another car issue: What's the best way to find the safest car out there?

[kristine_elen]

I've been looking at Consumer Reports, edmunds.com and the National Highway Transportation Safety site. Maybe I'm going about this wrong, but I'd like to find something that says, "These are the top 5 safest cars" or something like that. I'm obsessing on side-crash safety, given that I have my two sweet kiddos back there.

I see that Volvo and Subaru both have models with 5-stars for side-crash safety. Should I just assume they are equally safe in that regard? Is there other info I should seek?

Any advice?

[maestramommy]

It does seem confusing, but you are looking at the right sources. When you look at lists of the safest cars, make sure you know by what criteria they are going. Some are safer because the body itself can best sustain a crash, others because of airbags, others because of manuverability.

I hear ya on the side crash safety thing!

[KBecks]

I don't know about how to research, but I'll chime in that you may want to look at a minivan in lieu of a car. Because minivans are bigger, heavier, higher, etc. etc. They are the safest vehicle class overall.

Then, you can look at ratings, I think they are the NHSTA and the other one -- it's run by insurance companies (IIHC???) google insurance safety orgs or something.... They both do their own testing and sometimes have different results, etc.

I think for minivans, Toyota and Honda rate the highest for safety. You can get side curtain airbags for all three rows.

Safety is something to score in the "pros" for minivans scorecard, even if they're not very "cool".

Good luck in whatever you choose!

[Piglet]

http://www.informedforlife.org/

ETA - on the carseat forum, people have been complaining how hard it is to install carseats in Subarus. Something you might want to consider.

Enjoy!

[urquie]

you could also try calling your auto insurance company.

my toyota sienna has the highest safety rating possible based on my insurance company's rating system, which nicely reduces my premiums.

you could call them and give them the names of a few cars you are looking at and ask which has the highest safety ratings for their system.

[kristine_elen]

http://www.informedforlife.org/

What a great resource. Thanks. I also went to IIHS.org. The Subaru Forester, which I've been considering, has a great score for side impact.

[daniele_ut]

>http://www.informedforlife.org/
>
>What a great resource. Thanks. I also went to IIHS.org. The
>Subaru Forester, which I've been considering, has a great
>score for side impact.

As the pp mentioned, Subarus can be notoriously difficult for installing carseats. We drive an Outback Sport and haven't been able to get a seat installed well in the center at all. I know you have 2 kids so will probably be installing outboard, but I wanted to give you my experience. We looked at moving up to a Forester recently, but found that it wasn't going to be much of a move up, since the backseat was about the same size - TINY! The cargo room was definitely better, though.