Consumer Reports Safe Cars
Though the findings are limited because they don't take automatic crash-notification into consideration, Consumer Reports (CR) Magazine should still be of interest to prospective car owners.
A good crash notification system (one that's built into the architecture of the vehicle rather than added on like a glorified cell phone) connects you with assistance in places where regular cell phones can't get a signal. If you don't respond to the system's automatic call in a serious crash (such as when a airbag deploys), it calls for emergency service vehicles and sends them to your precise location.
Since the delayed treatment of some injuries can literally cost you your life, automatic crash notification can literally save it. GM is by far the biggest provider of such a service with OnStar, which it uses in most of its own models and some competitors.
As for CR's perspective on safe vehicles, the editors of the independent publication (it takes no advertisements and buys the vehicles it tests) rank every model on its ''accident avoidance'' ability and its ''crash protection'' status.
According to the Annual Auto issue of the magazine, the good news is that, overall, ''It's getting easier to find vehicles with high overall safety capabilities.'' This means that 21 sedans and 11 SUVs in the Consumer Reports Safety Assessment (CRSA) program are rated ''excellent'' overall this year, compared with nine and two, respectively, just three years ago.
These improvements are the result of better designs and the addition of such advanced safety features as stability control, head-protection side airbags, and more.
Like the crash tests that the CRSA uses from America's National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA), these ratings ''can be compared only with those of vehicles within the same weight and size category.'' This means that a compact car that gets ''excellent'' ratings from the CRSA or NHTSA is not as safe as a large SUV with similar ratings because both size and weight are key determinants in a vehicle's ability to protect its occupants.
It must also be pointed out that the magazine only ranks those vehicles that it has tested, so there are some significant gaps in the data bank. For example, the CRSA has not tested the Ford F-series, Chevrolet Silverado, GMC Sierra or Nissan Titan, so the large pickup results are pretty much useless, and the compact pickup ratings aren't much better.
For complete results of the models that have been tested, you'll need to consult the actual magazine, or consult the website at www.consumerreports.org for a limited view of the material.