Automobile safety: Crash-Safety Ratings

Safety is the condition of being protected from or unlikely to cause danger, risk, or injury. Automobile safety is the study and practice of design, construction, equipment and regulation to minimize the occurrence and consequences of automobile accidents. Crash safety measures are one of the major concerned for the car manufacturer company as customers are knowledgeable and are more concerned about their safety while they drive.

a. Which vehicles received the highest ratings? The lowest ratings?

The ratings of vehicles are done on the basis of level of safety they provide during the conditions which are vulnerable for crash. There are separate entity as ANCAP and NHTSA that rates the safety of the vehicle from 1 to 5 for each vehicle following independent crash tests by independent specialist laboratories. The vehicle which receives number 1 rating is considered lowest safety i.e. the rate of accident or crash is very high on those types of cars. Similarly, the vehicle which gets 5 rating is considered as highest safety car and they have very low crash rate. There is a list of vehicles that are classified as highest and lowest rating on the basis of their safety below:

Highest rated large cars which got Five star in safety rating:

Brand	Model
Mercedes Benz	C-Class
Ford	Falcon FG
Honda	Odyssey
Nissan	Qashqai, Pathfinder
Toyota	Aurio, Prado
Mitsubishi	380
Skoda	Rapid

Lowest rated large cars which got one star in safety rating:

Brand	Model
Cherry	J11
Toyota	Paseb/Cynos
Ford	Laser
Hyundai	Accent
Kia	Rio
Proton	Wira

b. How important are crash-safety ratings to new car buyers? Does the degree of importance depend on the circumstances of the buyer?

The crash-safety ratings of the cars hold high importance to the new car buyers. Since, the new car buyers are unknown to the riding experience of most cars; their first preference would be the cars that have higher crash-safety ratings which are safer. A crash test for vehicle safety is a very important task to minimize losses such as deaths, property damage and injuries resulting from vehicle crashes that happen on the roads. Therefore the new buyers can consider the safety rating of the car before buying. They should have to gather the information about the safety tool use by the cars. Buying a car is not a frequently changing thing so that to buy a car the new buyer must look after the safety ratings.

It is obvious that the degree of importance depends on the circumstances of the buyers. There are various factors that influence the buyers for the selection of cars such as customer’s age group, education level, geographical region, etc. The well educated people are found to be very concern about the quality or safety rating of the product they buy so that they will be more conscious on buying highest safety rating car. The age of 25 and 50 may not preferred to buy same type of car. The people of mountain region are more likely to buy highest safety ranking car than the people who live in plain region.

C. Which types of buyers would you expect to be the most concerned with crash-safety ratings?

It cannot be clearly said that the specific types of buyers would be the most concerned with crash-safety ratings as no one wants to risk their life. Everyone wants safety measures while driving the cars but there are exceptional cases where some customers buy the cars though it has less crash safety ratings. The vehicle might have some other charming factors like stylish, design and colour, engineering, high mileage, comfortability, affordability, easy availability, etc. which might impress the customers to buy the vehicle in spite of its less safety ratings.

d. Are there other features of a new car that might sway a buyer from focusing solely on crash safety? If so, what might they be?

Yes there are some other features of a new car that might sway a buyer from focusing solely on crash safety. Some features are:

- Autonomous breaking: this system provide warning I danger zone and provide auto break system.

- Crumple zones outside the cabin to absorb the forces exerted in a car crash.

- Electronic stability control which automatically control the electronic problem of car.

- Google car: it does not need drivers and move according to the GPS system which has better safety tools than other car.

The car manufacturer are developing auto safety technology which hep to provide more safety when driving a car. They are combining auto safety technology plus better mileage, style, comfort etc.