Small Pickups More Popular, Less Safe
As gas prices top $4 a gallon, some consumers have turned to compact and midsize pickups rather than full-size models that devour gas.
"Unfortunately, they won't find any that afford state-of-the-art crash protection," Adrian Lund, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, said in releasing results of the agency’s first side-impact crash tests on small trucks.
Side impacts are the second most common type of fatal crash, killing almost 9,000 people in 2006. Small trucks usually don't get the latest safety systems standard because most are long in the tooth and aging in terms of underlying technology, as attention is instead focused on next-generation full-size models that account for the most profit for automakers. Ford, for example, may only offer the Ranger for a couple more years. That model hasn't been significantly altered in more than a decade.
"Until they improve, most small pickups aren't good choices for people looking for safe transportation," Lund said.
The Toyota Tacoma was the only small truck to earn the agency's highest rating, Good, in side tests. The Dodge Dakota, Nissan Frontier and Ford Ranger were rated Marginal, while the Chevy Colorado earned the lowest rating, Poor.
IIHS, which represents insurance companies, said side airbags were available only as an extra cost option on all small trucks but the Ranger, which doesn't even offer them. Stability control, which helps prevent accidents, is optional on the Tacoma and Frontier but not available on the other trucks.
"You shouldn't buy a vehicle without side airbags and stability control, and you shouldn't have to select safety from the option list," Lund said.
Of the five small trucks, the Tacoma is doing best, with sales of 84,068 units in the first six months of this year. Though down from 92,462 units in the same period a year ago, the Tacoma outsold the full-size Toyota Tundra by 8,000 units in the first half of this year.
While Chevy Colorado sales were down 9,000 units in that same period, the full-size Silverado was off 80,000 units. The old timer in the group, the Ranger was down only 1,000 units in the first half of the year, while the full-size F-Series tumbled by more than 80,000 units, forfeiting its rank as the top-selling vehicle in the industry to the compact Honda Civic in May and Toyota’s Corolla/Matrix duo in June.
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$4 dollars a gallon - amazing. Try $10 a gallon in the UK - that would cause a huge rethink of vehicle use if it happened in the USA
With the value of the dollar, weak economy, and a few on-going wars, I think $10 gas will be a reality in the near future.
I have a question for anyone outside the U.S. (real question; not trying to sound snarky). Did your gas prices go up rapidly (like ours) or was it a gradual change?
When I bought my car in 2004, I remember paying less than $1.50. So, in four short years we have almost tripled the price. I think the rapid rise in prices has been a greater impact than the actual price of gas.
I have invented a way to make cars safer in collisions. It includes side protection.
Please see my website www.safersmallcars.com
I have a Ford Ranger (paid for) and almost got a Pontiac Vibe instead. Everything was set and ready, but I just couldn't do it. Never had a car payment. The car was great and awesome price and interest rate. I just couldn't do it.
One of the reasons I was hesistant was that it didn't have side airbags. I would like to have them in my next car/truck. Like three days later after turning down the Vibe it was raining and I was slow to start the truck when the green light came on. That small hesitation probably saved my life since a big Ford 350 with a huge trailer run the red light and the above picture would have taken place.
Not that the Vibe would have done any better, but side airbags would at least give me a better chance.
The Honda Ridgeline is midsize. How did it do in the side impact test?
I'm still of the opionion that airbags only work if you ACTUALLY CRASH, otherwise it's something you pay for that you never use.
"You shouldn't buy a vehicle without side airbags and stability control, and you shouldn't have to select safety from the option list," Lund said.
So what? Does that mean I shouldn't have been driving my last six cars? (Well the Subaru DID have them, that's the only car I've ever had with any)
By the way, most of my old cars died a pleasent death of 100k+ miles and "screw it, toss it" resale value. Even the ones totaled in accidents (90 Civic, 98 Stratus) never even had the bags fire!
I'll take my chances, and keep an eye out for "THE OTHER GUY".
After all, he's the one who usually caused it, right?