Crash statistics?

[mom2kk]

Any good sites to look at crash statistics. In particular, what points of a vehicle you are more likely to have damaged if in an accident? It's all statistics I know, and you can be in a wreck where you can damage just about everything or anything, but overall is there one area cars tend to get hit with the most? What about seating positions, which ones most frequently have fatalities and is there anyway to even do that stat, since the front seats are the most often occupied?

[CPSDarren]

It's not an easy to use site, but crash statistics for incidents with fatalities are here:

http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/Main/index.aspx

You can run queries with variable of your choice, or just browse their reports to see if you can find what you want.

The IIHS status reports often have good snippets, though their data ultimately is derived from the fars website above.

Crashes with only injuries are less well documented in terms of proper restraint and other factors. They tend to be much less reliable for specific. There are some generalities that are useful. For example, rear-enders are pretty common in low speed crashes. In severe crashes and those with fatalities, rear-enders are very uncommon.

[jujumum]

My favorite is the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety:

http://www.iihs.org/

http://www.iihs.org/research/default.html

:thumbsup:

[MySweetAGL]

This site has overall fatality rates and does a good job of combining all the safety factors / crash test ratings. But it doesn't have any of the particulars that you're looking for.
www.informedforlife.org

[codex57]

Watch out for informed for life. It's a great site that's pretty easy to use and understand, but you have to REALLY understand their methodology. I disagree with it because it can have quirks that IMO is very misleading.

For example, if they don't have results for a model (even if they have results for the previous year and the year after, and there were no changes to the car), they just give it an average score. Not incomplete, but they make up a score and insert it into their formula. This can lower the score for a car that otherwise would be very good, or raise it for an unsafe car.

[southpawboston]

Watch out for informed for life. It's a great site that's pretty easy to use and understand, but you have to REALLY understand their methodology. I disagree with it because it can have quirks that IMO is very misleading.

For example, if they don't have results for a model (even if they have results for the previous year and the year after, and there were no changes to the car), they just give it an average score. Not incomplete, but they make up a score and insert it into their formula. This can lower the score for a car that otherwise would be very good, or raise it for an unsafe car.

^^^^ yes to everything codex said.

[edbarkleyy]

Wow, the stats are rather apalling as well as alarming. :(

[codex57]

They're getting better. It's alarming that real improvements have only started happening a few years ago, especially when many people still drive cars far older than that. Still, improvement is better than nothing.

I actually don't have high expectations for car seats. I suspect most are in dire need of improvement if we actually had real testing. If public, then I'm sure some rapid improvements would be made.