Shopping For A New Car In Louisiana: Is Safety Something You Look At?

Most of us drive the car we have, and not the one we are dreaming about. But when the time has come to go shopping for a new car in Louisiana, it is still a pleasant experience. For every budget and type of vehicle, there is a wide choice with a myriad of options and combinations. Decisions, decisions...

Now, considering the amount of time you are going to spend riding this car, the miles you are going to travel, the number of people you are going to carry over the next four or five years, do you really believe that a car accident is out of the question? And if not, shouldn't you include safety as one of the selection criteria, along with mileage and color?

Things have become easier when it comes to choosing a safer car. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) publishes annually their Top Safety Picks, the list of the best cars rated according to a number of crashworthiness tests and electronic stability control (ESC). The IIHS rating is based more specifically on:

• Frontal Offset Crash Test: a 40 mph head-on collision where only one side of the vehicle's front end crashes into the barrier.
• Side Crash Test: A 31 mph moving barrier with the height and size of an SUV strikes the side of the vehicle.
• Rear Crash Protection: how seat and head restraint combinations protect against whiplash injury.
• Rollover Ratings: One corner of a vehicle's roof is pushed by a metal plate at constant speed. The resulting crush is measured and compared to the vehicle's weight to assess structural protection in rollover crashes.
• Bumper Evaluation: measuring the occupants' protection in low-speed crashes through 4 impact tests to the front and rear bumpers, full width and corner.
• Electronic Stability Control: ESC contributes significantly to the safety of motorists, helping them not to lose control in emergency maneuvers.

You can look here at the 2011 Top Safety Picks. The IIHS safety ratings are a good way to start when you decide to buy a new car. And you can still choose the color you like!

The New Orleans car accident attorneys of the Young Firm take your safety seriously. If you have been hurt in an accident caused by someone else, contact us for a FREE discussion of your case.