http://www.iihs.org/externaldata/srdata/docs/sr4204.pdf[/url]

Detailed information on fatality rates on classes and models of cars. The fun part is picking out pickups and SUVs built on similar frames.

It looks like Seoul and Detroit's POS small cars have done wonders to give small cars a death-trap reputation. The feeling many people get when seeing a Fit or Civic in traffic is "I'd hate to get into a crash with another vehicle in that!".

Example's from the multi-vehicle crash numbers:
2100 lbs Toyota Echo had 53 fatalities in multi-vehicle crashes per million vehicle years.

The Mini Cooper had 48.

The Civic had 47.

The Dodge Neon had 107

The Honda Accord had 19

The Dodge Stratus had 60.

The Crown Vic and Grand Marquis had 34 and 50 respectively.

The Pontiac Bonneville had 53

Even the monsterous Ford Excursion had 35, and the Chevrolet Suburban had 40.

THere's lots of fun to be had digging around in there.

Note that these are leaving out single vehicle and rollover crashes - this is exclusively metal vs. metal. The data in the report includes all categories: single-vehicle, multi-vehicle, and rollover. As you read through, note the order in each category... makes you feel great about American steel, eh?

 

Can't find the S2000 in there anywhere. Actually it seems to be missing a lot of vehicles. Not sure I understand the data.

 

It seems to be mostly a sampling... Here's another report (similarly a few years old)
http://eetd.lbl.gov/ea/teepa/pdf/TRB_Safety_1-03.pdf

And, an interesting chart from the middle.



Again, not all cars, but a nice sampling (as of 2003).

Good engineering can overcome mass to protect you, it seems. Note that the Civic in these charts is lighter than the current Fit.

 

I knew that the Dodge Ram would top the list of risk to drivers of other vehicles.... The people around here that drive them are the biggest assholes on the road.

 

The interesting parts to me on both are that the SUV's versions of the trucks (using similar or identical frames) are typically less dangerous. These are fairly raw numbers based only on miles travelled, with no consideration for the driver demographics. The SUV's, like minivans, are typically family trucksters, while pickups substitute for muscle cars for many young singles, particularly in rural areas.

The fact that the Civic places as it does despite being a car of choice in that time period for college age punks who want to play speed racer really shows what a well engineered car it is. I would expect the Fit to place just the same as the Accords and Civics in a more up to date study.

 

There have been numerous accidents along the road I have to drive to town on in the 15 years I've lived here. The one fatality I recall involving a small car involved a 3/4 ton crew cab in a head on driven by a woman that had just had an argument with her husband and a recent high school graduate that was upset over an argument with his father.. The only other accident involving a small car was when a high school student late for class in a riced out something or other, took out the mail boxes, took out some fence and landed bottom side up after rolling at least 2 times... He was found on his cell phone walking up the road with no idea of where he was or what happened but otherwise OK. I can recall only 3 accidents that were fatal that some type of truck wasn't involved. where I presently live..... I remember back before insurance on cars was mandatory, people didn't use cell phones, or have air bags and everybody was smoking left handed cigarettes, driving was a lot less hazardous.

 

I agree the Neon isn't the more secure car on earth... this was my 99 dohc coupe after i've hit a tree!!



Still, they're a blast to drive.... and no, the flame sheme isn't from me if you wonder!! :P

Marko!!

 

the neon is shit!! it has a 5 star rating by wikipeadia! thats why me and my wife got rid of ours when we had our 2nd child but now we have a 2010 civic:):)

 

There was a hot rod Neon model that came equipped with Bilstein shocks that I read an article about where it was compared to a popular model by BMW in performance.... The price of the said Neon was the same as the depreciation of the BMW over a 2 year period if I remember correctly and the author said he could drive the wheels off of it and walk off and leave it where ever it died and come out ahead..... I feel that a car that is capable of avoiding accidents in the first place is the safest car to drive. Imagine how much cheaper insurance and initial purchase price of new cars would be if everyone felt the same way instead of being more concerned with what happens after an impact instead of avoiding one.

 

those reports show a very telling story... what's scary is alot of big truck/suv drivers are women who think they are safe in it.

 

Note the "other vehicle" part on the side. If I'm not mistaken, you are indicating this all backwards. Weight wins every time when two bodies collide. Also, various forms of crash ratings are only against other cars in their "class" but nobody every talks about that on small car forums. 5 stay in a Fit might be like 2 stars in a large SUV in the real world. That's why you see so many, because marketing doesn't outweigh logic for most folks (harhar.)

Poor engineering is another thing, and is to account for the variables.

 

It is for the most part young women that are driving small imports in this area but most women are driving SUVs once they are over 30.... At the busier intersections in the closest town, trucks and SUVs out number automobiles by 5 to one and more than that outside of the city limits. These truck driving folks consider small cars unsafe but a lot of them are nothing more than mobile traffic hazards.... The young guys in big loud trucks get very mad when they can't get close enough to my Fit to tailgate me.