Okay, big mouth strikes again, again... Mom at preschool traded in her SUV for a minivan. Like me she has three young kids, all of hers are in car seats. I noticed she got her new minivan and commented. Asked her if she liked it so far to which she said she, "loved it". Here comes my big mouth. I ask her, "why?". I am truly a curious person and I don't get the love of the big car. My mother just went to great lengths to buy a used Toyota Previa- there's a big story attached to this purchase, buying it from a guy in Colorado, car shipped out to her by contracted truck company who attempts to hold her car hostage for more money... etc... etc... but she's convinced it's worth it.
This will be my parents (two people) third car. They have a Rav 4, a Prius and now a Previa. I guess it's important for two people to have three cars and for one of them to be a minivan?
Any way back to my big mouth. Why I ask, what do you like about it? She says she likes that her kids can get in and out of it by themselves. I point over to my Subaru and say, my kids can get in and out of this by themselves. She then says, well, I'm comparing it to a SUV. I couldn't get three car seats in your car. To which I say, yes, you can fit three of these car seat across in my car. (We did have to buy special car seats, Sunshine Kids seats in order to fit three across and I actually like them better than our old Britax because they are lower and easier for the kids to get in and out of themselves). She then sites, "safety". I've never been in an accident with my kids in the car. Apparently she recently was and she's convinced her big SUV saved their lives. To which I was kind of like, yeah, but it's not very likely you're going to get in an accident and it's not a good enough reason for me to want to buy a bigger car. She said, "well you don't have to". True enough! (But I could tell by her response I was just irritating her at this point by putting her on the spot).
It did get me wondering though, are higher, bigger cars actually "safer" or is this another urban myth?
I asked the CAR TAlK discussion group. Every response said higher cars are actually more likely to tip in an accident and therefore not safer. Better visibility in higher car was a reason some people said they can have a slight advantage. Here's the latest response I got: "Big doesn't mean safer!!! Volvo's were never BIG cars, but for years they were well ahead of other cars on the road in terms of safety.
There's a lot of science behind what makes a car safe.
About 20 years ago this small startup car company in upstate NY designed and built what was considered the safest vehicle EVER...It was decades ahead of it's time. The company never made it though. But they build a very small car that was almost indestructible and could keep the occupants safe even in a 60mph head-on crash. You see it every day where race cars will crash doing speeds well over 100mph and the driver walks away. But safety costs MONEY and it also at times takes away from it's practicality. How many street legal cars do you see with Roll Cages???"
I still would like to see actual hard data from crash tests comparing Subaru Wagon (which, let's face it, is kind of an SUV but not as high) and a minivan. I don't think the minivan is safer. My money is on higher = safer is another urban myth. Maybe "Myth Busters" did a show on this? Maybe they should? Maybe I should actually call Car Talk. Maybe I should stop irritating people with my big mouth opinions?
(Ha! Like that will ever happen.)
Oh, my online research did show they started making the Subaru Wagons a little more roomier in 2010, so now I'm thinking we should just stick with the wagon and get a newer one next. I do love this car, it never ceases to amaze me how much crap and three kids we can get in it and it has great gas mileage and AWD! It's hard to find anything that compares. Not to mention I can parallel park and do U-turns!
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