Prius safety info

Besides leaving a small environmental footprint, the main reason I bought the Prius is because it's very safe.
I know most people don't think of the Prius as an extraordinarily safe car, but it is. The Euro NCAP test is much more science than BS- BS is reserved for the NHTSA test(a rant much too large to cram into this rant)

Personally I have no idea why Americans are so uneducated about cars and buy crap like Cavaliers and F-150s; they are horribly unsafe machines. Put simply and franky, Europeans don't tolerate that kind of nonsense. Europeans in general, care about their safety in a car far more than Americans do. In Europe, it's the law that all new cars have to meet stringent safety regulations. Unlike in America, these regulations are updated more than every 40 years. All European Prius come standard with curtain airbags and stability control-- Toyota doesn't even make it an option. I, like most Europeans find it downright unacceptable to be offered a car that isn't engineered to do everything it can do protect me in an accident.
If you look on European Toyota websites, the Prius earning 5 stars in the Euro NCAP is everywhere; Europeans want to know.
In America, Toyota knows most Americans don't really care about safety, so they advertise the car's sunroof and 6 CD Changer... (go to Toyota.com)
It sounds crappy but it's true: the reason we don't hear about the Prius being so safe, is because most American's don't care---

I rant and bitch about this topic because I am utterly horrified when I see my friends or strangers killed because their car wasn't safe enough or they didn't wear a seat belt.

Just a month ago on my road trip down to Florida, I was passing through Maryland on I-95 when I saw a Jetta cut off an Explorer. The Explorer swerved, overcorrected and rolled 7 times. It was bad enough having my heart in my stomach as I slammed on the brakes watching this SUV roll and roll and roll, but what's worse is seeing two little girls flying out of the windows and breaking apart on the pavement in front of me. I looked over to see a smoking demolished Explorer with the driver's legs on the steering wheel and the passenger slouched over dead in his/her seat. Not being able to help those passengers because they were already dead was one of the worst feelings I've ever had in my life- I couldn't stop shaking or crying- I couldn't even control it. I hate to be gruesome or inappropriate, but that was totally avoidable. It starts with wearing your seatbelt, to having side curtain airbags, to having an strong roof, to having VSC. They all probably would have lived in a Volvo XC-90 with their seatbelts on.

I know not everyone has the money for the safest cars, but the government should know this and look after the people, not Ford or GM. The government should make it the law that all cars are designed to the highest degree of safety, whether the car costs 5,000 dollars or 80,000 dollars.

Since seeing that accident, I almost find it offensive that people are gifted with life and they seemingly choose not to protect it by either not wearing their seatbelt or driving drunk.
Whenever I'm driving with my dad and we see kids jumping up and down in the back seat of a car, he says their parents should be charged with child abuse. I agree with him; it is child abuse.
Sorry I rant, but people need to take safety more seriously.
Take care of yourselves; think next time you get in a car.

 

Which brings me to the point about pricing of the Prius. Many (?uninformed) claim that the HSD accounts for an inflated price over an equivelent non-HSD vehicle. I however would contend that what we have paid for is a superior car including the added standard safety features noted in the opening post of this thread.

 

Many of my friend don't understand it since i'm only 20... but i purchased the prius because of it's safety. I used to drive and 87 Lincoln Mark VII LSC.. it had a 225hp HO5.0L engine in it. With no safety features on the car, it became very unstable in wet terrain. I would be scared to go out in the first rain. In any other car, i go puddle stomping. Now.. my old car had a great safety cage.. but everything else was under par. The prius offered me electronic stability control along with many other features. The car is more maneuverable. It has a better breaking system and it's lighter. It has a warranty But best of all.. for the price of the prius, other car companies could not match all the features the prius offered. Plus, i'm getting better gas mileage and polluted multiple times less than my old did.

It's simply a wonderful car. This is why i smile :mrgreen:

 

Gurmail: Yes, there have been similar articles about the North American Prius, which I imagine is the same car with a few minor differences in available options & standard equipment. The article you posted is the longest and most detailed I've seen. So thanks for posting it. But there have been articles along the same lines as crash test results have become available here.

One of my pet peeves is when people claim to tell us how much more the Prius costs for being a hybrid, and they ignore all the features of the car other than its size category.

And to all who want the government to do something about safety: Good luck! The government does not care about safety. The government cares only about profits for big corporations, and getting re-elected.

My aunt drives an SUV because she believes that it is safer for driving her grandkids around (which she does a lot -- they are the focus of her life) and nothing I can say will ever convince her that there are cars safer than any SUV. At least she and they are always securely belted in.

 

Toyota should install side air bags and curtains in all their cars, including the Prius, instead of making these safety features optional. Even the cheapest VWs have these features.

 

I believe the 2005's will have airbags as standard.. along with windshield wipers in the rear. there is a post about it somewhere on here.

 

I believe only the rear wiper was added as a standard feature in 2005.

 

I have a friend who was asking about my new Prius he saw in the parking lot. I was talking about the safety features. He said I would be safer in my old SUV. I tried pointing out some of the data to him on SUV's. He said that was ridiculous, it was simple physics the bigger the car the more the inertia the better it will do in a crash. There was no talking to him. The emotional pull of the SUV trumps rationality. "Man is the rationalizing animal not the rational animal" sad but true.

 

My father feels the same way. He is mistaken. Of course, if you both get into an accident with a semi.. the SUV will hold up better.. but semi collision are the least heard of when it comes to accidents. Also.. think of this. You have all that inertia... but if you hit something solid.. where is the inertia going to be released at.. in the SUV frame.. or through you? If you're friend wants to bring up points about hitting brick walls.. he might be safer in a catapult than an SUV.. either one is going to send you flying. But.. i understand your confusion. Like i said.. my father is the same way.. and he will never see it any differently. OH well.. at least we know we are safer.. and we are polluting less. Not to mention.. we can do what most SUVs can do.. but we can most likely do it faster and we get more futures than an SUV has... for less of the cost. I can do more than my brother can in his SUV.. he thinks his ground clearance is higher than mine.. but his differential sticks down pretty far. Hit that one good time and you're out of commission. Not to mention.. i can rally.. and my bro can't.. i can fit in compact spaces.. he can't.. and i corner faster.. plus.. my car offers airbags for all passengers.. his has 2.. hmm... if we can't get if of the SUV's.. we might as well work to make them better. Hey.. i convinced my mom to trade in the Expedition for a Lexus RX400h :mrgreen:

 

that more initeria thing wont work if the car is too big to withstand its own weight.

problem with a car with a lot of weight is that it has more inertia. so it hits an unyielding object like a tree or something and the car crumples the occupants along with the bumper because there is too much inertia.

that is the reason why many SUV's fare WORSE in accidents. smaller lighter cars that protect the occupants well and are light enough will not overcome the crumple zones.

now with that, realize that hitting another moving object or moveable object throws in a different set of rules.

 

It is common to praise our own choices, possessions, friends, etc. I do it plenty. It's human nature. If we have a friend who's a dentist, we really believe he's a better dentist than the one down the block who we've never met.

So it's natural for SUV owners to make wildly false claims about the safety of their death-mobiles. Sad, but natural.