Best websites for researching car safety?

I'm shopping for a small SUV/ Crossover, and my top priority is SAFETY.

What websites should I be looking at to help with my research (other than this one of course!)?

Obviously, I'm looking at IIHS and NHSTA crash test results.

I recently discovered informedforlife.org, and it seems great, but I'm wondering, is this site considered to have trustworthy/reliable information?

What other websites should I be looking at?

Thank you!

IIHS and NHTSA are the primary testing bodies; I don't think you will find anybody else that comes near what they do.

Some of the key limitations of IIHS and NHTSA tests are (1) that the two agencies never seem to coordinate their efforts to produce a more comprehensive rating for each vehicle, (2) they don't fully account for differences in vehicle size/type (e.g. NHTSA ratings can only be compared within the same vehicle class), (3) some of the tests don't produce meaningful distinctions among vehicles, e.g. if almost all models earn the highest rating, and (4) many vehicle models, especially lower-volume sellers, simply aren't tested at all or don't have complete results.

Informed for Life is an interesting site that attempts to address factors 1, 2and 3. They can't really do anything about item 4.

I've used the Informed for Life site because it is a good way to have all of the IIHS and NHTSA data in front of you and to get some perspective on a vehicle that you're considering.

Keep in mind, though, that they're not an official agency, and their algorithm has not been peer-reviewed or externally validated (as far as I know -- someone please correct me if I am wrong). So I would not view their results as definitive.

In particular, the Informed for Life algorithm typically produces a "Not Recommended" rating for vehicles with missing test data. However, you can sometimes do a little more digging and come to your own conclusions. For example, if the 2012 and 2013 models of a particular vehicle had great test results, and the 2014 model hasn't been tested yet, but is physically unchanged (or just has cosmetic/interior upgrades) then you can be reasonably confident that it will also be good. In that case I would ignore a "not recommended" rating.

You kind of have to put things together on your own. My process for evaluating the safety of a vehicle is primarily IIHS-centered; I research the scores, as well as the numbers behind the scores and how they translate into risks of injury and death. The driver death rate status reports are also a big part of how I weight vehicles, and those come from the IIHS. Ditto the "topic" section of the site, which contains a range of general auto safety stats and resources that clue you into how other factors impact safety (e.g., weight, ride height, presence/absence of side airbags--curtain & head, ESC, AWD vs FWD, etc).

To tell the truth, I pay next to no attention to the NHTSA since I find the IIHS tests far more relevant to real life crashes. I see the IFL site as one person's attempts to do what I (and I suspect a lot of other safety-focused parents) do, but since I only buy used vehicles, I don't focus on his recommendations much (which are primarily focused on the current year's crop).

Ultimately, you've got to decide what and how you come to your own conclusions. Definitely don't stop at the top-level scores, however, as not all "Good" scores are created equal. At this point, I'm pretty confident at deciding which of any given two vehicles I see is likely to be safer in the most common types of crashes, but some things you simply have to estimate, based on your knowledge of other factors that contribute to safety.

Wow thank you. Great answers. I feel like a need an advanced degree to decipher all this stuff! Loki, you sound like you really know your stuff. Have you researched the Honda CRV at all? It's getting less than stellar results compared to other simalar cars (eg Subaru forester/outback), which is surprising to me. Is it really not as safe as its reputation would have us believe?

LauraD said:

Wow thank you. Great answers. I feel like a need an advanced degree to decipher all this stuff! Loki, you sound like you really know your stuff. Have you researched the Honda CRV at all? It's getting less than stellar results compared to other simalar cars (eg Subaru forester/outback), which is surprising to me. Is it really not as safe as its reputation would have us believe?

Click to expand...

Ha, thanks. It's become a bit of a hobby of mine over the last few months since my wife and I are having a child soon. I get what you mean about feeling you need to be an engineer to wrap your head around it all, but I promise you don't.

Regarding the CRV, I'd consider the current generation to be a great vehicle for its size (small SUV), despite its marginal small offset score and the nagging risk of hip injury in its overall good side impact score. Keep in mind the previous generation CRV had one of the lowest measured driver death rates of any vehicle on the road in the AWD version (7), only bested by a handful of AWD large-SUVs, one mid-sized SUV, a minivan, and two cars. And that was with having a marginal roof score. Theoretically, the current CRV should be at least as safe and probably significantly safer, being that it has a good roof score and at least *has* a small offset score, even though it was a pretty bad one.

All that said, there are other vehicles in its class with better scores, such as the current generation Forester and Outlander. I personally would feel just fine with my family in the current CRV if it were in our price range and if it were the vehicle size we were looking for, and I'd focus more on factors like longevity, which the previous CRVs have proven in spades. However, if you are looking for the best scores in all categories within that class on paper, the Forester or Outlander would be the winning choices, simply because they both aced that small offset test. Whether these scores will translate to very low death rates when the vehicles are actually driven remains to be seen.

So yes, I think any of these (CRV, Forester, Outlander, or Outback) is very safe for its size.