Pick your Crash.....

[TurboQtro at aol.com]

>Martin asked:
>
>From: "Martin W. N. Suryadarma" <msuryadarma at mail.wesleyan.edu>
>Subject: Ouch, A6's safety the worst in its class..
>
>Almost fell of the chair after reading this article:
>http://www.hwysafety.org/vehicle_ratings/ce/html/summary_midlux.htm
>What do you guys think?
>Martin

Wow!  That is REALLY suprising.  And, I thought those cars were among the 
safest.  Also suprising considering the previous Audi A6 was rated best in 
it's class (-'97) and and the (-'91) Audi 200 was also the safest in it's 
class (due to advanced Procon-10 safety system)....  I think that may have 
been the safest car they tested at the time or something.

Safest car the NHSTA has tested so far is ... of all things...  a Toyota 
Previa Mini-van.  I'm very interested to see what Toyota did as mini-vans, by 
desighn, usually aren't that safe...  or, maybee they have improved a lot, 
but you are kinda half sitting on the engine/tranny in the front seats.

>My response: tell me what kind of crash you want to be in, involving what
>other kind of vehicle, and I'll tell you what kind of car to drive for it.
>I'm not familiar with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, nor
>whether they have an axe to grind, nor do I know their testing procedures.
>Plenty of "if-thens" to play with.  And note that the Audi was only rated
>"Marginal" on lower leg protection.  I have no idea how they determined
>this!

Al, my understanding is that the NHSTA is pretty much the standard and is 
very unbiassed, but another source to look at... and probably a LOT more 
accurate, especially with a car that's been out there for a few years is the 
Insurance Institute's studies.  They examine a lot of "real" crashes and use 
this data to rate cars for insurance rates.  Very scientific and detailed.  
I'd be very interested to see how the test results of the two agencies 
compare.

Also...  the NHSTA has certian tests for everything....  I can literally 
build a car that would test very well in that test, but might fail at all 
others.  

Later,
Dan
'94 S4