Threeweight wrote:
Tonnage does not exactly equal safety. If it did, those old station wagons from the 70's would be the way to go. Our CRD's have good crash test ratings, lousy stability in panic manuvers, and lousy breaking distances (when compared to a passenger car).
Weight does equal lethality (in a high speed crash between a 5000 pound SUV and a 3000 pound car, the occupant of the car is more likely to die). The US automakers spent a lot of time and money trying to convince soccer moms that a Suburban is safer than an Accord or Camry, when the reality is the cars generally have all around better technology and crash ratings. But in a collision between the Suburban and the Camry, the Camry driver is more likely to die.
We got rid of our 1997 Civic in favor of a 2006 Jetta because the Jetta had side impact air bags, good side impact crash ratings, ABS, and traction control (plus TDI mpg).
Wish there was a domestic alternative to the Jetta with similar performance and safety ratings, but no such luck.
Good crash test ratings and safety gear are fine and dandy, but everyone always forgets the most important safety feature of ANY vehicle -
The person driving it.
And that's the reason why I would hesitate these days to ride a motorcycle or bicycle on any of the main roads in this area. It's not that I don't have 4000 lbs of armor around me - 20 years in the military I rode motorcycles and bicycles in different areas of the country without causing myself any injury - but I've seen too many other drivers in this area just flat out ignore motorcycles and bicycles to the point of literally running them off the road. For that matter, more than a few seemingly manage to ignore that white tank of a Jeep and it's two huge headlights if their driving is any indication.