1998 Honda Accord Safety?

we are in the market for a second car (too difficult with just one!) We looked at a '98 Accord today, 4 door. We think we might buy it. However, I know there are some of you on the board that know about cars (I don't!). I wanted to know about safety I guess mainly.

the only other cars in our price range would be a 2001 Civic.

any thoughts or advice?

NHTSA (national highway traffic safety administration):

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/ncap/

their 1998 accord results:

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/NCAP/Cars/24.html

insurance institute for highway safety:

http://www.iihs.org/

their 1998 accord results:

http://www.iihs.org/ratings/rating.aspx?id=91

for a late 1990's passenger car, the car fares pretty well.

informedforlife.org is another source of safety info for cars in the US, but they only chart data from 2003 and newer cars...

WOW! thanks so much for responding! i will check out all those links now!

do keep in mind that those results are for US vehicles... a vehicle's safety performance may in theory vary form country to country depending on what types of safety equipment come standard in different countries.

hope this helps!

it does help! thanks! with the links..you helped me get right to the point there.

this car is actually from the states. just for grins, i will share this with you b/c of the whole car interest thing. most cars, well, at least A LOT of cars here are from the states, and salvage cars. it's frustrating looking for a car...going home and checking out the VIN (which people don't do here by the way) and finding out it was given a salvage title. however, it's interesting that many of these salvage cars seem to last forever! this particular car we are looking at was from FL. but i think it was rebuilt in FL and then sold and shipped here. we told our mechanic today what we found out about the car he is trying to sell us (a salvage/rebuilt title) and he had no idea. i half believe him. a lot of people down here get these cars anyway they can...fix 'em up...and make a killing. i'm tempted to go into the business

again...thanks. and i know that is TMI....but something interesting about cars from the states that end up in Central America!!!

by the way...in your personal opinion....would you be more inclide towards a '98 Accord or a '01 Civic? (i like the size of the Accord over the Civic..but not sure if that means it would be safer for the kids or not..)

IMHO i would go for the accord simply for its size, but you can look at the crash ratings for the 01 civic and compare for yourself. a newer small car can often be safer than an older larger car, and in today's car world, just 4-5 years of technological improvements can mean just that difference. for example, back in the mid 90s, a midsize to large volvo from the mid 90s was about the safest car you could buy, yet today there are some tiny subcompacts that do just as well in crashes because of technological improvements to the structure (safety cage design and crumple zones) as well as highly technical devices like airbags, improved seat belts with pretensioners and load limiters, active head restraints, etc...

wow! i just checked out what it says about our Montero Sport! only three stars! hmm...and that's the car the kids will be in most! (bigger...higher up...takes these horrible roads a bit better....and did i mention higher up! i like being taller than everyone on the road!).

the 2001 Civic got 5 stars on tfront and four on side.. the Accord got four stars across the board. so....like you say....the newer smaller just might be safer. but why do i still lean towards the larger car??

convenience? comfort? practicality? tough decision... but you also have to ask yourself the significance of each "star". how much better is a 5 star performer than a 4 star performer? and what is that difference worth to you? decisions, decisions...

another thing i should mention, is that if you are buying rebuilt cars, there is a chance that the airbag systems are missing/nonfunctional. often times in crashes, the car will be rebuilt as cheaply as possible. replacing the airbag systems is EXPENSIVE. sometimes they will just rebuild the cars without replacing the airbags. this will normally cause the airbag warning light to stay one, so they will just yank that light right out. they do this in the US too, illegal as it may be. if at all possible, have your mechanic friend try to figure out if the airbags are really functional, because they can be a BIG part of how well the crash test dummies fare in the crash tests. you don't want to be falsely thinking you are driving a safe car when in fact the safety has been compromised.

yes! decisions, decisions....

i think then we just might need to go for the car that we think is in better condition (being said what you just mentioned...for the significance of each star). thanks for your help! (there is always such a risk with a used car...purchased in a foreign country! we get what no one in the states wanted!)