Doesn’t look good….
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Poor results for the xB in the latest Insurance Institute for Highway Safety side impacts crash tests.
Apparently, the Yaris does get a top mark.
So small Toyota models did improve with a newer generation. (The new xB is due soon)
Other disasters include the Hyundai Accent and Kia Rio.
Good scorres for the Versa, Fit and Yaris.
after seeing the aftermath of a lexus gs and lincoln navigator, i doubt driving any car besides hummer, escallade & navigator is safe anymore 🙁
You should see how the big lexus gs got crushed, almost shredded, when it got hit from the back by the big SUV.
The other day I saw a picture of what used to be a Scion tC, crushed to the size of a fridge, after an SUV rammed it from behind while it was sitting cluelessly behind a truck.
I believe that these safety agencies also need to consider the side-effects of having all these potential-manslaughter tools on the streets. These SUVs are too heavy & too big, and they’re very accessible.
I think classifying these SUV as trucks (lower speed limit, applying speed limiter, special permit, etc), would do a lot good for the rest of us, driving our normal cars.
Either that, or, they should make these SUV crumple more during collisions (or self-explode 1-2 seconds before collision)
Manufacturers DO NOT CARE about people or their lives, they only care about one thing and that would be PROFIT!!! It is so easy these days with modern manufacturing technics, computers and acumulated knowledge of decades of past experiences with automobile designs to design and build much safer vehicles! Why spend $50.00 more for each car built to include stronger materials that would save lives when that money can go right into their greedy hands for each car off the assembly line! Multiply $50.00 times each car built they save and dollar signs start to appear before their heartless eyes!!!
Oh but the interior plastics feel wonderful.
Versa, as will be a trend #1. This is a car that has won many european awards over the past 3 years as the Tiida ( Versa), toyota on the other hand (Scion), as is the current trend in recalls and quality, not so good!
go to freshalloy.com, click on forums, then click on 3’rd one down called freshalloy news, then click on mystery nissan spotted in LA. then you will see the all-new nissan Bevel
Not a Nissan,but the new Honda HRV.
For Europe and Japan only.
spotted in La, it “IS” the bevel (Nissan). you will see it as a concept unveiled in Detroit next month.
To The First Poster:
Your reply was the most RATIONAL I have ever seen on these forums, or close to the most rational.
SUV’s should be abolished, IMHO. Super Useless Vehicles= SUV.
HUMMER, at least the huge monsterous ones, are going(or are already going) on their way out(thank you 2+ dollars per gallon).
This may sound like a generalization, but, most people who drive larger cars, trucks, suvs tend to be the most rage road prone. They use their vehicles to be bullies, to make the long story short.
Act like they own the roads.
I miss the late 80’s, and early 90’s(well, minus the low HP on the vehicles, that is).
The Yaris sedan is today called a Sub-Compact, but my 1990 Nissan Sentra XE, almost the size of today’s Yaris sedan, was called a Compact car!
I saw my older neighbors new car, the Cobalt, the other day, and in the driveway, they have an older Buick, think a Somerset, from the 80s!!!!!!!
Anyhow, the Cobalt looked to be as large as this old “family car”.
EVERYTHING was smaller 20 years, even 15 years ago.
We did not see HUMMER on the roads.
No Military Assault Vehicles!
THESE ARE THE PROBLEM VEHICLES!
That and loser, distracted, and /or road raging drivers.
I would like to drive a “sub-compact”(such as the upcoming 3 and 5 door Saturn/Opel Astra), but I won’t, due to the reasons I have described above.
Also, today’s small cars(all , really) are built to “crunch up” when struck.
My 1990 sentra was rear ended in March of 1995, near an intersection. What hit me was a “small” diesel truck, with a trailer hauling a “small” steam roller(for smoothing out driveways/asphalt).
Hit at 20 MPH. what happened to the car? The seat back was slightly bent, and the trucks bumper scraped the plastic back on my(top) part of the bumper…and dneted the turnk lid in some, but I could still open and close the trunk, and lock it!!!!
Try that with todays”Crumple Zoned” cars!
Had the vehicle another 4+ years.
Also had 5MPH bumpers, todays are 2.5, I believe.
A kid on a bicycle hit a car dents the daylights out of ’em these days. the old cars were made of something called Steel! lol.
Also, we had the Old School bumpers, that stuck out from the car body, and could take a hit w/o shattering the plastic that surrounds the whole car.
Too large of vehicles, Loser drivers, and “insta-Crush” cars = disaster.
BTW; Edmunds picked the Rio/Accent for “Editors Most Wanted” for 07 models.
forgot to add to my last post, Poster 1, back in the day, 1990—– largest trucks I saw on the road were about the size of the old Chevy S-10. SUV? Maybe Isuzu Trooper II, which are small, in comparsion to many vehicles today.
They need to revert to that again,IMHO.
Anonymous 1:31 above:
Yes, the car biz is about profits…
BUT HOW MUCH profits do you think they’ll make at the end of the day when their vehicles are not safe?
Of course car makers care about safety. That’s a dumb thing to say.
They care about alot of things…and yes…profit is the goal at the end of the day too.
But you can’t make a profit if your buyers are all dead or crippled, or you have a reputation that sucks and no one is willing to purchase your vehicles. They have to care at some level.
Pastorshannon, I truely have to disagree with your post! Just like in the Tobacco industry they really don’t care how many lives are lost using their products! There is always a new generation waiting in the wings to buy their DANGEROUS VOLATILE products! Do you really think for one minute that they really care about your well being? They don’t care about the future generations either! MONEY and PROFIT is their ONLY GOAL!!!
blame the consumers for abandoning the minivans in favor of these huge suvs.
blame the government for not looking after its constituents but rather catering to the oil and car lobbyists. if gas price were in the $3-$4.00 range, i predict we will see more smaller vehicles (similar to what people pay in other part of the world).
i came from switzerland 10 years ago and am used to driving small car so my car is an ’04 scion xa. i feel “small” sitting at my kids’ school parking lot during pickup. i can say that 3 out of 5 cars are huge (yukon, expedition, landcruiser and numerous siennas and odysseys) and only carry one to two kids…while i am picking up my 3 kids in an xa. sometimes i feel like i should be driving a bigger car for safety sake…but old school dies hard so i am back behind my tiny xa.
Car makers are only interested in profit??? You can’t make a profit if all of your loyal customers die in a car accident. So you are saying, Mercedes, BMW, VOLVO(!), VW, Honda, etc. aren’t interested in safety? Cars today are safer than they ever have been, fatalities are down as are injuries sustained in accidents. What an ignorant comment, educate yourself before you make a moronic post again.
Pastorshannon is absolutely correct. Whoever said crumple zones are pointless is an idiot. Crumple zones ABSORB energy in an impact, therefore save lives. Have you ever seen a crash test with an American sedan from the 70’s??? “Insta-crush” cars? Please, stop with your nonsense.
Also, to the person talking about how safe their 1990 Sentra was? Look up crash test rating from earlier Sentras, and compare them to the Sentras of today. You couldn’t be more wrong.
Huge SUVs are completely pointless, I agree. It is rediculous to see a mom driving her ONE CHILD to soccer practice in a Excursion. They should tax larger vehicles much more, like they do in Europe to discourage large vehicle purchases.