This Is America's Most Dangerous Car. Wait, There Are More
Most dangerous: Dodge Ram 1500
By now, you probably have heard (enough) of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) top safety picks. The IIHS provides an Academy Award worthy number of different categories, which assure that anybody can be a winner. But what are America’s most unsafe cars? This remained a secret until 24/7 Wall Street started digging.
Second most dangerous: Chevrolet Colorado Crew Cab
They took the seven current-generation models that received a “marginal” or “poor” rating in two of the four categories. Then, 24/7 Wall St. combined the data with records from Consumer Reports, NHTSA crash safety ratings, and JD Power’s Initial Quality Study, to arrive on a list of “The Most Dangerous Cars in America.”
Third most dangerous: Mazda CX 7
In analyzing the data, it appears that the thumbs downs are pretty much consistent. Models that rated badly in the IIHS rankings usually received similarly poor reviews elsewhere.
Rank Nameplate Make Bad ratings 2011 sales Price JDP IQS1Ram 1500 Dodgeside-marginal; rollover-marginal156,983$22,120 2/52Colorado Crew CabChevroletside-poor; rollover-marginal; rear-marginal31,026$17,475 3/53CX-7Mazdarollover-marginal; rear-marginal35,641$22,190 4/54CX-9Mazdarollover-marginal; rear-marginal34,421$29,725 4/55PathfinderNissanrollover-marginal; rear-marginal25,935$29,290 3/56WranglerJeepside-marginal (2-door); side-poor (4-door); rear-marginal (both)122,460$22,970 3/57SX4Suzukirollover-marginal; rear-marginal12,520$13,849 2/5Customers appear blasé about the shoddy safety of these cars. Says 24/7 Wall Street:
“The poor ratings of these models do not appear to have affected their sales. In fact, sales of all models are up from last year. In all but one case, according to data provided by Edmunds.com, sales grew at least 19% last year. And while most of these models’ sales are still below 2007 levels, sales the Jeep Wrangler not only increased the most but also jumped 50% since then.”
Now wait: Aren’t these big trucks supposed to be the epitomes of safety, whereas compacts get “I won’t put my kids in those” comments?
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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Does anyone have an opinion on INFORMEDFORLIFE.ORG? It purports to aggregate vehicle WEIGHTS with crash statistics and test results from IIHS and NHTSA. It leaves some holes when there are missing test results, but I wonder if any of you give any credence to the rankings.
I can attest how unsafe the colorado is! It doesn't fare too well in accidents and has electrical problems that affect brake lights and other exterior lights that prevent accidents. after two recalls on my'04 for tail lights they would still stop working. It also had cheap parking brakes, problem shifting out of park, stalling at highway speeds, and even brake failure. I didn't feel safe driving this truck and seeing one Colorado suffer severe damage and both the driver and passenger were severly injured but the compact car who rear-ended them was able to walk away I decided even more that my truck was undafe. surprisingly the only recall was the tail lights which was only the tip of the iceburg of safety issurs with the Chevy Colorado!