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Car Safety: Not an American Priority?

In late 2006, The Insurance Institute of Highway Safety released its list of the safest cars of the 2007 model year.

Car safety is an incredibly important factor for anyone who is making a decision on buying a car. As many of you know, your own skill as a driver isn’t the only thing to worry about when you are on the road. You do, after all, have to share the road with other vehicles, and while you might take pride in being an excellent driver, there are millions of other drivers who put on makeup, text message on their cell phones, fiddle with their iPods, eat, drink, or steer with their knees as they move down the highway.

The IIHS listed the following cars as the safest:

The Acura RDX: This is a mid-sized SUV that comes with not only standard side airbags, but also has electronic stability control. This is the latest in stability technology that can drastically reduce car rollovers.

The Audi A4 and A6: These sedans not only have standard airbags, but they also have improved seats that offer better protection to drivers and passengers.

Honda CR-V and Pilot: Another mid-sized SUV that comes with the same automatic stability control as the Acura.

Hyundai Entourage: This minivan has all the crumple zones, airbags, anti-lock brakes and stability controls that you should expect from a family car.

Kia Sedona: The safety features in this minivan are astonishing, with state of the art technology covering everything from seat restraints to traction and stability control to tire pressure monitoring.

Mercedes-Benz M Class: According to the Insurance Institute, this SUV met or surpassed all crash safety standards during testing.

Saab 9-3: This Swedish sedan offers outstanding protection in the event of a crash.

Subaru B-9 Tribeca, Forrester, Legacy: Every car that comes out of the Subaru factories meets the highest possible safety standards, and with the Tribeca, Forrester and Legacy, Subaru is able to offer cars, SUV’s and wagons that are some of the safest cars on the road today.

Volvo XC90: Volvo has made their reputation based on producing safe cars, and the XC90 is no exception.

All of these cars performed very well in all crash simulations performed by both the Insurance Institute and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. If you look closely at the list, you will notice cars from Japan, Germany, Korea and Sweden, but you won’t find one American made car on the list.

Considering that America has more drivers on the road than any other country in the world, we think that’s a problem.

As personal injury attorneys, we deal with the repercussions from bad driving on a daily basis. We see lives ruined and families torn apart thanks to people on the road who drive drunk or aggressively. We know for a fact that airbags, seatbelts and traction and stability controls can be the difference between an accident with multiple fatalities and an accident where everyone walks away unharmed. And it is a complete shame when American drivers have to turn to foreign cars for safety innovations that should be a standard part of the package.

If you or a loved one has been injured in an accident, contact our offices for a free legal consultation today.