weakness, and could do a 180 one dry concrete(not proud of that anymore), just had to avoid the sharp ess turns, but I also lost a friend that drove one because of exactly what Nader was complaining about, Ford Pinto gas tank, Ford Explorer rollovers. Driver beware as the automakers say. It's always the drivers fault. :decision:
But you're also right about the drivers. It's too easy to get behind the wheel of a 2k-4k lbs death machine. There are people driving on the road that you wouldn't let wash your car let alone drive it. Oh! Well! :violin:

 

I'm pretty sure if you count them you will find only 6...

 

Tsk tsk, Ranchogirl is blessed with two natural ones. Spectacular I'm sure.
:bump2: :first:

(Disclaimer: humorous post only)

I feel safer in the Prius that I would in most SUV's - because they don't have roll-over protection (crash bars, roll-over bars, etc) - and they flip over easy.

 

Could it be a couple of politicians, talk radio hosts or Hollywood stars were also in the car? (I also thought of Bulgarian Airbags :embarassed

 

It happens some times but is rare for a drivers of a 45 tonne plus semi trailer and bigger combinations to be killed in vehicle accidents. On average truck drivers have less accidents per 100,000 kilometres than car drivers. This is in spite of the fact trucks have poor handling, relatively less driver protection, rarely have airbags, newer trucks do have ABS on the steer axle but not on other wheels and roll over protection is almost unheard of and stability control?. Even the fuel tanks are almost exclusively bolted to the outside of the chassis rails!!
These drivers know the limitations of their vehicles and drive within them.

 

Two front, two side front seat, two curtain front, two curtain back. =8.

Unless, are the curtain bags just one long bag that spans front and back? On my Passat they were two separate.

 

I sorry but I'm missing your point! I already agreed with you regarding incompetent drivers. Unfortunately, I personally feel that most drivers don't know enough about their cars or about driving today. That's the point I was trying to make. So are you saying the the Auto manufacturers have no responsibility for the safety of their car's? I guess you did not get my point when I explained about the Monza. It had a serious design flaw, I knew about it, I had it on 2 wheels, no wheels, 180's on dry roads, sorry the 360's were wrong, they were on ice or light snow. I knew my car, felt a part of it. Of course that was when I was young and invinsible. My friend lost his life in his Monza because of the design defect, as did many others. It was before it was a known problem. The are good drivers and bad drivers. There are safe cars and less safe cars.
I don't know how we got from my three examples to big rigs. The monza had a design flaw, that allowed the rear wheel to fold under the car, on an ess turn. It was corrected the following year, after several deaths. I'm not sure how the drivers were supposed to know that before Ralph made the general public aware of it. Personally I hated him for putting down the Monza. I loved mine. But there were lives lost that were not the drivers fault. Unless you feel they should have been design experts. The Pinto's would have probably been O.K. too, if their gas tanks were made out of the same gauge steel as the big rig's. Again, how was that the drivers fault. And third, the Ford/Explorer Firestone issue. I guess it's was again the driver's fault that they inflated the tires to the recommended psi.
Well actually it is enlightening. So many people try to make excuses or lay blame on somebody else and refuse to take responsibility. It's really a pleasure the read that someone is willing to take ALL the responsibility onto themselves. It's nice to know at least someone out there is so totally in control of their surroundings and envionment.
I was merely trying to give a funny but serious response to your abosolute comment;

"If you don't feel safe in a car, any car, then you need a new driver."

Pointing out that in my opinion there are , as usual, exceptions to the rule. But I apologize. I see that in your world it's all absolutes with no exceptions.

 

For some reason, I don't feel as safe in a Prius than our previous vehicle, which was a Honda Odyssey minivan. But then again, the Prius is a midsize compact.

I've also done some research before considering a Prius and it doesn't do as well in crash tests as some other cars, say, the Honda Civic.

But, since I live in the city, there isn't a lot of opportunities to travel fast, except on highways, and apparently there are rare chances for an accident to happen if vehicles are traveling in the same direction (with the exception of being hit in the bumper). I was willing to risk a few stars here and there for the features of the Prius.

In conclusion, I think if you make an effort to drive safe and always be attentive/alert for other cars, you should be able to avoid most accidents anyways. Of course, there are always exceptions.

 

Patsparks; I apologize for my defensive diatride in the earlier post. I enjoy reading you posts and don't wish to be at odds with you. Although I do enjoy a good discussion and different opinions. This one seen to take a left turn someware. So perhaps you would be willing to agree to disagree.

Your position is, and I quote:
"If you don't feel safe in a car, any car, then you need a new driver."

My position is:
"If you don't feel safe in a car, any car, then you need a new car."
Is that O.K. by you? :tea: I hope so.

 

I feel safe in my Prius as well or else I would not be driving this car. Even with all the aigbags around me, I still pay close attention to traffic and try not to put myself in danger. Defensive driving is the key to a nice fun drive.