Lack of Side-Impact Protection Makes Vehicles Dangerous
No doubt sometime in your future you might consider buying a car.
Whether new or used there is important information out there to help make you an informed consumer and therefore safer on the roads.
Something to consider — a car that has a bad record for safety may not be due to the car. It may be due to the fact that unsafe, young and inexperienced drivers gravitate toward them.
Case-in-point, the Nissan 350z. It has a death rate about double of other sports cars because when it is involved in an accident they are usually pretty serious according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).
In putting out its list of the 20 Most Dangerous Cars, the IIHS, which represents the interests of the insurance industry, considered side-impact protection, stability control and rollover risk.
#1 on the list is a car that Tiger Woods represents as a spokesman. The Buick Rendezvous is the least safe vehicle largely because it lacks side-impact protection which can lead to deadly head injuries.
The Ford Ranger, Mazda B Series, Nissan Frontier, Ford Escape, Mercury Mariner and the Toyota Yaris are at the top of the unsafe list.
By far what makes a car unsafe is a lack of side impact airbags and curtains. They greatly improve your chance of surviving if you are struck in a “T-bone” side impact 90 degree hit.
The good news is we should all be safer by buying the 2009 models as they will be required to have side-curtain airbags. That alone could save 1,000 lives a year from fatal side-impact crashes and the head injuries they cause.
At Farah & Farah, our experienced accident attorneys know what it takes to help you get your life back on track when you’;ve been impacted by an auto accident. Let us help. The first step is to call our Jacksonville office a call at 904-549-6434. #
