In most of my road tests I bang on about safety. In my opinion this should be the buyer’s first consideration.
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It’s common for parents to look for older cars for their newly licenced children. I’ve been guilty of this.
A startling test recently carried out by Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) shows very clearly by doing this we are endangering our children’s lives.
James Goodwin (ANCAP CEO) tells me they used two Toyota Corollas. One from the late 90s and one of the latest models. The cars collided at a combined speed of 128KPH.
“The older car sustained catastrophic structural failure with dummy readings showing an extremely high risk of serious head, chest and leg injury to the driver. It achieved a score of just 0.40 out of 16 points – zero stars,” Mr Goodwin said.
“In contrast, the current model performed very well with a five star level of protection offered, scoring 12.93 out of 16 points.”
Some sobering statistics to go with the test: Analysis of the Australian vehicle fleet shows that while older vehicles [those built 2000 or earlier] account for just 20 per cent of the registered vehicle fleet, they’re involved in 33 per cent of fatality crashes. In contrast, newer vehicles [those built 2011-2016] make up 31 per cent of the fleet yet are involved in just 13 per cent of fatality crashes.
Check out the video on the ANCAP website or the Road Ramblings Facebook page.
The lesson here is clear - buy the safest car your money can afford. It may well be a matter of life and death.
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