California Lemon Law Lawyer Blog

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety sent the Honda Fit crashing into a Honda Accord, the Smart ForTwo into a Mercedes C-Class and a Toyota Yaris into a Toyota Camry -- each at 40 miles per hour. The results indicate what safety you may be trading for efficiency when your mode of transportation shrinks.

The Smart For Two had “extensive” damage into the area where the driver sits. The institute's findings indicate a human would have a high likelihood of sustaining head and leg injuries. The Yaris rated poor in the area of head and leg injuries as well. A driver of the Fit in a similar accident would have hit the steering wheel through the airbag in addition to sustaining leg injuries.

Continue reading " Smart, Yaris & Fit Fare Poorly in Crash Tests " »

President Obama has nominated safety advocate Charles A. Hurley to head the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Hurley has been the CEO of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) for four years. Before that Hurley was with the National Safety Council and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Having a strong safety advocate at NHTSA is indeed good news. Congress has to approve the nomination.

NHTSA sets safety standards for cars sold in the United States and is also responsible for regulating national average fuel economy standards. Consumer Reports blog entry on Hurley states that Hurley favors much stronger roof strength standards to prevent vehicle roofs from collapsing on occupants in rollover accidents.