Are You Driving One of This Year's Most Deadly Cars?
Posted by Administrator (admin) on Apr 26 2007 at 10:10 PM
Ford F-150 >>

(VA) - Are cars getting safer? New numbers on crash deaths show a steep drop in just the past 10 years.

The 2001 Ford F-150 pickup was one of the worst performers in the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety crash tests because the cab folded on impact. Compare that to the redesigned 2004 model where the cab stays intact.

“When we looked at driver death rates, what we saw was the new F150 had a death rate half that of the older model. A dramatic improvement, it's a much safer vehicle now", says Anne McCartt Senior VP Research at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

The institute compiled statistics on driver death rates for more than 200 vehicles between the years 2001 and 2004, the latest data available. Ranking the best and the worst according to class and size.

Smaller cars had generally higher death rates but some cars did much better than others. The Mini Cooper had one third the fatalities of the Acura RSX.

Large, heavy vehicles tend to have the lowest death rates and SUV’s, which have a tendency to rollover, are getting safer mainly because of electronic stability control. In a test with two identical SUVs the only difference was one vehicle has the stability control. The Honda Pilot with E.S.C. had six times fewer deaths than the Chevy Blazer without E.S.C.

A General Motors spokesman criticized the study for not explaining such details about who drives the cars and driver behavior. A Honda spokesman told CNN the lower rated Acura RSX tends to appeal to younger, less experienced drivers. Ford criticized the study, saying it "....fails to take into account some of the most critical factors related to fatality rates, including seat belt usage, alcohol consumption and driving experience."

The insurance institute says those factors remain similar across categories of vehicles making comparisons legitimate.