From: nick@meaddata.com (Nick Gough)
Subject: Re: VOLVO info
Organization: Mead Data Central, Dayton OH
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 21:35:57 GMT

In article <4900@balrog.ctron.com>, smith@ctron.com (Larry Smith) writes:
|> In article <2797709659@gimli.bio.purdue.edu>, news@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (USENET News) writes:
|> 
|> >The combination of a good seat-belt system and Volvo's crumple 
|> >zones and frame construction really do work.
|> 
|> Any car with 3-pt seat belts has a "good seatbelt system", and all cars sold
|> in this country have crumple zones.  The NHTSA rates the all Volvos midpack
|> as far as crash safety is concerned, and they only do that well because they
|> are old designs and are therefore much heavier than is the norm for similarly
|> sized cars today.  The top safety performer, according to the NHTSA, is the
|> Mercedes 500 series sedan, followed by the other big Mercs, followed by Ford's
|> Crown Victoria, whose body-on-frame construction, crumple zones, and air bag,
|> are as safe as you can get for the price.  I am aware of Volvos constant media
|> barrage regarding its "safety", but the independent studies show that its only
|> real safety advantage is sheer mass, and a number of lighter cars can better
|> any in the Volvo lineup.
|> 
|> Only the IIHS confirms Volvo`s safety claims, but they are using insurance
|> claim rates, a self-selecting sample which only confirms that people who
|> tend to rate personal safety very highly also tend to buy Volvos, perhaps
|> because of the advertising hype.  As a testament to the power of the media,
|> it plays.  As one for the safety of a car whose virtues are undetectable by
|> the objective scientific criteria of actual crash testing, it does not.
|> 
|> Larry Smith (smith@ctron.com)  No, I don't speak for Cabletron.  Need you ask?
|> -
|> How about we all do something reasonable?  I bet that'll confuse 'em!

Crumple zones on US cars are a recently new idea. Volvo, M-B, BMW, Saab & VW/
Audi have had them for years... and they work.
I have seen & heard of many accidents where Volvos have been involved, some
at highway and racing speeds (on a track). Most of the occupants who had their
seatbelts on survived with minor cuts and bruises. SOme of these accidents
even involved the car sliding on its roof at 65mph (the occupants were uninjured
and the car had not even one broken window, thus no flying glass). Another
was a race car, where the thing flipped a number of times with the roof not even
collapsing to the roll cage.

Volvos are affordable and probably one of the safest cars in the world. Just
because cars have air bags, doesn't mean that they are safe (look at the claim
that the Chrysler mini-van airbags are not "safe" enough for use in cars, so
they're used in the mini vans... I think that I got that correct... going on
memory here).

Volvos were used by the US Govt to establish baselines back in the 70's and
80's. They have kept up & improved upon their desings.

Insurance for a Volvo is lower than for a comparable-sized US car, BTW.
(everything else being equal).

I don't mean to pick nits or start a flame war, just voice my opinions on
my observations. As someone once said, if everyone drove the same car (or,
had the same job, or acted as clones... to drive this point in the ground),
then life, would, indeed, be very boring, wouldn't it?

Enjoy your automobile choice and drive safely, as that is the most important
aspect of safety... accident avoidence.


Nick
_______________________________________________________________________________
|Nick Gough          |"You cannot depend on your eyes |   (513) 865-6800/x5721
|Mead Data Central   |when your imagination is out of |Engineering Productivity
|P.O. Box 933        |focus." -     Mark Twain        | nick@meaddata.com
|Dayton, Ohio  45401 |                                |...!uunet!meaddata!nick
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