Quote:
Originally Posted by BGTV8
From the Forbes web-site ..........
But it’s not for the reasons you might think. In this case, says Russ Rader, communications director for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), an organization that represents the interests of the insurance industry, the 350Z is part of a group of vehicles that tends to be driven by younger, less experienced or riskier drivers, and stands out for having high death rates, through no particular fault of the car.
and also
“When they are in crashes,” he adds, “they’re particularly serious ones.”
This illustrates a key point: Simply looking at the historical death rates for one particular model might not give much insight into the relative danger, or safety, of driving that vehicle. Furthermore, the most recent available federal data, interpreted by make and model by the IIHS, covers 2001 to 2004 model years in calendar years 2002 to 2005. Many models have had significant changes in safety equipment or complete redesigns since then.
This thread is absolutely why I treat road safety analysis as "lies, damn lies and then there is statistics" and that is exactly hat Forbes is saying - the result is a by product of the vehicle being used by d1ck-heads who are voting with their behavior to exit the gene pool - Darwinism at its best.
One of my motorsport buddies is a retired Deputy District Inspector with VICPOL (Victoria Police Service) and he says you cannot legislate for d1ck-heads but the OP seems to think that Nissan is able to do exactly that - create a vehicle in which even the most idiotic d1ck-head can be saved from himself.
Well at the age of 63 I am moved to say that there comes a time in life when you need to stand up and be accountable. I'm an admirer of those in our armed forces who do that day-in and day-out under the most unimaginable stress, and I for one think it is about time that our legislators stop trying to protect d1ck-heads from themselves and start enforcing the need for personal accountability in daily life.
Rant-mode now off .....
Anyone who wants the proper definition of d1ck-head is welcome to PM me ....
RB
|
Yeah I dont particularly agree with the "demographic" of driver as the cause. First reason being, the Z, nsx, supra and the like are a little above the spending class of the average "douchebag" driver we would normally associate with activities that lead to accidents, AKA street racing or driving like a 16 year old idiot. That being said, where are the civics? miatas? RX7/8? wrx? legacy? celeca? S2000? evo? MR2? ANY of the billion models of cars MUCH more likely to be driven in the manner that they are clearly hinting toward as an excuse....... which leads me to yet another very valid point, look at the sales numbers on the Z. The 350 did far better than the 370, which isnt saying much..... but the numbers pale in comparison with the raw amount of not only the others listed, but most notable the cars that are NOT on the list....The Z is actually pretty damn rare stacked up against other sports cars and expensive to own and mod, this keeps it out of reach of most punk kids hands thankfully "most of the time, not always". This, coupled with the fact that nissan didnt bother even putting test ratings public on the 370 even after everyone on earth knew about the 350s flaws for years is a linch pin in my mind. They could have used it as an opportunity upon the launch of the 370 to note how much safer it was than its previous generation "which should have been a huge concern to nissan" but they didnt. I could be wrong, but it just feels dodgy to me. Most car manufactures are PROUD to flaunt the safety rating of a car, lots of people care about that ****, but they are doing everything possible to keep it hush hush. shoddy part quality, poor stealership service, meh overall value per dollar, insanely high mod costs and low returns, low safety standards, I will be the first to admit that just owning a car doesnt put you in some kind of super secret bound by blood club that requires by law you bow down to your mighty purchase and proclaim its glory at the highest mountain top, thats what blind fanboys do. The car has plenty of issues, I own one because it was always a childhood favorite of mine and I still think the 09-13 nismos are one of the best looking cars that a working joe could buy on earth. But its out of my system now and ive kinda grown up a bit so I cant have my overpriced, gas hog, unsafe, "utility" useless, clutch failure every 25000 miles bullcrap car AND a family at the same time. So forgive me for being cynical :P or not rich.
I do feel a lot better hearing stories about people getting PWNED in the Z and walking away fine from it, although I would like to see some pix.... as most people tend to exaggerate a bit on the severity of an accident as first person view makes it much more dramatic lol. Most of the pix ive seen look like it was a 30 mph parking lot impact with a panhandler.
Of all the pix ive seen of the 350 however "death crashes" they all seemed to have one thing in common. rollover. Every single one I saw that died, rolled the car. Or impacted something and then rolled. Most everyone ive talked to that have walked away unscathed just hit something, but the wheels stayed on terra firma. Thats probably the cars weak point. And after a glance or 2 at a pic of one you can pretty much see why, with the angles of the supports and that most of its supported by glass...... I cant imagine that holding up 3300 pounds multiplied by whatever extra forces are applied during the crash. Hell ive seen reviews of the 370 where if your anywhere over 6ft tall your head already almost touches the roof. Now imagine that smashed down a could feet, whats going to save your ***? the seat back? lol.
falcon, please keep on track. Also I wouldnt be caught dead driving a honda :P