07-31-2007, 12:44 PM
The article is a steaming pile, but I did find the 350z bit funny :lol:
Top 20 Most Dangerous Vehicles
Top 20 Most Dangerous Vehicles
Quote:Hoping to stay safe on the road? You might want to avoid certain cars.
For example, the Nissan 350Z has a death rate that's about double that of the average sports car.
But it's not for the reasons you might think. In this case, says Russ Rader, communications director for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), an organization that represents the interests of the insurance industry, the 350Z is part of a group of vehicles that tends to be driven by younger, less experienced or riskier drivers, and stands out for having high death rates, through no particular fault of the car.
"When they are in crashes," he adds, "they're particularly serious ones."
This illustrates a key point: Simply looking at the historical death rates for one particular model might not give much insight into the relative danger, or safety, of driving that vehicle. Furthermore, the most recent available federal data, interpreted by make and model by the IIHS, covers 2001 to 2004 model years in calendar years 2002 to 2005. Many models have had significant changes in safety equipment or complete redesigns since then.