Are Other Cars Just As Safe as Mercedes & Volvos?

[Best F100]

I currently have another topic running asking what is the safest (used) midsize car I can buy? Thanks for everyone's response. Which leads me to today's question:

Are other (new) sedans just as safe (as new) Mercedes and Volvos of the same size and weight category? The reason I ask, is because 1) All manufacturers are using and higher percentage of high strength steels such as boron, other exotic metals. 2) Everyone is computer crash simulating their vehicles now days and 3) most newly designed vehicles are passing the same new crash test standards (like off-set crash testing & for roof strength).

If you went back to when the Volvo 760 Series came out (mid 80's), Volvo ran a commercial pushing a 760 off a 14 meter building top (at a driving speed), to simulate a head on collision. They later ran another commercial with a Volvo 850 driving off a clift, smashing in the front end. On this one, the interior remained intact & the front windshield did not break. I recently saw both on Youtube. (Someone post a link for me to these ads). At the time, you knew there were not too many other vehicles that would have the same outcome.

So todays question is:
Other than luxury, whistles & bells what else do you get for buying Mercedes, BMW or Volvo? Are other cars on par with these two, on a safety level, (today) in the same size & weight category - from what you have seen or experienced?

 

[SilverC6]

My wife was in an accident in her 2006 BMW 525i a few years ago.

Had she been in a lesser car, she wouldn't be here.

I have heard BMW's were designed for high speed Autobahn use and survivability in accidents there.

I believe it.

 

[Wheel]

Less likely to rust out in the same timeframe as other manufacturers, in my experience anyway.

 

[JayhawkRoy]

My wife was rear ended in her Subaru in 2011, Friday before Labor Day. She was rear ended on US 73 by a Dodge Ram pick up traveling at 55 mph (inattentive driving), pushed into the car in front of her, spun around and went into the grass median. Front and rear of the Subaru was badly smashed, but the passenger compartment was intact. This turned out to be a four car wreck. She walked away with no injuries, no pain, no bruises. Needless to say, the vehicle was totaled.

That experience has made her a believer in Subarus.

 

[DeepFriar]

I think it is fair to say that the gap has narrowed considerably from the time that MB, Volvo, Saab, Peugeot and even Citroen were the leaders in auto safety. For a given weight class, that's the important metric, in my estimation that difference is probably small now.

But a more expensive car can provide the "cover" for enhanced engineering that would not be undertaken on a cheaper car. I would tend to think that MB in particular is still top of the heap but, like SilverC6, all I've got to go on is autobahn cred.

I think it was David E. Davis at Car and Driver some years ago who said, "If I was going to have the mother and father of all accidents, I would want to have it in an S-Class Mercedes-Benz" (probably only a near approximation of what I read). I wouldn't disagree with that.

 

[typ901]

Visit IIHS
www.iihs.org

Search by type, or make. That being said, yes I'd take the biggest car possible if it came to an accident

 

[BHopkins]

Originally Posted By: Best F100
I currently have another topic running asking what is the safest (used) midsize car I can buy? Thanks for everyone's response. Which leads me to today's question:

Are other (new) sedans just as safe (as new) Mercedes and Volvos of the same size and weight category?


Absolutely! While Volvo has always been a leading innovator in automotive safety technology, in recent years the gap has been closing. There are a number of car manufacturers that have multiple models which have earned the IIHS Top Safety Pick+ rating. Volvo has four models with the TSP+ rating. Subaru has six with the TSP+. With the BRZ earning a TSP rating, every Subaru model makes the Top Safety Pick list. Toyota/Lexus has 10 with a TSP+ rating, and others with a TSP rating. And there are others, with Audi, Acura, Volkswagen, Mazda, and others, with TSP+ ratings. Many more have TSP ratings.

I'm not sure where the perception comes from that Mercedes produces exceptionally safe cars. Mercedes only has two cars that have earned the TSP+ rating, the E Class, and the M Class, with no cars with a TSP rating. But perhaps Mercedes hasn't submitted samples for testing, and that is why they don't have more models earning TSP or TSP+ ratings for 2015 models.

Volvo's goal of no fatalities in a Volvo is very admirable, and one that all car manufacturers should adopt. But when Volvo only sells 56,000 cars in the U.S. in 2014, and heading towards selling even fewer in 2015, the odds are in their favor.

Here are a couple links to some very interesting data. First is the IIHS top pics.

http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/TSP-List

And here is an article that ran several months ago, listing the car models with the lowest highway fatalities in 2014, with the top 9 having 0 fatalities in 2014.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2...t-driver-deaths

 

[JC1]

Originally Posted By: BHopkins

And here is an article that ran several months ago, listing the car models with the lowest highway fatalities in 2014, with the top 9 having 0 fatalities in 2014.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2...t-driver-deaths




It would be nice to know out of those cars with Zero deaths, to know how many of those cars were involved in serious accidents. It doesn't mention that.

 

[DeepFriar]

Crown Vic on safest list. Grand Marquis on worst list. Wha?

 

[MikeHigg]

My Ford Crown Vic Police Interceptor is. Its designed to be hit in the rear at 75 and survive. Also, if you have unruly rear seat passengers they can't stab a knife thru the seat and get you. Its heavy and drinks lots of gas though, a real bummer.

 

[Nick1994]

Originally Posted By: MikeHigg
My Ford Crown Vic Police Interceptor is. Its designed to be hit in the rear at 75 and survive. Also, if you have unruly rear seat passengers they can't stab a knife thru the seat and get you. Its heavy and drinks lots of gas though, a real bummer.
I thought the Crown Vic's blow up if rear ended really fast?

 

[xxch4osxx]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Originally Posted By: MikeHigg
My Ford Crown Vic Police Interceptor is. Its designed to be hit in the rear at 75 and survive. Also, if you have unruly rear seat passengers they can't stab a knife thru the seat and get you. Its heavy and drinks lots of gas though, a real bummer.
I thought the Crown Vic's blow up if rear ended really fast?
That problem got fixed a while back.

 

[SuperDave456]

I have a friend who was in a small overlap head on collision.
The other driver was texting, small overlap, head on, each car was going 60 mph as there was no time to brake as the other driver swerved at the last second.
The "onstar" people called paramedics, my buddy was conscious for all of it.

He's convinced that the new 2014 BMW M3 saved his life, and so were the first responders at the scene.
The other driver was in an older Pontiac, didn't survive the afternoon.

I think the gap has narrowed, but there are cars that are better than others.

 

[michaelluscher]

Yes.

The gap is in age, size, and technology

Brand doesn't necessarily correlate

 

[Andrew1972]

The new cars are superior in safety to 5 year old luxury makes. Remember none of this matters until an accident actually happens.

 

[Wolf359]

I think it's the latest technology in the W212 Mercedes that makes it safer. I don't think those crash tests take in account the collision prevention abilities of the latest models. Audi also has some of the same technology. Once you turn it on, you shouldn't have a frontal collision, although you could still be rear ended or T-boned. It can also sense that you're about to be rear ended and just tightens the seat belts, I bet in the future it would move the car forward if you weren't at a red light or move forward so that you don't get hit. Maybe in the future the cars will be connected so it'll tell the other car to apply the brakes so you don't get hit. I have an older E350 and it just has the pre-safe and brake assist. Pre-safe just tightens the belts if it senses that there's going to be a collision, brake assist just gives you maximum braking based on pedal application speed. Only felt it kick in once so far, I was switching lanes and concentrating on the side traffic when the car in front slowed down so I hit the brakes quickly and felt the belt tighten, didn't end up hitting the guy.

I think collision prevention assist was available in the 2014 models of the E class, not sure about other models.

 

[gathermewool]

Originally Posted By: SuperDave456
I have a friend who was in a small overlap head on collision.
The other driver was texting, small overlap, head on, each car was going 60 mph as there was no time to brake as the other driver swerved at the last second.
The "onstar" people called paramedics, my buddy was conscious for all of it.

He's convinced that the new 2014 BMW M3 saved his life, and so were the first responders at the scene.
The other driver was in an older Pontiac, didn't survive the afternoon.

I think the gap has narrowed, but there are cars that are better than others.


This happened to me a few days ago, on my way home from work. The idiot swerved into my lane and then back into his own so quickly that I didn't have a chance to honk, brake or swerve. A foot and a second more and I probably would have died in the Civic.

The Subaru, on the other hand, probably would have saved my life in that instance. Moments like that don't make me want to trade my Civic for another Subaru CUV, but it does make me think about whether a tiny commuter car makes sense when it comes time to replace the Civic some time in the future.

Originally Posted By: michaelluscher
Yes.

The gap is in age, size, and technology

Brand doesn't necessarily correlate


Yep, I agree. This is especially true when current model years are modified when they all fail the small overlap test (which, again, Subaru seemed to do well in.) So, does that mean that Subaru is better than any other make, or did they simply get lucky in their design, implement a design change at a time when the information for the new test was put out, or was it that Subaru really was forward-thinking?

 

[Nick1994]

My dad has done collision repair since 1987, 28 years. A lot of it is some very serious collision repair and his specialty is in frame damage.

His favorite cars as far as collisions go are Subarus, he loves the design and the crumple zones, in his opinion they're the best cars for a car accident. He says their parts also fit real well and they're easy to take apart and put back together.

 

[OneEyeJack]

I wonder if the crash tests are more valid when you hit the same exact barriers used in the testing.

The problem in real life is that when things come together size can make a big difference. Last summer a Smart Car and a Ford F-150 hit head on at about 25-30mph each. The Smart Car was destroyed and the driver was killed and had to be cut out of the wreckage. The F-150 was messed up and the driver was only injured and released after a trip to the ER and went looking for a new truck.

The guys at the local fire department say that the new big vehicle wins over the new little vehicle even when the new little vehicle has the better crash rating. Since a lot of crashing goes on between vehicles the testing is only a guess if they only use solid barriers.

Cars are a lot safer today. My wife was run through a guardrail on the freeway at somewhere around 70mph by a pickup diving for the off ramp from the fast lane. The 850 Volvo wagon was destroyed and all the airbags wet off but she was unhurt other than have the scare of her life sailing over the bank after breaching the guard rail. The guard rail was completely destroyed and several very tough posts (about 12x12) where sheared off and she ended up going all the way down the bank to the road below. The engine was torn out and most of the front end was missing but all 4 doors opened and closed with ease and the passenger area was completely intact. The car gave its all and we thank Volvo for their dedication to safety.

 

[BHopkins]

Originally Posted By: Wolf359
I don't think those crash tests take in account the collision prevention abilities of the latest models.


Apparently, you didn't take any time to read the results on the IIHS link. They absolutely take into consideration collision avoidance systems. Overwhelmingly, the cars that earned the TSP+ rating, did so by utilizing crash prevention systems.

A perfect example of this is the Subaru WRX 4 door sedan. IIHS tested a 2015 model, not equipped with optional front crash prevention. It earned a TSP rating. They also tested a 2016 model which was equipped with optional front crash prevention. It earned a TSP+ rating.