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> there's no denying that the difference in safety between the cheapest smart car on the road and the safest car on the road is huge. In a head-on collision between the two, there's absolutely no contest. I don't think that's true. Certainly expensive cars have new safety features, but ... I read a study of empirical data on what, in practice, made cars more survivable in accidents. It was awhile ago but here is my vague memory: The data was hard to analyze - they were trying to untangle cause and effect from wrecks - but the conclusion was that the most important factor was the relative location of hard points: If their hard point (e.g., bumper) lines up with your soft spot (e.g., driver-side door/window), it's bad for you. That's something that doesn't depend on cost. Otherwise, I would assume safety depends heavily on weight and structural integrity, and certainly some cheaper vehicles, such as pickup trucks, would be much safer by those measures than much more expensive sedans. It also might depend on center of gravity, roll-over potential, breaking ability, etc. |