The safest cars and safest vehicles

WEIGHT




Vehicle Weight is a Crucial Safety Component




Crash test ratings do not account for the relative weight of your vehicle compared with vehicles you may collide with. The laws of physics control the apportionment of forces between colliding vehicles and therefore a vehicle is not a "safe" choice if it is lighter weight than the average vehicle, despite receiving excellent crash ratings by both agencies. In addition to weight, mismatch of the relative size of colliding vehicles can result in impact points where there is minimal crashworthiness protection, such as a SUV with bumpers high above the ground vs. a compact passenger car.

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     The table below, provided by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, shows the relationship between vehicle size/weight and driver fatality rate. This correlation is evidence that you are 3.4 times more likely to die when driving a 2,500 lb. passenger car than driving a 4,500 lb. SUV, even when the ratings of those vehicles are identical.
 

 


IIHS Status Report, Vol. 46, No. 5, June 9, 2011
         (mv = multi-vehicle, sv = single-vehicle)

Below is a graphic display of driver death rate in multi-vehicle accidents per the table:


 

 

The following resources demonstrate the importance of vehicle size and weight in preventing injuries and death:

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See the IIHS video demonstrating how poorly SMALL vehicles -- with excellent crash-test ratings -- perform when impacting LARGE vehicles


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See the IIHS report explaining the dangers of vehicle incompatibility

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Every effort has been made to be accurate and objective, however all information is subject to errors and omissions.

Informed For Life  is a Connecticut nonprofit organization
https://www.informedforlife.org

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