Ever wonder how safe your car really is? Consumer Reports
has added a new video feature to its auto site that goes beyond simple
ratings to show how vehicles perform in the Insurance Institute for
Highway Safety's crash tests. The crash test videos are
quite interesting; they utilize the official footage from the Insurance
Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and show the front offset and side
impact crashes in slow motion, then Deputy Editor Online Jeff Bartlett
explains in detail the strengths and weaknesses displayed by each
vehicle.
ConsumerReports.org launched the Flash-video-based crash test center
with the 100 vehicles prioritized by those most often researched on the
site, and plan to grow that number significantly in the weeks ahead. It
presents a well-rounded collection of mainstream popular coupes,
sedans, minivans, trucks, and sport/utility vehicles from Acura to
Volvo; users can pick the crash they want to view using a collection of
year/make/model pulldowns. Flash is a pretty universal method for
serving video these days, so it's easy to use; if you have any trouble
viewing, you might just need to install a simple plugin.
Jeff says "After watching a few videos, it's clear even those earning
the highest rating of "Good" look frightening in the tests. Watching
the slow-motion action and hearing the commentary makes real the
potential health risk drivers face on the road and the importance of
buying a vehicle with proven protection, and driving safely." He's
right. The videos are scary. Even inside the "Good" vehicles, the crash
test dummies bounce around like ragdolls, leaving paint marks on the
vehicle wherever their heads happen to bash into a surface. One of the
poor vehicles actually folds in half after impact. After watching
these, "drive safely" seems like an understatement.
According to CR, The IIHS front-crash test highlights the vehicle's
structural integrity and restraint performance. The crash simulates
what would happen if two cars of the same weight and type crashed
head-on, left headlight to left headlight. The vehicle is crashed at 40
mph into a deformable barrier so that only the left front of the car
hits the barrier. An instrument-equipped crash dummy in the driver's
seat records forces to the head and neck, chest, legs, and feet.
Vehicles are rated as Good, Acceptable, Marginal, or Poor based on what
happens to vehicle structure, as well as forces on the dummies. What
makes these videos especially meaningful is Jeff's commentary that
points out important aspects of each vehicle's results.
In addition to these crash tests, ConsumerReports.org offers some very
informative feature stories to assist in researching a vehicle's crash
safety value, starting right here: "Crash test 101: How crash worthiness is measured and how crash ratings can help you choose your next car"
This article is several pages long, with an index in the upper
left-hand corner that links in several important topics, including
explanations of the NHTSA crash tests, explanations of the IIHS crash
tests, explanations that go behind the ratings, and how to use this
information to help you to choose your next car. Complete IIHS and
NHTSA crash test data, as well as their own test results,
are available to online subscribers in the model overview pages.
Safety
is important to all of us women, but even more so when we're toting
around precious cargo - like children. Tools like these can ensure
you're well informed when researching your next purchase.
-- by Brandy A. Schaffels
