How do I make sure the car I’m buying is safe?

How do I make sure the car I’m buying is safe?

It was scary when I drove a tow truck in 1978. The cars back then did not have the safety features of today’s cars. When I came to an accident scene, it was impossible to always tell if and how bad the injuries might be.  Cars and trucks did not absorb the energy crashes very well and very minor impact often caused serious injuries.

The vehicles today are all much safer. Crumple zones are designed to allow the front and rear of the vehicle to absorb energy from a crash and keep it from the passenger compartment. Air bags have been proven to save lives, and now multiple airbags work together to form a safety zone. 

   

                                                     photo from www.autoblog.com

Some cars are better than others. A new care shopper has access to safety ratings printed on the new car window sticker. 

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The ratings come from the industry recognized experts in safety ranking – the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Check out their website http://www.iihs.org/

The IIHS changed the criteria this year making it more difficult for a new car model to qualify for its top awards.

 

IIHS safety awards for 2014 go to 39 vehicles

Twenty-two vehicles earn the Institute's highest safety award for 2014, TOP SAFETY PICK+, thanks to a high level of protection in crashes and the availability of front crash prevention technology to avoid many collisions in the first place. An additional 17 earn TOP SAFETY PICK by meeting the crashworthiness criteria alone.

Congratulations to the 2104 Ford Fusion and the 2014 Ford Focus

In my next blog post, I will explore more of the technologies available on today’s cars that help to avoid car crashes and protect the people inside if a car does get involved in an accident.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to post them here or email me at pat.dunn@inskeepford.com Thanks for reading (as long as you were not reading while driving)