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Unless your car lacks side curtain airbags does particularly poorly on the partial front overlap test safety improvements have been negligible since the roof st

Unless your car lacks side curtain airbags does particularly poorly on the partial front overlap test safety improvements have been negligible since the roof strength increases of the early '00s. Most of the advances since the 2000s have come from cheaper tech enabling things like automatic braking and stuff that makes texting your way into the back of a stopped semi truck less fatal when applied at scale. Is that worth $30k? I dunno, not my money.

justinph 5y ago
Not true. Automatic emergency braking (AEB) has been shown to reduce frontal crashes by about 43% and injuries in those crashes by 64%. That's a pretty big sizable jump. I can personally attest AEB has kept me out of at least one crash. Source: https://www.consumerreports.org/automotive-technology/automatic-braking-reduces-car-crashes-injuries-iihs-study/ https://www.consumerreports.org/automotive-technology/automa...
- throwaway0a5e 5y ago
  You are misrepresenting the capability of AEB. AEB will prevent you from rear ending someone at <10mph in stop and go conditions and knocks 5-20mph (being really generous on that upper bound) off the contact speed for higher speed rear endings (that most people won't ever get in over a lifetime). It mostly does not prevent the kinds of accidents where people get injured (save me the anecdote about how your brother's roomate's uncle backed his semi into the loading dock a little too hard and hurt had a sore neck the next day). Don't get me wrong, for what it does it works, but it is not the magic want the internet tends to act like it is. you have to weigh the potential improvement against the price of a new car.
Xenoamorphous 5y ago
Yes I also got the impression that around the early 2000s there was a much bigger leap in terms of car safety than in the 15 years or so since.
fomine3 5y ago
ESC (or call ESP, VSC, DSC, whatever) is also a huge improvement. It's shame that it failed to standardize the name despite the goodness.

justinph 5y ago

Not true. Automatic emergency braking (AEB) has been shown to reduce frontal crashes by about 43% and injuries in those crashes by 64%. That's a pretty big sizable jump. I can personally attest AEB has kept me out of at least one crash. Source: https://www.consumerreports.org/automotive-technology/automatic-braking-reduces-car-crashes-injuries-iihs-study/ https://www.consumerreports.org/automotive-technology/automa...

throwaway0a5e 5y ago
You are misrepresenting the capability of AEB. AEB will prevent you from rear ending someone at <10mph in stop and go conditions and knocks 5-20mph (being really generous on that upper bound) off the contact speed for higher speed rear endings (that most people won't ever get in over a lifetime). It mostly does not prevent the kinds of accidents where people get injured (save me the anecdote about how your brother's roomate's uncle backed his semi into the loading dock a little too hard and hurt had a sore neck the next day). Don't get me wrong, for what it does it works, but it is not the magic want the internet tends to act like it is. you have to weigh the potential improvement against the price of a new car.

Xenoamorphous 5y ago

Yes I also got the impression that around the early 2000s there was a much bigger leap in terms of car safety than in the 15 years or so since.

fomine3 5y ago

ESC (or call ESP, VSC, DSC, whatever) is also a huge improvement. It's shame that it failed to standardize the name despite the goodness.