Forbe's Safest Cars 2006
05-01-06, 05:24 AM
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Forbe's Safest Cars 2006
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Vehicles Feature
The Safest Cars 2006
Dan Lienert, 05.01.06, 12:30 AM ET
These days, there are more cars that can go 200 mph than there are cars with top safety ratings. Way more.
That's because the speed and styling of supercars seem to attract more customers to a brand than airbags and anti-lock brakes. While Ford Motor's (nyse: F - news - people ) S2RV (Safety Scientific Research Vehicle) prototype of 2003 never became a production car, the racy Ford GT40 prototype of 2002 did--in the form of the limited-edition, 550-hp GT supercar. Ford looks a lot sexier with the GT as its flagship, and, as they say in advertising, sex sells.
Sex appeal can translate into big sales volume, but safety technology almost never does. With the exception of Honda Motor (nyse: HMC - news - people ), the brands that are most famous for building safe cars-- Volvo and German car companies such as DaimlerChrysler's (nyse: DCX - news - people ) Mercedes-Benz subsidiary--are not volume players.
Click here for the slide show of the market's safest cars.
The fact that Volvo is singular in its prioritization of safety tells us other automakers aren't confident that safe cars will lead to profits. Mercedes does not make safety its top selling point, but it advertises powerful engines and swank interiors while touting its safety technology.
So we were not surprised to find that the list of the market's safest cars is, once again, a very short one. This year, only four vehicles managed to achieve the highest possible ratings in our evaluations. ( Last year's list included only five.) Specifically, only four cars have Consumer Reports' highest rating for accident avoidance, as well as perfect crash-test scores across the board from either the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
We only looked at cars that NHTSA and the IIHS tested in all of their available categories: for NHTSA, two front-impact tests, two side-impact tests and a rollover resistance test; for the IIHS, front, side and rear tests.
To be fair, part of the list's brevity also comes from the fact that Consumer Reports, NHTSA and the IIHS do not test every car on the market; nor do the crash-testing agencies put each car through every test. The organizations we consulted try to assess a broad range of vehicles, but they lack the data or the resources to do all of them. For example, 2006 models not tested by NHTSA include BMW's 5 Series sedan and Nissan Motor's Nissan Motor (nasdaq: NSANY - news - people ) Infiniti G35 line.
The difference between a good crash-test rating and a poor one is significant: A five-star NHTSA frontal-crash rating means a chance of serious injury of 10% or less in a head-on collision in which each vehicle is going 35 mph. A one-star rating means a chance of 46% or higher. NHTSA defines a "serious injury" as one that requires immediate hospitalization and may be life-threatening.
If the results of our research teach us one key lesson besides which cars to buy, it is this: You should get side airbags if they are optional. Models without side airbags are prone to lower crash-test scores, and all five cars in the slide show earned their perfect scores partly because of side airbags, with which each vehicle was equipped when NHTSA or the IIHS crashed it.
A final note on methodology: We excluded from consideration all vehicles that are headed for discontinuation or replacement within the next few months.
What may surprise you is that despite this story's introduction, the four cars that made our list are sexy in their own ways.
Click here for the slide show of the market's safest cars.
NOTE: NHTSA crash-test data came from the organization's Web site. At press time, NHTSA had not confirmed the data despite multiple e-mail requests from Forbes.com.
Acura RL (1/2)
Base price: $49,300
Received highest marks from: Consumer Reports and NHTSA
Probably the sexiest of the safest cars, the RL sedan is Acura's flagship, as well as one of the most desirable luxury cars. It looks great, has almost 300 hp and features some of the most sophisticated automotive technology on the market, including real-time traffic navigation. But that's the good news for Acura. Read on.
The bad news is that the RL is outgunned by premium sedans with bigger engines and nicer interiors, including the Mercedes S-Class, Audi A8 and BMW 7 Series. Although it overhauled the RL fairly recently, Acura has not been able to maintain the spike in sales that occurred after the new model's introduction. In the first quarter, American RL sales declined by 37%.
Honda Civic (1/2)
Base price: $15,110
Received highest marks from: Consumer Reports and IIHS
We have said it before: This is the car you want to buy for your teenager. It is one of the market's safest, least expensive, most reliable and most fuel-efficient cars. To top it off, the Civic looks cool.
NOTE: Consumer Reports' top accident-avoidance rating applies only to Honda's Civic Si model. Photos and other information in these slides concern the entire Civic line.
The market seems to be taking to Honda's recent overhaul of the Civic. We are seeing the new model everywhere; in the first quarter alone Honda sold 78,479 Civics in the U.S., an increase of 32% compared with the same period last year.
Saab 9-3 (1/2)
Base price: $26,620
Received highest marks from: Consumer Reports and IIHS
The guys in our parking garage love this one. "Elegante," said one to the other when we lowered the top on a 9-3 convertible we had borrowed. We like this car too, particularly because of its handsome interior and exterior and its turbocharged engines.
The 9-3 is also the only Saab that gets our blood going. The 9-2X is a reheated Subaru, the 9-7X is a reheated Chevy and the 9-5 is a pretender. (A $35,000 sedan with a four-cylinder engine? Come on.)
Volvo S80 (1/2)
Base price: $38,280
Received highest marks from: Consumer Reports and NHTSA
As usual, Volvo earns a spot on this list. The S80 is the company's flagship sedan and is within shouting distance of being a premium vehicle. Before it becomes a true luxury car, however, it needs something more substantial than a five-cylinder engine. But read on.
Volvo's next-generation S80, which will go on sale in 2007, will have an optional, 311-hp V-8 engine. The current S80 has something of an inferiority complex compared with eight- and even six-cylinder luxury sedans, and hopefully the new option will cure it of that.
Vehicles Feature
The Safest Cars 2006
Dan Lienert, 05.01.06, 12:30 AM ET
These days, there are more cars that can go 200 mph than there are cars with top safety ratings. Way more.
That's because the speed and styling of supercars seem to attract more customers to a brand than airbags and anti-lock brakes. While Ford Motor's (nyse: F - news - people ) S2RV (Safety Scientific Research Vehicle) prototype of 2003 never became a production car, the racy Ford GT40 prototype of 2002 did--in the form of the limited-edition, 550-hp GT supercar. Ford looks a lot sexier with the GT as its flagship, and, as they say in advertising, sex sells.
Sex appeal can translate into big sales volume, but safety technology almost never does. With the exception of Honda Motor (nyse: HMC - news - people ), the brands that are most famous for building safe cars-- Volvo and German car companies such as DaimlerChrysler's (nyse: DCX - news - people ) Mercedes-Benz subsidiary--are not volume players.
Click here for the slide show of the market's safest cars.
The fact that Volvo is singular in its prioritization of safety tells us other automakers aren't confident that safe cars will lead to profits. Mercedes does not make safety its top selling point, but it advertises powerful engines and swank interiors while touting its safety technology.
So we were not surprised to find that the list of the market's safest cars is, once again, a very short one. This year, only four vehicles managed to achieve the highest possible ratings in our evaluations. ( Last year's list included only five.) Specifically, only four cars have Consumer Reports' highest rating for accident avoidance, as well as perfect crash-test scores across the board from either the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
We only looked at cars that NHTSA and the IIHS tested in all of their available categories: for NHTSA, two front-impact tests, two side-impact tests and a rollover resistance test; for the IIHS, front, side and rear tests.
To be fair, part of the list's brevity also comes from the fact that Consumer Reports, NHTSA and the IIHS do not test every car on the market; nor do the crash-testing agencies put each car through every test. The organizations we consulted try to assess a broad range of vehicles, but they lack the data or the resources to do all of them. For example, 2006 models not tested by NHTSA include BMW's 5 Series sedan and Nissan Motor's Nissan Motor (nasdaq: NSANY - news - people ) Infiniti G35 line.
The difference between a good crash-test rating and a poor one is significant: A five-star NHTSA frontal-crash rating means a chance of serious injury of 10% or less in a head-on collision in which each vehicle is going 35 mph. A one-star rating means a chance of 46% or higher. NHTSA defines a "serious injury" as one that requires immediate hospitalization and may be life-threatening.
If the results of our research teach us one key lesson besides which cars to buy, it is this: You should get side airbags if they are optional. Models without side airbags are prone to lower crash-test scores, and all five cars in the slide show earned their perfect scores partly because of side airbags, with which each vehicle was equipped when NHTSA or the IIHS crashed it.
A final note on methodology: We excluded from consideration all vehicles that are headed for discontinuation or replacement within the next few months.
What may surprise you is that despite this story's introduction, the four cars that made our list are sexy in their own ways.
Click here for the slide show of the market's safest cars.
NOTE: NHTSA crash-test data came from the organization's Web site. At press time, NHTSA had not confirmed the data despite multiple e-mail requests from Forbes.com.
Acura RL (1/2)
Base price: $49,300
Received highest marks from: Consumer Reports and NHTSA
Probably the sexiest of the safest cars, the RL sedan is Acura's flagship, as well as one of the most desirable luxury cars. It looks great, has almost 300 hp and features some of the most sophisticated automotive technology on the market, including real-time traffic navigation. But that's the good news for Acura. Read on.
The bad news is that the RL is outgunned by premium sedans with bigger engines and nicer interiors, including the Mercedes S-Class, Audi A8 and BMW 7 Series. Although it overhauled the RL fairly recently, Acura has not been able to maintain the spike in sales that occurred after the new model's introduction. In the first quarter, American RL sales declined by 37%.
Honda Civic (1/2)
Base price: $15,110
Received highest marks from: Consumer Reports and IIHS
We have said it before: This is the car you want to buy for your teenager. It is one of the market's safest, least expensive, most reliable and most fuel-efficient cars. To top it off, the Civic looks cool.
NOTE: Consumer Reports' top accident-avoidance rating applies only to Honda's Civic Si model. Photos and other information in these slides concern the entire Civic line.
The market seems to be taking to Honda's recent overhaul of the Civic. We are seeing the new model everywhere; in the first quarter alone Honda sold 78,479 Civics in the U.S., an increase of 32% compared with the same period last year.
Saab 9-3 (1/2)
Base price: $26,620
Received highest marks from: Consumer Reports and IIHS
The guys in our parking garage love this one. "Elegante," said one to the other when we lowered the top on a 9-3 convertible we had borrowed. We like this car too, particularly because of its handsome interior and exterior and its turbocharged engines.
The 9-3 is also the only Saab that gets our blood going. The 9-2X is a reheated Subaru, the 9-7X is a reheated Chevy and the 9-5 is a pretender. (A $35,000 sedan with a four-cylinder engine? Come on.)
Volvo S80 (1/2)
Base price: $38,280
Received highest marks from: Consumer Reports and NHTSA
As usual, Volvo earns a spot on this list. The S80 is the company's flagship sedan and is within shouting distance of being a premium vehicle. Before it becomes a true luxury car, however, it needs something more substantial than a five-cylinder engine. But read on.
Volvo's next-generation S80, which will go on sale in 2007, will have an optional, 311-hp V-8 engine. The current S80 has something of an inferiority complex compared with eight- and even six-cylinder luxury sedans, and hopefully the new option will cure it of that.
seeing that those sedans cost 30k more I would hope it outguns a RL
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