Car Safety

Third Opinion

Third Opinion

Third Opinion

Soldato
Joined
3 Jun 2005
Posts
5,365
Location
West Sussex
How much do ncap ratings influence your car purchase. My car has a 4 stars out of 5 but I admit I didn't look till I bought it.

Do these tests influence you guys?
 
No, not at all, because if and when I crash my car it will not be into another car of exactly the same dimensions and weight offset at exactly the amount stipulated in a Euro NCAP test.
 
Both yes and no, I'm not really that interested in its rating, but I am interested in the crash photos to see how deformed the drivers compartment gets and look at the loadings on the dummy.
 
Don't know any better, so no. :p

Wiki:
Issigonis designed the Mini with an emphasis on active safety. Asked about the crash worthiness of the Mini he said "I make my cars with such good brakes, such good steering, that if people get into a crash it´s their own fault" and "I don’t design my cars to have accidents". It is generally acknowledged that the Mini was designed with excellent handling characteristics.

In July 1965 BMC announced that following "comments by safety experts" about the Mini's external doorhandles, these would be modified on new cars so that the gap between the handle and the door panel would be effectively closed.

Nicholas Faith states in his book that Murray Mackay, one of the UK's leading motor vehicle crash and safety researchers, was critical of the pre-1967 Mini's passive safety features, including the protruding filler cap, the door latch, and the vulnerability of the passenger space to engine intrusion.

The Mini was withdrawn from the North American market because it could not meet the 1968 U.S. safety regulations and more intense emission standards,[72] and was never updated to comply with those regulations.

Throughout its life, the Mini was modified in various ways to improve its safety. In 1974 a prototype Mini experimental safety vehicle was built (Mini Clubman SRV4) which featured a longer crumple zone, a "pedestrian friendly" front-end, run-flat tyres, strengthened door sills, extra internal padding and recessed door handles.

Jack Daniels, one of the original Issigonis team, is stated to have been working on further safety improvements for the Mini when he retired in 1977. Several times it was thought that safety regulations would stop Mini production. Safety improved in 1996, with the introduction of airbags and side impact bars. The Mini, challenged by increasingly demanding European safety and pollution standards, was planned by British Aerospace to be taken out of production in 1996, but BMW chose to invest to keep the Mini legal until the launch of the BMW MINI.

In January 2007, the Which? magazine listed the Mini City in its "Ten worst cars for safety (since 1983)" list, alongside other economical, lightweight, fuel efficient cars like the Hyundai Pony 1.2L, Fiat Panda 900 Super, Suzuki Alto GL, Daihatsu Domino, Citroën AX 11 RE, Yugo 45 and 55, Peugeot 205 GL, and the Citroën 2CV6.

A UK Department for Transport statistics publication, presenting estimates of the risk of driver injury in two car injury collisions, based on reported road accident data, estimated that the 1990–2000 Mini was one of two small cars (the other being the Hyundai Atoz), which, with an estimated 84% of drivers likely to be injured, presented the greatest risk of driver injury. The average risk for the small car category was 76%.
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Third Opinion said:
I have seen people slate small cars like the SEICENTO for being really cruddy on NCAP. I don't look admittedly just wondered how other people felt
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Having seen how a friend's Cinqicento (sp?) was after he had a head-on, I think I would think twice before ever stepping in one.

That said, he survived with relatively minor injuries, but only by a hairs breath looking at the photos of the car.

Ferrying a child around, I find safety ratings quite important as you just never know what can/will happen. For a personal car, I'm not particularly fussed, but do not want to drive around in a bean can.
 
MikeHiow said:
Having seen how a friend's Cinqicento (sp?) was after he had a head-on, I think I would think twice before ever stepping in one.

That said, he survived with relatively minor injuries, but only by a hairs breath looking at the photos of the car.

Ferrying a child around, I find safety ratings quite important as you just never know what can/will happen. For a personal car, I'm not particularly fussed, but do not want to drive around in a bean can.
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Those things crush up like an empty packet of crisps
 
I have a passing interest in it, for example I won't drive an original Fiat 500 any more because they're just absolutely lethal.

I usually don't let it influence my purchasing, though, as the majority of cars I tend to look into were usually pretty well regarded at the time, or are modern enough that they've airbags, crumple zones and so on.
 
Not really that interested, but to a point, I would never get into a Rover 100 having seen the way it kills all all front occupants and probably paralyses the people in the back at just 40mph, and considering that was 40mph into a stationary object not an object head on at equal speed (im no physics expert but I assume head on at 20mph would be just as destructive?)

However I would never buy a car like that anyway so it has merely effected who ill accept a lift off.
 
Like to see ncap try this test!

5364922686_ae13119b46.jpg


Both my saabs have side impact bars, strenghtened windscreen pillars etc. and the original design is mid 1960's.
 
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