Thread: 2nd Christmas fatality involves Defender towing trailer.

interesting that the SAAB 9000 was one of the best in 1987 but one of the worse in 1997, considering that didn't change over that time. is it because of GMs involvement or has every thing else just gotten better

Originally Posted by clean32

interesting that the SAAB 9000 was one of the best in 1987 but one of the worse in 1997, considering that didn't change over that time. is it because of GMs involvement or has every thing else just gotten better

Almost certainly because they didn't develop it. GM is renowned for taking over companies and then underfunding development.

I know I bang on about it but cars are getting hugely safer - and quickly. Things are changing so fast. Model lead times are about 4 years and I can see big jumps being made in that timeframe.

Cars that were designed before 2000 were doing well to get 4 stars. However most of the good cars we see now (pre 2005 designs) are scoring 5 stars. I hope the ncap program is re-calibrated soon to add more stars or something like that.

I believe that some car manufacturers were working their best to improve safety. The problem is as a consumer you've got no way of telling by looking at a car and everyone says their car is safe. NCAP by naming and shaming has helped to raise the entire field. As the above article suggests, people now expect safety. So even though NCAP is a very limited set of tests it has been a tremendous success IMHO.

The study posted by jimbo110 is a UK one hence the mix of vehicles involved. It is based on a rolling sample of the real life accidents to compare against the information as determined by NCAP. As it is based on real life it takes a few years for the information to come in and be reviewed. Figures are kept 'real' as there has to be a minimum of 150 recorded serious accidents for a particular vehicle to be included. Hence the Vauxhall Monaro is unlikely to ever make the list. The list was originally ranked best to worst however this resulted in large 4x4 type vehicles hogging the top 10 slots so the revised format you see here is now used. There can be little doubt that NCAP has forced car manufacturers to lift and continue to raise their game on car safety. I would though think more than twice before making a car smaller than a Focus my daily driver from a safety / survivibility point of view.

I thought that was the australian one. I think it was Monash that was doing a similar thing.

The other problem with these things are that they will have substantial lag. IE I want to buy a car today but those studies will only ever tell about the previous model.

It is the UK one, as we don't have such vehicles as the Rover Maestro, Fiat Panda, or Vauxhall Carlton (Commodore in Aust) or the Ford Granada, Ford Scorpio, and that Rover Mini pictured is a 60/70'early 80's Austin mini

Originally Posted by UncleHo

It is the UK one, as we don't have such vehicles as the Rover Maestro, Fiat Panda, or Vauxhall Carlton (Commodore in Aust) or the Ford Granada, Ford Scorpio, and that Rover Mini pictured is a 60/70'early 80's Austin mini

I don't think the Vauxhall Carlton is the same as a Commodore.

Originally Posted by BigJon

I don't think the Vauxhall Carlton is the same as a Commodore.

WHAT? you don,t think that Holden made something of there own do you. i think that the last holden floorpan was the EH LOL

Originally Posted by BigJon

I don't think the Vauxhall Carlton is the same as a Commodore.

It's similar but not the same. Smaller for one thing.