There are some great points being made here on crash safety. My line of work puts me on scene of these accidents in the real world and I can share a few observations.
Basically anything J-series is a ****ing tank. In my time I can remember three or four accidents involving them.. a 60, an 80, and possibly 2 100s. None of these were even close to life-threatening, but they all ruined people’s days. All the cruisers were practically unharmed despite whatever other pedestrian vehicle hit them needing a tow if not being totaled.
Pretty much all modern vehicles are incredible for what they will allow people to walk away from. I’ve been in my line of work for a decade and a half and am still amazed at the 100-yd debris-field accidents we roll up to and (often, but not always) find the people milling about that we assume are bystanders were the occupants.
That said, there are still some differences. Anecdotally the worst accident you can get into for occupant safety is a side impact at any of the doors. They are putting crash bars in doors, curtain and in-seat airbag systems (why I will *never* swap out a driver or passenger seat in a car I own), pre-tensioning seatbelts.. but there just isn’t enough space between the occupant and the front of whatever car, or whatever light pole, for energy to be dissipated before the occupant’s head/torso gets a big pile of energy. By far the worst accidents I’ve been to in terms of life safety have been side-impact.
Therein lies a huge advantage for a cruiser. Yes, some bro-dozer with a stupid ranch hand monstrosity on it will still be a threat, but a large chunk of the threats out there on the roads will impact a cruiser further down than the head/torso and that is the advantage I speak of.
Those of us in southern states where f-250s outnumber Honda accords are still in trouble.. but at the end of the day we’re taking threats off the board.
All of that said: In the big picture I have no trouble owning a smaller car for the benefit to my wallet and to spread out the load, thereby keeping the cruiser I love so much on the road longer. Subaru’s safety record is no joke. The side impact thing is an edge case. But these are all factors in deciding (or justifying decisions made for other reasons) what we drive, sometimes with our families in them.
Basically anything J-series is a ****ing tank. In my time I can remember three or four accidents involving them.. a 60, an 80, and possibly 2 100s. None of these were even close to life-threatening, but they all ruined people’s days. All the cruisers were practically unharmed despite whatever other pedestrian vehicle hit them needing a tow if not being totaled.
Pretty much all modern vehicles are incredible for what they will allow people to walk away from. I’ve been in my line of work for a decade and a half and am still amazed at the 100-yd debris-field accidents we roll up to and (often, but not always) find the people milling about that we assume are bystanders were the occupants.
That said, there are still some differences. Anecdotally the worst accident you can get into for occupant safety is a side impact at any of the doors. They are putting crash bars in doors, curtain and in-seat airbag systems (why I will *never* swap out a driver or passenger seat in a car I own), pre-tensioning seatbelts.. but there just isn’t enough space between the occupant and the front of whatever car, or whatever light pole, for energy to be dissipated before the occupant’s head/torso gets a big pile of energy. By far the worst accidents I’ve been to in terms of life safety have been side-impact.
Therein lies a huge advantage for a cruiser. Yes, some bro-dozer with a stupid ranch hand monstrosity on it will still be a threat, but a large chunk of the threats out there on the roads will impact a cruiser further down than the head/torso and that is the advantage I speak of.
Those of us in southern states where f-250s outnumber Honda accords are still in trouble.. but at the end of the day we’re taking threats off the board.
All of that said: In the big picture I have no trouble owning a smaller car for the benefit to my wallet and to spread out the load, thereby keeping the cruiser I love so much on the road longer. Subaru’s safety record is no joke. The side impact thing is an edge case. But these are all factors in deciding (or justifying decisions made for other reasons) what we drive, sometimes with our families in them.