smh@rduxb.UUCP (henning) (08/22/85)
> You may not believe that volvo's are the safest cars in the world > there are a couple other models that are just as safe probably,(foreign) **** **** From the keys of Steve Henning, AT&T Bell Labs, Reading, PA rduxb!smh According to 8-19-85 USA Today, the auto insurance industry released data on the personal injury rates for 1982-1984 cars sold in the US based on the number of insurance claims. A rating of 100 is average. The 10 lowest ratings, i.e. safest cars are: 54 Olds Custom Cruiser Wagon, large car 56 Volvo 245 Wagon, midsize car 57 Mercedes 380SL Coupe*, small car 59 Buick Electra Wagon, large car 59 Oldsmobile Delta 88 4 door, large r 60 Mercedes 300SD/380SE*, large car 62 Buick LeSabre 4 door, large car 62 Oldsmobile Ninety Eight 4 door, large car 63 Dodge Caravan Van, large car 63 Chevrolet Corvette*, small car The 10 highest ratings, i.e. most injury prone car are: 158 Nissan Pulsar 2 door, small car 156 Plymouth Colt 4 door, small car 155 Pontiac 1000 2 door, small car 155 Mitsubishi Tredia 4 door, small car 154 Chevorlet Chevette 2 door, small car 151 Mitsubishi Cordia 2 door, small car 149 Dodge Colt 2 door, small car 148 Plymouth Colt 2 door, small car 148 Toyota Starlete 2 door, small car 145 Nissan Sentra 4 door, small car The median ratings for classes of cars are: Small cars 125 (57 - 158) Midsize cars 95 (56 - 127) Large cars 70 (54 - 101) 4 door cars 95 (59 - 156) 2 door cars 110 (65 - 158) Wagons & vans 95 (54 - 108) Specialty cars* 80 (57 - 127) Japanese cars (89 - 158) European cars (56 - 104) American cars (54 - 155) Exceptions in their class: Plymouth Grand Fury, 20 points worse than any other 4 door large car Saab 900, 32 points better than any other 2 door small car Overall safest class is: Midsize European Wagons & Vans 56
augustc@zeus.UUCP (Augustine T. Chan) (08/25/85)
>According to 8-19-85 USA Today, the auto insurance industry released data >on the personal injury rates for 1982-1984 cars sold in the US based on >the number of insurance claims. A rating of 100 is average. Since I did not read the article, I have a couple of questions with regard to computation of the rating: 1. Is it based on the total number of claims of a model or is it based on the number of claims per (e.g. 100) automobile(s) of a model? 2. Is there any relationship between the number of claims of a model and the average risk rating of its drivers, i.e., are we looking at the safety rating of the different models or are we looking at the safety rating of their drivers? Augustine C.
smh@rduxb.UUCP (henning) (08/26/85)
**** **** From the keys of Steve Henning, AT&T Bell Labs, Reading, PA rduxb!smh > >According to 8-19-85 USA Today, the auto insurance industry released data > >on the personal injury rates for 1982-1984 cars sold in the US based on > >the number of insurance claims. A rating of 100 is average. > > Since I did not read the article, I have a couple of questions with > regard to computation of the rating: > > 1. Is it based on the total number of claims of a model or is it > based on the number of claims per (e.g. 100) automobile(s) of a model? It is based upon the number of claims per insured automobile per insurance year. > 2. Is there any relationship between the number of claims of a model > and the average risk rating of its drivers, i.e., are we looking at the > safety rating of the different models or are we looking at the safety rating > of their drivers? This is not a black and white issue. You are looking at the model plus 1) Driving habits of people who choose that model 2) Safety habits of same such as belt use and child restraints 3) Accident avoidance capabilities of the car and of the drivers 4) Accident risk factor in areas where a particular model is usually sold 5) Miles per year driven by typical drivers of that model 6) Highway versus local miles driven by typical drivers of that model You can see this clearly with American cars. Many times the same model with a different division's label will have quite different personal injury and fatality data yet they are the same car, almost. The main difference is in the advertising and the type of person they are targeted for. For example Pontiac has a high injury/fatality rate compared to Olds for equivalent models. Laboratory safety tests have similar problems. They factor out all of the above which are a part of the real world and have accident tests which are idealized and not real world. However lab tests are the only fair comparisons you can make even though they are unrealistic. If you are a typical driver of one of the cars on the survey, then the results probably are a good indicator of your risk to injury.