Top 5 safest hybrids (Prius came in last)
Update: While I stand by my methods, you may want to look at a more updated ranking which just lists a single hybrid as safest in class. I think fair criticisms of this article were 1. not enough cars were ranked and 2. cars while they of course can, there is no universally accepted way to compare them out of class.
So, you want to buy a hybrid to save the planet but you want one that will save you if there is an accident? AutoblogGreen did some number crunching for you. Here is a list of the top 5 safest Hybrids for 2007 models, 1 being the most safe and 5 the least safe. The results just might shock you.
- Toyota Camry Hybrid 4-Dr w/SAB
- Honda Civic Hybrid 4-DR w/SAB
- Ford Escape Hybrid 4-DR
- Mercury Mariner Hybrid 4-DR
- Toyota Prius 4-DR w/SAB
[Source: NHTSA, EPA]
First, I took a look at this list. It's the Fuel Economy Leaders: 2007 Model Year. There were five hybrids on that list. Then I looked up each of those cars at safer car. The crash test for the Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner did not include side air bags. I think they did that because it's optional and not standard. There were no roll over ratings for the Camry, Escape and Mariner. So I ignored roll over ratings.
So you can say, this is really just a fair comparison of 3 hybrids front and side crash rating. I am being as open as possible because I think you should know everything I did. Anyway, I added up the star ratings. Then proceeded to rank them. These numbers are the star ratings for front driver, passenger and side front and rear seat.
Prius 4454
Civic 5545
Camry 5555
Escape 4455
Mariner 4455
Camry is the clear winner with all 5's. Civic a close second with one 4 for side front seat. Escape and Mariner actually tied. So if you like, you can have Mariner ranked 3 and Escape 4. Last but not least, Prius. Three 4 ratings. Only a 5 for side front seat. So, that's how I did it. Even if you have real problems with the lack of a roll over comparison or the two SUVs test lacking side air bags, I hope you took something away from this.
Choosing a car is a very interesting process. We each have our own way. Some of us like to know lots of information. Some just buy on the way it looks (me). After fuel efficiency, I thought safety was the next best thing to consider and I had not seen a list like this, so I wrote this article. Please post in comments criticisms, your searches on hybrid safety and what you consider when buying a car.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
GoodCheer 4:24PM (8/08/2007)
Thing 1: Thank you for the report, and your transparency.
Thing 2: I think (not very useful of me I know) that roll-overs do play a significant role in total crashworthiness, particularly among the taller vehicles. I suspect roll-over safety, which is based almost entirely on height (with a pinch of suspension stiffness thrown in), would rank as follows:
Civic
Camry
Prius
Mariner/Escape
So combined the Civic and the Camry would still be 1-2 or 2-1, followed by the other three.
Of course I'm just pulling this out of my [hat].
I wonder if someone can find actual crash statistics for these vehicles, to take the discussion out of the lab and onto the mean streets?
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Michael 4:32PM (8/08/2007)
I'm surprised to see this here when I just did something similar on all hybrid cars just two weeks ago.
http://hybridreview.blogspot.com/2007/07/what-you-didnt-know-about-safety-of.html
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Lascelles 5:28PM (8/08/2007)
Michael, I did not see that article. It's very similar. Your post is better in many ways. If I did get the idea from your blog, I would have given you credit. I am very sorry if you feel cheated. BTW it's .gov not .org.
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plasm 5:29PM (8/08/2007)
I have to be critical of your post. Your data is misleading because it only paints a partial picture of the available safety data.
There are two main sources of crash safety for cars: NHTSA, which you posted here, and the IIHS. In my opinion, the IIHS data is actually more useful because the tests are harder to pass. They use a front offset crash test (rather than a straight head on test), and their side impact test uses a barrier similar to an SUV rather than a sedan. Further, they collect head injury data, whereas the NHTSA test does not.
The results of the IIHS tests are as follows (G = Good, A = Acceptable, M = Marginal, P = Poor):
(Vehicle: Front/Side/Rear)
Civic: G/G/G
Camry: G/G/M
Prius: G/G/M
Escape: A/G/A
Second, the crash data doesn't say anything about the car's ability to avoid crashing in the first place. Electronic stability control systems have been shown by numerous studies to effectively prevent crashes before they can even occur. As a result, NHTSA has made stability control a required feature on all cars by 2012. Also, the IIHS doesn't award its top safety pick award to any vehicle that doesn't have stability control.
As such, the order of precedence for safety ranking should be: 1) availability of stability control, 2) IIHS rankings in order of (front, side, rear), 3) NHTSA rankings.
The final hybrid safety ranking should be:
1) Camry (stability control is standard)
2) Prius (stability control is offered on every package)
3) Escape/Mariner/Tribute (stability control is standard)
4) Civic (no stability control for the Hybrid, only on Si gasoline models)
http://www.iihs.org/ratings/default.aspx
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/09/nhtsa_stability.html
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Jimmy 5:33PM (8/08/2007)
Interestingly the Prius does better than the Civic in the more stringant EuroNCAP testing. The Civic rates somewhat better the the Prius in IIHS testing.
The end result is that both are safe modern designs and different tests are going to have slightly different outcomes. Now something like the “G-Wiz” needs to be revealed for the death trap it is.
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Karkus 5:38PM (8/08/2007)
I don't really see what's so "shocking" about all this. Better comparisons than this have been done before. A third grader could have done this "research". Pointing out minor differences in the crash test ratings is not some revolutionary discovery (all of those cars test quite good). To me it looks like an excuse for Prius bashing.
Perhaps you could have also included other test rating agencies. For example:
"An unrivalled safety accolade from Euro NCAP for the Toyota Prius
First in class:
Euro NCAP, the European New Car Assessment Programme, gave the Toyota Prius a 34-point rating, equalling the highest score ever recorded in its class. Euro NCAP was established to provide consumers with rigourous and trustworthy independent safety assessments http://www.euroncap.com "
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Matthew 5:53PM (8/08/2007)
Your post is titled "Top 5 safest hybrids", yet all you do is list some ratings and rank them? Karkus is right: you're claiming WAY more authority than you have, given what you've done.
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Michael 9:32AM (8/09/2007)
Lascelles, there were too many differences in our posts for me to feel like you had copied them.
I was wondering if 1) you had seen it and gotten some sort of inspiration for your post or 2) we had both seen something a few weeks ago and had the idea germinate into two different tacks on the same issue.
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Ian 9:42AM (8/10/2007)
Plasm,
You took the words right out of my mouth. I was just about to go to IIHS's website and note the Civic's lack of ESP (which is available on the HCH in other contries).
While I appreciate the article, I think it could've been titled "Further Evidence that there are really only 5 Hybrids worth buying".
Even before the crash test data, as far as fuel efficiency goes these are the only car's worth buying (and I often argue that it really only the Prius and Civic). This is just more "feelgood" evidence that these are great cars.
Lastly, I would never consider the Mini-SUVs safer than the Prius -- possibly near equals, but with that high center of gravity it's a wash at best.
Ian
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Lascelles 11:33AM (8/09/2007)
Michael, I had not seen it. I might have seen the headline, subject in a search result but I don't recall seeing the article itself. I actually think your analysis was more complete. Treehugger wrote about it and linked to you. I read your blog now and I would be happy to give you credit for a post in the future. The idea for the list was actually the editor's. People love lists :D
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spj911 12:06PM (8/09/2007)
It is soooo much fun to see the fact manipulators get a taste of there own medicine. Pretty soon they will stop reading your blog and claim you're being paid by the gasoline companies.
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Matthew 12:21PM (8/09/2007)
spj911, have you graduated from high school yet? The word "there" means a location, as in "over there". You were looking for the word "their", which is a possessive pronoun, meaning "belonging to them". Of course, if you were more educated, maybe you'd be more mentally able to identify fact from fact manipulation, and we wouldn't be having this discussion.
The bottom line is that this ranking is basically useless because, like others posted, it only takes one agency's ratings into account. It's akin to cherry picking scientific studies.
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bob 2:50AM (8/10/2007)
When you factor in the results of rear end crash testing, the Toyotas do poorly. Honda Civic does very well.
Bob
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Jim Gorzelany 2:31PM (8/09/2007)
Also, frontal crash ratings can only be compared among models of the same type, size and weight. (The laws of physics dicate that, all else being equal, a bigger and heavier vehicle will fare better in a crash with a smaller and lighter one.) Because they're conducted with fixed barriers, the tests approximate collisions between two identical vehicles. Thus, you really can't accurately compare the frontal crashworthiness a Civic with a Camry with an Escape just on the basis of it star ratings.
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GoodCheer 2:35PM (8/09/2007)
plasm:
A very worthwhile post. I think your point is well made that different standards should be considered. However, I doubt that stability control would be much use in a vehicle as low to the ground as a Civic (I have one, now a couple generations old): As a metric of ability to avoid crashes, I think the presence of absence is stability control is (perhaps of necessity) rather formulaic. I suspect that in practice the civic is much more agile than any of the other cars listed.
Or do I fail to appreciate all that stability control can do? That's certainly possible.
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plasm 6:34PM (8/09/2007)
Thanks GoodCheer. For more information on electronic stability control (ESC), read this study by the IIHS:
http://www.iihs.org/sr/pdfs/sr4105.pdf
http://www.iihs.org/video.aspx?f=releases/pr061306.flv
Basically, ESC prevents you from losing control of your car in an emergency avoidance maneuver. It's especially important if you have a high center of gravity (like in an SUV) because losing control has a greater chance of leading to a rollover, but the benefits for small cars like the Civic are not insignificant either.
The study highlights that the reduction in fatal single-vehicle crashes is 59% for SUVs versus 53% for cars. The reduction in fatal rollovers is 80% for SUVs versus 77% for cars. If you include multiple-vehicle fatal crashes, it doesn't break down the difference between SUVs and cars, but the overall reduction was 43% for all types of accidents.
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plasm 6:47PM (8/09/2007)
bob, the reason the IIHS rear crash test isn't as important as the availability of ESC is that it's only a check for whiplash protection (20 mph impact). I don't mean to trivialize neck injuries, but I'd take a 40% reduction in the chance of a fatal crash over a 100% reduction in the chance of whiplash any day of the week.
http://www.iihs.org/ratings/head_restraints/head_restraint_info.html
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Ian 9:53AM (8/10/2007)
After further thought, the Lexus LS 600h L has got to be safer than all the cars (as per the title) and if your going to be rating the "last" i.e., least safe hybrid, please include the entire list of hybrids (Edmunds lists 18).
I love this website and 99% of the posts, but this one is a "do-over" please!
Respectfully, Ian
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Lascelles 10:25AM (8/10/2007)
Ian, Mike actually looked at much more hybrids over more years than I did and came to very much the same conclusion. I am sensitive to everyone's complaints and I plan to not only re-write this but make it an annual thing. The article is something I would do as a consumer. I am looking into why there is no roll over data for some cars, comparing by class, etc. I need your help though. Is there any crash data for the Lexus? Do you think cars that cost over $100,000 should be ignored?
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Matthew 12:32PM (8/11/2007)
Lascelles, I don't think you understand Ian's point. He is taking issue with your statement that the Prius "came in last". The way the title of your post is worded, it implies that the Prius is the least safe hybrid among ALL available hybrids.
Mike certainly did NOT come to the same conclusion. In his post, he doesn't mention the Prius being "last" in any way. Further, Mike suffers from the same problem of only researching a single agency's data.
I really don't think you should be posting further poorly researched "annual rankings" on a site such as AutoblogGreen, which is trying to earn a reputation of journalistic integrity and authority. All you have done is destroyed some of that reputation with your ill-conceived "safety ranking".
Get someone with a degree in statistics or at least with more experience in data analysis to do this for you.
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