2012 Camry / Camry Hybrid to be Revealed on 8-23

Assuming you believe driver death rates were a good indicator of safety, back then when they did even less adjustments for driver demographics. The variations among corporate twins alone are a good demonstration of the variability, even among identical cars that have very similar demographics of buyers/drivers.

Some trends are clear, even though current results can't be compared to past death rates due to how they adjust numbers.

Personally, I wouldn't want to be driving my kids in a 1999-2002 SUV. I'd rather put them in our 2010 Prius without a hint of doubt, but YMMV.

 

Sure, but in 2002 you couldn't get a 2010 Prius.

Do note that the adjusted death rate was MUCH higher for 2WD SUVs than 4WD. (See page 13 again), suggesting that reference to an overall average is not a good indicator to say that none of them were safe.

You're right of course that the adjusted death statistics can't tell you everything, both because of missing factors and that it's only deaths, but, I'd have to use the best information I have.

Of course, I still wouldn't have an SUV or minivan because I think the safety trade-off to a smaller, more economical vehicle is worth it. I just won't go to a motorcycle.

 

That's another issue I mentioned. Even in the most recent results that cover only through some model year 2008 vehicles, many current models are not even considered. You can get a 2010-2011 Prius now, but the death rates give you no information to compare to any other new model, let alone a 2002 SUV where they used a different method to calculate death rates.

My opinion is that the rates are simply not a good indicator at all to compare vehicle safety. Based on crash test results (often mediocre where available), the relatively high rollover propensity and lack of stability control, that is why I personally wouldn't consider an SUV from 10 years ago as safe enough for my family compared to other choices. Whether they are safe or unsafe in absolute terms is subject to debate, obviously.

That can be a fallacy, too. The only information available or the best information available can still be wrong. Just compare the Grand Caravan to the Town & Country in the 2011 study. The GC has over twice the overall death rate. In terms of overall safety, they should be identical. Even though the IIHS admits that they can only go so far adjusting for non-vehicle factors, these two should have pretty similar driver demographics. Sebring/Avenger, Marquis/Crown Vic, Magnum/MagnumHemi, Montana/Uplander, Aura/G6 are models that jump out offhand as varying by as much as 50% in overall rates for identical models. Some of these don't even overlap on their 95% confidence bounds!

For safety comparisons from one vehicle to another, I don't personally don't find this to be the best information we have, or even good information. For example, I personally wouldn't choose something like a 2005-2008 Suzuki Forenza (overall 62 rate) or 2008 Ford Escape (42 overall) over the new '08 Chevrolet Malibu (overall 67). Even though the driver death rates imply the Forenza and Escape are safer, the crash tests results from the IIHS and NHTSA for the new Malibu are very impressive, while those for the Forenza are not nearly as good overall. Maybe the Forenza and Escape are standouts at crash avoidance capability compared to the Malibu, but I doubt it.

Of course everyone has their own preferences/tradeoffs and safety isn't the top priority for very many buyers. If safety was my only concern, I'd probably have purchased another Odyssey this year. I'm still very confident our Toyota hybrids will do a good job avoiding crashes and protecting us if we are in one.

Suffice to say that there are a lot of safe choices today, especially in the SUV and truck markets. While I believe it is impossible to use driver death rates to compare one vehicle to another, the trends are pretty clear. Safer vehicles and increased use of seatbelts has brought highway fatalities to record lows. Consider how many more vehicles and miles driven today than there were 20 or 40 years ago and that is an accomplishment.

 

At least on a technical level it seems toyota has done a great job on the new Camry hybrid. I think at that price point the camry hybrid will get a bigger share of the midsize market and get more people driving green.


I'm sure it is a safe car. People seem to overestimate the chances of dying in a car, and am not sure why the SUV versus car safety is in this thread. The key in the weight catagory is conservation of momentum meaning that change in velocity will be = v1 - (m1v1 + m2v2)/(m1+m2) if the cars stick together.. Injuries happen with the change of velocity, and the lighter car will change velocity more. But the differences in height may make up more of the difference. I could not find anything more recent than this

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Not sure if it's been mentioned already but 2012 Toyota Camry First Drive says:

 

Pretty much the advancements made in 2010 Prius.

Interesting, just like Gen2 Prius MG2.

Smart move!

Source

 

Just like w/the '10 Prius, per CleanMPG Previews the 2012 Toyota Camry Hybrid - CleanMPG Forums

 

That's a lot of superlatives with almost no drawbacks whatsoever. I think he liked it!

 

One other tidbit

Winding Road | Driven: 2012 Toyota Camry

I think if you liked the camry hybrid before, you will like the 2012 even more.

 

If it gets better crash test results than the current one, I'll like it a lot better except for the front end;-)

Sadly, my co-author gets all the Toyota/Lexus for review. I was envious with the CT200h. I've got the new Mazda5 and refreshed Honda Pilot instead. Not sure when I'll have a chance to check out the Camry Hybrid. There's a "green" auto show in town next week, maybe they'll have one there.

 

crash tests are going to be fine... it is also one of the few cars with standard 10 airbags, even most of the 3x more expensive luxury vehicles have them as option (rear side airbags).

 

i don't plan on crashing.

 

Does anybody know which Camry has Paddle Shifter with Revmatch?

 

As long as the other guy doesn't plan on it either, you're good!

 

Only the fog lamps not my taste. Others are nice.

 

Decontenting? Those were nice features. Toyota also took a step backward on the new Sienna in regard flexible seating for larger families with the tiny 8th seat and removing LATCH seating positions.

Yeah, full cutout foglights might help. The trapezoidal black hole at the bottom like on the Highlander Hybrid is almost like the styling group gave up.

 

Plus, it's cheaper for Toyota to use the same fuel tank in the entire lineup.