The Car Tech Lady

Just how safe is your car? Have you ever asked yourself that question? How reliable is the car you have come to bank on? Is it safer that average? These are the questions that you have to ask yourself to check on the safety offers of your car.

One of the best remedy that could aid you is looking into the safety and casualty track record of your vehicle. Also, consider the top safety picks of trusted auto shopping companies. At the 2008 list, top safety picks are mostly Japanese cars though there were some Ford products.

What does that imply? Does that mean American automakers manufacture mediocre autos?

But Ford Explorer is telling otherwise. The Explorer, a mid-size SUV, is sold in North America and built by the Ford since 1990. The SUV was one of the vehicles that served as a catalyst in turning its segment into a special-interest one.

But have Explorers gotten better or worse over time? And how do they compare to their SUV rivals? Now and 7 years ago?

While that Explorer rates just satisfactory for injury, the SUV is a top pick for collision and theft loss. Meanwhile, that Honda Civic that does well on personal safety isn’t that good for collision and theft loss.

So it's easy to check the safety profile of your vehicle. Why worry while you have the opportunity to check safety. So give your self peace of mind!

Market Watch has great pieces of advice to share:

Crash-test reports you can use
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety authors most of those studies you read about. But here's what I found and liked -- its Web site gives access to crash-test and safety information about your vehicle, and good info for comparative vehicles. It's easy:

Vehicle crash-test ratings. Enter a vehicle make and model, and you'll get a fast and helpful summary. Ratings are given for front, side and rear crash-test results, with simple "good," "acceptable," "marginal" and "poor" ratings. For a 2000 Explorer, frontal crash test results were "good" while side impact results were "acceptable." The relatively new rear-crash results were not available for the 2000 model year, but unfortunately were "poor" for models 2004 and newer.

Category crash-test ratings. Helpful especially if you're comparison shopping, IIHS gives a summary by category, like "midsize SUVs." While the displayed page shows current models, you can access comparisons for older models too.

Past and present top picks. The studies, and articles like the one cited above, are easy to find in the IIHS press room.

The devil in the detail
Want the gory detail? OK, that's not what IIHS calls it, but if you're interested -- and have the stomach for it -- you can get explicit crash-test detail. Enter a vehicle, then follow the "technical measurements" link. You can check dozens of specific measures in "occupant compartment intrusion" data or "driver injury measures", including such gems as "femur force" and "tibia axial force."

These factors, well explained on the site for those not medically trained or familiar with the tests, can help for comparisons. If IIHS has data for previous models, it's interesting to see how much improvement has -- or hasn't -- happened. The Explorer has improved in most areas from 1996 to 2006, reassuring especially if you're shopping for a new one.

Beyond personal injury
And "safety" doesn't always concern injury. You may be concerned about vulnerability to theft or noninjury collision too. IIHS has a subsidiary organization known as the Highway Loss Data Institute, which tabulates insurance claim information by model not only for injury but also collision and theft.