Bigger Cars are Safer .........

[GMACK24]

Study: Lighter cars mean more deaths
By David Kiley, USA TODAY
DETROIT — Reducing the weight of vehicles, mostly to improve fuel economy, has resulted in more traffic deaths, especially in small cars, federal regulators said Tuesday.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said a new study proves what the agency and many others have been saying: Until pickups and sport-utility vehicles are designed to cause less damage to smaller vehicles in crashes, occupants of the gas-guzzling heavier trucks will be safer than those in more fuel-efficient, lighter vehicles.
Fatality rates
Driver fatalities per billion vehicle miles from 1996 to 2000 in 1996 to 1999 models:
Very small cars 11.56
Small cars 7.85
Compact pickups 6.82
Midsize SUVs 6.73
Small SUVs 5.68
Midsize cars 5.26
Large pickups 4.07
Large SUVs 3.79
Large cars 3.30
Minivans 2.76
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration



The study was done as NHTSA prepares to write new fuel economy rules and side-impact crash standards, said agency spokesman Rae Tyson.

While some environmentalists fear automakers will use the study to ward off stricter fuel efficiency standards, Tyson said it should not be interpreted to mean that fuel economy and safety are mutually exclusive. "It is very possible for SUVs and light trucks to go on a diet, without compromising safety."

The new study contradicts one the agency did in 1997, which concluded that vehicle weight reductions didn't increase fatality risk. NHTSA engineers have long doubted that study's methodology and conclusions.

The new study found:

• A weight reduction of 100 pounds in the heaviest trucks and SUVs, those weighing more than 5,000 pounds, could save hundreds of lives a year.

• Weight reductions in trucks and SUVs weighing less than 5,000 pounds and most passenger cars could mean more fatalities for occupants of those vehicles.

• The most fuel efficient and often least expensive cars, the very small ones, have a fatality rate twice that of small and midsize SUVs and four times that of minivans.

• In collisions that involve the heaviest pickups and SUVs, 83% of fatalities are in the lighter vehicles.

The study shows that when trucks weighing 3,870 pounds or more lose 100 pounds of weight, fatalities in those vehicles increase about 3% in rollovers and in collisions with fixed objects. But those deaths are offset by lives saved when the trucks are in collisions with lighter-weight vehicles.

The report confirms what automakers have long known, "that downsizing and down-weighting vehicles has an adverse impact on safety," said Eron Shosteck, Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers spokesman.

But Joan Claybrook, a former NHTSA administrator and executive director of Public Citizen, said: "NHTSA's study is based on a comparison of the safety records of vehicles differing by 100 pounds, ignoring differences in safety design, which other studies have shown to matter more than weight."

[txinvestigator1]

It took a study for them to figure that out huh?

[Rad Diver]

Somebody (a phd, not a post hole digger) had to get a study done so they could get paid.

[gdowkpc]

I wonder if it applies when a smaller car hits a smaller car? Or is this the 1972 Buick hitting the 1992 Geo Metro?

That's a no-brainer.

[sparrow803]

When that guy hit my 85 CV with his small pickup last week - the lady in the gas station that saw it said he just kinda "bounced" off it. LMAO

[locokarma]

corvettes... the bounceable car you can depend on..... LOL

[Switchback]

Gotta love my Dodge 2500 4x4! Sorry in advance to anyone hitting me in it. I hit a deer @65mph once (and we have huge, corn-fed deer around here). Speed bumps have bothered me more, while the deer was in 2 pieces behind me! The kids didn't even notice.... needed a little work onthe bumper after it was all said and done, though.

[mcsap]

I will not drive a small econobox for those reasons. I have 2 midsized cars and a full sized van. Even Geo Metro vs Geo Metro isn't good. A GM pulls out from a stop sign into the path of another GM doing 40 mph and it just isn't good. Obviously, the same GM pulling out in front of an F-250 is worse.

[Jcrazy]

I hit a deer with a Ford LTD once, the deer exploded when I got to work all I had to do was hose the car off.

[gdowkpc]

I hit a van with a 72 Ford Gran Torino. He turned left in front of me. There were 3 feet of skids backwards, showing how far I bounced off of him.

I had body damage but no frame damage. He was using prybars just to get the wheels to turn again. Who needs a crumple zone when you just crumple the other guy's car?

[sparrow803]

Originally posted by gdowkpc
I hit a van with a 72 Ford Gran Torino. He turned left in front of me. There were 3 feet of skids backwards, showing how far I bounced off of him.

I had body damage but no frame damage. He was using prybars just to get the wheels to turn again. Who needs a crumple zone when you just crumple the other guy's car?

I had a 1970 Torino, then a 1972 Gran Torino, both very sweet cars.

[gdowkpc]

I had the 351 Cleveland. Loved that engine.

[sparrow803]

Mine was a 351 Windsor - you could write a letter on the dash while it was running it was soooooooo smooth.

[Sgt. Pepper]

OK let me dispel something how many of you have seen SUV vs Car OK i rest my case because the big cars are so big they flatten them thats why so many people are killed, or the smaller cars get wedged under them, because of a few reasons, One big cars can't see little ones, two the false sense that people are safer in big cars.. the larges roll over hazard, some large car drivers get a little carless with that security. sum it up, If your in a car and you are driving and suddenly the sherman tanks stops you will be hurt and hurt badly. don't believe me i got the pics to prove it. One sided study is what i say oo yea less injuries to the person driving it.

[001]

When thinking about cars or trucks and about impacts and what one I would feel the safest in.

Theres no question.

Acouple years ago my buddy bought a 1957 ford. This thing is made of steel.

There are no seat belts, seeing there weren't any in that years models, but I have a feeling that car would go up against a transport.

Now, Offcourse I hope I never have to find out the hard way, but if I had a choice to make, or feel safe in, its that boat LOL.

Heres a pic (not his but same model)