How safe are low-priced cars? If you look at the lowest priced cars from each manufacturer -- those cars sold in the U.S for less than $15,000 -- you find some revealing facts. One might think that these cars would be ideal for new drivers like kids going to school, but I'm not sure that is the case. They just aren't as safe as I would like my kids to be. It looks like a used car might be a better choice.
I'm not going to look at crash test results because I think that it is important to not have the crash in the first place if that is possible. Also I'm not including the results because not all the cars that I look at have test results available.
Here is a table of the lowest priced cars sold in the United States. I selected each model's lowest base price. Some of them have other trim levels at base prices lower than $15,000, but those have not been included, even though the safety equipment levels may be different.
|
|
Base Price
|
ABS
|
Side
Air Bags
|
Traction
Control
|
Stability
Control
|
| Chevrolet |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Aveo 5 Special Value |
$9995
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
|
Cobalt LS Coupe |
$13,125
|
$400
|
$395
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
| Dodge |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Caliber, Base |
$13,575
|
$400
|
$250
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
| Ford |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Focus ZX3 S |
$13,535
|
$400
|
$350
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
| Honda |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fit, Base |
$13,850
|
Std.
|
Std.
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
|
Civic DX Coupe |
$14,810
|
Std.
|
Std.
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
| Hyundai |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Accent GS 2dr |
$10,415
|
N/A
|
Std.
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
|
GLS 4dr |
$13,395
|
Std.
|
Std.
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
|
Kia
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rio, Base 4dr |
$10,770
|
N/A
|
Std.
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
|
LX 4dr |
$12,895
|
N/A
|
Std.
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
| Nissan |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Versa 1.8 S 4dr hatch |
$12,550
|
$250
|
Std.
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
|
Sentra 2.0 4dr |
$14,750
|
$250
|
Std.
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
| Scion |
|
|
|
|
|
|
xA |
$12,780
|
Std.
|
$650
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
|
xB |
$14,030
|
Std.
|
N/A
|
Std.
|
Std.
|
| Toyota |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Yaris, Base 2dr hatch |
$11,150
|
$300
|
$650
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
|
Corolla CE |
$14,305
|
$390
|
$655
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
| Volkswagen |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rabbit, Base |
$14,990
|
Std.
|
Std.
|
N/A
|
N/A
|
It is particularly scary to find that none of the cars except the Scion xB has stability control available -- even as an option. Stability control is standard equipment on many more expensive cars because it makes driving a car in an emergency situation much safer, particularly for an inexperienced driver. The stability control computer automatically selectively applies individual brakes and adjusts the throttle based on sensors to keep the car under control and upright. Sometimes this is very subtle and other times it is obvious that the car is doing things that you aren't controlling directly. I assume that Toyota felt that profits weren't as important when selling a Scion xB that has a rather high center of gravity.
I find it significant that, except for the Koreans (the Chevrolet Aveo is built in Korea), anti-lock brakes (ABS) are standard or optional on all of the cars. Anti-lock brakes are a very important safety feature on current cars. They allow the car to be steered when the brakes are applied with maximum stopping effort. This means that the tires are still rotating, but still applying maximum braking effort. If the tires are stopped (skidding), the driver has no steering control. Of course this safety feature only works when the driver does steer in an emergency situation instead of panicking and closing their eyes.
Driver and passenger air bags are required on all cars sold in the United States these days, but side air bags are not. There are two kinds of side air bags, the "shoulder" ones that usually come out of the seat back and cover the doors, and "curtain" ones that usually come out of the roof and cover the windows. Most often both are used, but sometimes one or the other are used alone in these economy cars. I make no distinction in the table. The only cars that side air bags are not available on are the older design Scion xB (which will be replaced soon) and the very cheap Chevrolet Aveo. In fact the Aveo is a "Special Value" which appears to be so "valuable" that it has none of the safety items at all.
It would be interesting to visit dealers to look at these actual cars. I wonder just how many of these "lowest sticker" cars has the optional safety features. In other words, if I went to Longo Toyota and looked at all their Toyota Corolla CE cars, how many would have ABS and/or side air bag? I would guess very few, since these cars are sold because of their low price, and adding the safety items is a significant price increase -- even though they make the car vastly safer (particularly the ABS).
I would have loved to hear the decisions made by both Hyundai/Kia and Nissan when they decided to charge extra for ABS, but include side air bags as standard equipment. It is like saying to their customers, "We want you to get into an accident, but when you get into it, we will try to protect you with the air bags." Thank you very much, but I would much rather not be in the accident in the first place. More likely the decision was made on which of the items would sound better as standard equipment in an advertisement.
Both Honda and Volkswagen seem to the most responsible companies because they make both ABS and side air bags standard in their most inexpensive models. I am a little surprised, however, that traction control and stability control are not even options. They are standard on the most expensive versions of the Civic and Rabbit (GTI).
I am not surprised, however, that mega-car-company Toyota's cars are more expensive than the competition and make these safety items optional (at rather high option prices). That is more profit into Japanese pockets. Toyota wants you to think they are a green company and now an "American" company, but they sure don't want you to know that they don't make the safest cars.
I guess I am not surprised that all three "Detroit" companies charge extra for ABS and side air bags. None of them make much on small cars manufactured here, so they have to charge extra. It is interesting that the option prices are almost identical from each manufacturer -- and they have the most expensive ABS and least expensive side air bags compared to the foreign competition.
There certainly a lot of other considerations to be made when buying a car, including mileage and performance, but I do think safety should be a primary factor. Also I think that it is important to consider a car that has all of the safety features that are in the table. That means some car other than the ones on the list. And that means either pay more money or buy used.
