wintersun wrote:
Thanks to the feds testing program any car or truck you buy today is going to be much safer and the occupants are much more likely to survive a collision. The manufacturers have fought every single safety improvement including safety glass, seat belts, ABS brakes, and air bags.
Different vehicles will have different designs and the more truck like the vehicle, as with the 4Runner with its ladder frame construction, the less it can deflect energy from the occupants' seating area. The 4Runner is one of very few true offroad SUV's you can buy.
What I have noticed is that the Korean car companies are now making the safest cars, better than those from the Japanese or American car companies. If it helps their sales and profits then more power to them.
If only that were true. In fact lighter vehicles kill thousands of people a year:
"According to a study completed in 2001 by the National Research Council (NRC), the last major increase in CAFE standards, mandated by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975, required about a 50% increase in fuel economy (to 27.5 mpg by model year 1985 from an average of 18 mpg in 1978). The NRC study concluded that the subsequent downsizing and down-weighting of vehicles, "while resulting in significant fuel savings, also resulted in a safety penalty." Specifically, the NRC estimated that in 1993 there were between 1,300 and 2,600 motor vehicle crash deaths that would not have occurred if cars were as heavy as they were in 1976."
The Feds are driving manufacturers to make lighter and more fuel efficient vehicles even tho that kills off taxpayers. That's why we call Coopers and such Death Cars in our family.
BK
