2004 Prius FARS data

[EricGo]

FARS is the federal agency system that keeps track of motor vehicle accidents. The IIHS is a car insurance consortium that collate FARS data and puts out interesting annual reports, including car model mortality normalized for prevalence.

The latest data available from FARS is 2004, reporting on the 2003 experience, that includes the most recent three MY of 2001 - 2003. It is a bit difficult to come by how many Prius were on the roads at the beginning of 2004, but Toyota reports selling 66K Prius outside of Japan during that period. I seem to remember that the US buys about 90% of that number, or about 60k cars. A fraction of those cars are off the road due to totaled accidents, but I doubt it numbers more than a couple hundred at most.

There was ONE fatality, or a normalized incidence of under 20 per million car-years. That places the Prius in a very select group of car models: there are only six models in the 10 - 20 range (average of all passenger vehicles is 87, high is about 300 for the Chevy trailblazer). One should not read *too* much into this number, because the relatively small number of Prii on the road during those years leads to a wide confidence interval.

Still, the Prius shines, as do Prius drivers

[hdrygas]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(EricGo @ Jun 10 2006, 09:47 PM) [snapback]269412[/snapback]</div>

FARS is the federal agency system that keeps track of motor vehicle accidents. The IIHS is a car insurance consortium that collate FARS data and puts out interesting annual reports, including car model mortality normalized for prevalence.

The latest data available from FARS is 2004, reporting on the 2003 experience, that includes the most recent three MY, or 2001 - 2003. It is a bit difficult to come by how many Prius were on the roads at the beginning of 2004, but Toyota reports selling 66K Prius outside of Japan during that period. I seem to remember that the US buys about 90% of that number, or about 60k cars. A fraction of those cars are off the road due to totaled accidents, but I doubt it numbers more than a couple hundred at most.

There was ONE fatality, or a normalized incidence of under 20 per million car-years. That places the Prius in a very select group of car models: there are only five models in the 12 - 20 range (average of all passenger vehicles is 87, high is about 300 for the Chevy trailblazer). One should not read *too* much into this number, because the relatively small number of Prii on the road during those years leads to a wide confidence interval.

Still, the Prius shines, as do Prius drivers
[/b]

Data is, but it must be interpreted. I would guess that a bit of prospective data would be very nice. I know of only one '04 with a death. That was an 04 driven by an underage driver with 5 passengers, and an 18 pack in the back. He was T-boned by an 18 wheeler that was transporting a big piece of Earth Moving Equipment at 60 mph. As I remember 3 died, but all those with seat belts survived. Pictures of the crash made one wonder how anyone lived. The pictures suggested that the car had side air bags. I have seen some terrible pictures of Prii crashes with people walking away. I think Toyota did a good job. If anyone can survive a T-bone in a Prius with an 18 wheeler going 60 mph that is a good bit of engineering.

[EricGo]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hdrygas @ Jun 11 2006, 01:11 AM) [snapback]269417[/snapback]</div>

anyone can survive a T-bone in a Prius with an 18 wheeler going 60 mph that is a good bit of engineering.[/b]

Yep.

Match a Prius with a driver who is not drunk, yapping on the cell phone or speeding, and you end up with an extremely safe driving experience.

I have to admit that I was a bit worried that the MFD energy display would lead to enough driver inattention to the road that safety would suffer. I'm glad this does not seem to be the case, at least insofar as mortality data goes.

[daniel]

Still, it's shameful that any car (including the lower-package-number Priuses) can legally be sold without side air bags. And shameful that auto makers do not put side air bags as standard equipment in every car.

[EricGo]

If I am not mistaken, side airbags are standard on all 2006 Honda Fits -- and that model starts at about $US 12K. Kudos to Honda.

I expect almost all new cars in short order will have them. The crash ratings without them are so bad, I don't think the manufacturers have much choice. They will just have to come up with something else to define the 'luxury' trim.

It did occur to me that part of the Prius' stellar results have to do with the high proportion of people buying the expensive packages that have included the side airbags. The Prius community is an informed group.

[Orf]

Readers of this thread may be interested in reading the thread: Does the Prius calm drivers?

http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=20671&st=0

[daniel]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(EricGo @ Jun 11 2006, 06:49 AM) [snapback]269470[/snapback]</div>

If I am not mistaken, side airbags are standard on all 2006 Honda Fits -- and that model starts at about $US 12K. Kudos to Honda.
[/b]

I still like Honda. I wish it had been Honda that developed the Prius. They have a much stronger committment to customer support. If Honda came out with a BEV now, I'd probably buy it.

[EricGo]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Jun 11 2006, 08:04 PM) [snapback]269717[/snapback]</div>

I still like Honda. I wish it had been Honda that developed the Prius. They have a much stronger committment to customer support. If Honda came out with a BEV now, I'd probably buy it.[/b]

I like Honda too. They did however make mistakes with the HV battery setup in the Insight by allowing deep discharges leading to early battery degradation, and their response has not been up to my expectations: if the battery is not *dead*, they deny warranty repair. At least in the hybrid arena, I think Toyota has been above and beyond stellar in customer support. It probably reflects Toyota's stronger commitment to the technology.

[Jack Straw]

zzz

[EricGo]

Thanks for the update on packages Jack.
My MY2004 Prius required one of the expensive packages to get side airbags. I'm glad to hear Toyota is not using this safety feature to sell high-end packages anymore.