Questions about Subaru Quality/New Outback Purchase

[Ignignokt]

G.R. Aydelotte wrote:

I did find a reference to every 200 pounds of weight
increase adds 9% to the safety factor of a vehicle.

So does that mean my car is 5% safer with me driving it than my wife? (I'm
betting she'd disagree.)

Maybe I should add a couple hundred pounds of ballast to my Forester.

But seriously: Any safety advantage resulting from vehicle weight is only
achieved from weight *differential*. Your 5400 lb Land Cruiser will be
harmed a lot more in a collision with another 5400 lb Land Cruiser than with
a 2500 lb Miata. And it will come out the loser in a collision with a
7000-lb Hummer. But then the Miata is probably better at dodging your Land
Cruiser than your Land Cruiser is at dodging a Hummer. So which vehicle is
really "safer?" And there are so many other factors involved in making a
vehicle "safe" that the reference you cited above is almost certainly of the
"out my ass" variety. (The source, not you.)

- Greg Reed

 

[Guest]

I realize that a lot of this information you provided and other safety
info is somewhere on the net, and I have read a good bit of info from
IIHS and NHTSA sites on buying a safe car. Then, I have read a lot of
posts, many by Daniel Stern, about the dangers of airbags, so I'm
trying to sort all this out. With the exception of the Land Cruiser, I
haven't shopped for cars since 1992. I have a lot of catching up to
do.

Gregg:

Re: airbags, specifically - one of the things that gives Subaru good
crash ratings on front and offest crashes is that the airbags
explode *upwards* towards the ceiling first, rather than *outward*
towards the driver and passengers. My recollection is that the NHTSA
pointed out that the style of airbags had a lot to do with child
injuries due to airbags as well.

Sandi