From: stoffel@oasys.dt.navy.mil (William Stoffel)
Newsgroups: sci.energy
Subject: Re: Mileage vs. Safety concerns in autos
Date: 30 Dec 92 14:19:59 GMT
Reply-To: stoffel@oasys.dt.navy.mil (William Stoffel)
Organization: Annapolis Detachment, CARDEROCKDIV, NSWC

In sci.energy, hinz@picard.med.ge.com (David Hinz Mfg 4-6987 ~BHOSVWZ#097) writes:
>Gary Weimer 726-3370 (weimer@spud.NoSubdomain.NoDomain) wrote:

(in part)

>: My Chevy Sprint easily gets 50 MPG in the winter and can get 60 MPG in
>: the summer. This is a 4 door car with enough room for a week-long trip

>: How much more "practical" of a car do you require?

>Sure, it gets good mileage.  However, what about safety?  I don't have
>the HLDI figures in front of me at the moment, but as I recall you are
>about 5 times as likely to get seriously injured in an accident than
>you would be if you were in the safest cars (Mercedes, Saab, and Audi
><I think> in that order).

I dug out the HLDI figures for '89 (model years 86-88). A little dated,
but I doubt the relative differences between the models still in production
have changed significantly. Perhaps someone else has newer data.

What Dave says is basically true (except apparently for the Audi, which
didn't have particularly impressive figures during that period). A couple
of comments though;

    a. Not all Mercedes models did equally well. The safest was also
the largest, the SDL/SEL series. In contrast, the smaller 190D/E models
were really fairly average (and behind a lot of other cars, including
many US models).

    b. Both the big Mercedes and SAAB 9000 (which also had very impressive
safety figures) were listed in the "Sports & Specialty" category, whereas
the Mr. Weimer's vehicle is in a seperate "Four-Door" category. Cars
in the S&S category tend to be more expensive and MUCH more expensive
to repair. The big Mercedes (rating 160) and SAAB 9000 (rating 135)
were both "Substantially Worse than Average" in terms of collision repair
costs. In summary, it may not be entirely accurate or fair to compare
cars in the Sports & Specialty category to those in the 4-Door category,
at least from an economics standpoint.

    c. Looking only at vehicles in the 4-Door category produces some
intersting (IMO) comparisons. Although their overall injury figures
are not as low as the big Mercedes (rating 41) and SAAB 9000 (rating
42), the safest 4-Door models were all full size N. American built sedans
(ratings ranging from 63-69).
      . Note that the HLDI considers any rating under 70 to be
"Substantially Better than Average". These vehicles also all had better
than average collision repair cost ratings.
    The worst 4-door vehicles, from overall injury experience, were
all relatively small vehicles manufactured in Japan and Korea, including
the Chevy Sprint. The Sprint had a rating of 164, which is 4 times the
big Mercedes, or about 2.5 times a Chevy Caprice for example.

>And I'm getting 30 mpg wite my Saab 900 (turbocharged).  Is the extra
>mileage worth risking your life?  How much extra gasoline is your life
>worth?

One additional comment, the SAAB 900 (4-door) had better than average
overall injury results too, but at a rating of 77, trailed its 9000
cousin as well as the full-size N. American sedans.
It also had a fairly horrible cost
to repair rating of 143. It still had an overall injury rating more
than 2 times better than the Sprint.

Basically I agree with Mr. Hinz's position that a few more mpg's is
not worth the additional risks associated with driving an econobox.
I'd also suggest that equal or better safety can often be found in
less expensive vehicles built in other locations besides Germany and
Sweden.

>What bothers me about the CAFE standards rising is that it will encourage
>the building of even more flimsy cars than we already have.  Yeah, it's
>a good idea to conserve petrol, I don't think that's the way to go about it.

I share this concern. I'm afraid that people who feel that this is the
way to go will be in the "driver's seat" for at least the next 4 years
too. I'll consider driving an econobox when everybody's driving one.
Until then, I want as many laws of physics on my side as possible.

Cheers,
       Bill
       stoffel@oasys.dt.navy.mil
Newsgroups: sci.energy