Which is the safest car to drive?

The one driven by a person with their eyes on the road, and not attached to a glowing box.

I was very happy with my Volvo when I got plowed into on the driver’s side and escaped with only bruising. Of course, that’s a very subjective experience.

Really? Mercedes claims that? I’ve heard crash test results for different cars in the categories they’re in (SUV, sedan, etc.) but I’ve never heard a manufacturer claim that their car “is the safest.”

A Formula 1 or LMP1 car.
Want proof?
Watch this video

I live in a town where Volvo’s are pretty common, and I had one myself. I became convinced they were pretty safe when I saw two teen agers, each in a 242 station Wagon, run head on into each other at about twenty miles per hour each, and both were able to get out without injury to exchange licenses.

Kenworth.

No car is the safest car to drive.

An armored car. Of course, an armored car would be very dangerous to the people who are not in the armored car.

A bumper car.

Once you drive a Volvo, you’ll immediately realize why they have such a well deserved longtime record of safety. They are SOLID. Basically built like a tank.

Just closing my door on the used one I bought years ago, was so markedly different from the flimsiness of the typical American made cars.

I imagine that a Humvee might be comparable, but who can afford the gas for a vehicle like that? Not I, that’s for sure.

Tesla’s Model X.

No car can protect you from your own ineptitude, and many that are safer for the occupants are a danger to everyone else. Sure, SUVs may be safer for the driver and her kids, but are more likely to kill the people they hit so they really cannot be considered “safer”. And many that have the things like airbags and crash cages are heavy enough that, under certain conditions, they will get into an accident that a lighter vehicle will be able to avoid.

One thing I must say is that there is this myth that older/heavier cars are safer than newer/lighter ones. I’ve driven under the rear end of an SUV in an ‘85 Corolla; a 2300-pound car that didn’t have anything like airbags or crumple zones. I walked away with fewer injuries than I did when my stepdad rolled our heavier “tougher” ‘73 Olds Omega. I’ve nearly been killed in a Taurus and Regal (midsized cars around 3200 pounds) under conditions where a VW Golf or Saturn S-series (compacts under 2500 pounds) would’ve just grabbed the road and drove on like ice were dry pavement. If you believe that myth, then it’s best if you not only let someone else drive, but let them make the car-buying decisions as well.

The OP should be reworded. Automotive crashworthyness is a very complex topic.

@ragingloli suggests a Formula 1 or Le Mans Prototype car. Yes, a carbon fiber safety cell is a very good way to survive a wreck but where are the turn signals? Why is the fat, surly woman at the DMV giving me such a hard time?

Don’t fret, there is hope. Porsche, McLaren Cars Limited, Pagani Automobili, Ferrari, and some others offer a car that will disintegrate down to it’s cell for ultimate occupant survivability.

Some cars, especially Mercedes’ S class will take total control to avoid a collision. Not my cup of tea but if it will keep those reading the style section from hitting me I’m all for it.

SUV safety is a total myth. When you consider all involved in a motor crash (not just the occupants of the low tech vault on wheels) one sees how these are an unnecessary hazard for all. You think you need an SUV, you don’t. You are fixated on image, And not one that impresses me one bit.

Don’t believe me? Even the makers of these lumberers refer to what they call “the lizard brain.” In other words THEY KNOW their product appeals to the self serving and unsophisticated part of one’s (cough) mind.

For this reason I believe that insurance rates should be based on the statistically based amount of damage your vehicle will do to all involved in the event of a crash. Oh darn, your Meximelt is mingling with your blood on the console.

OOH, your Escalade is SO HIGH.

Great. so when you T boned me at that intersection because you were switching from Jay Z to Li’l Wayne your bumper overrode my car’s door safety beams and decapitated my wife. You are such a STUD.

In the United States you can turn to www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings for a rather objective comparison of auto safety in an controlled environment.

In Europe? Look here www.euroncap.com/en

Humvee? Or the civilian version, Hummer?

@citizenearth Considering that it has enough blind spots that it may cause accidents that a smaller vehicle would not get into, I don’t think so. Between that and their sheer mass, they are definitely a greater danger to everyone around them. But if you’re okay with getting into more accidents and causing greater harm to those outside the vehicle so long as everyone inside the vehicle is fine, then I guess it’s safer.