This blog is Part III of a 3-part series on automobiles. I posted Part I, “Driverless Cars On Highways Could Soon Be Reality,” on June 1 and Part II, “Hands-Free Phone Conversations In Cars Are Dangerous,” on June 3.
This blog is based on work I did for a client on best car brands, but I decided to rewrite the article so it would focus more on safety.
Public’s Concern About Safety Could Transform Automotive Technology
Will there be driverless cars on American highways in the relatively near future?
Will Americans support laws that limit the dangers of distractions while they’re driving cars?
The answer to both of these questions is “yes” if Americans’ expressed concern about safety is genuine.
According to a nationwide telephone survey conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center in 2013, safety is Americans’ second most important factor in deciding what new car to buy. The survey results published by ConsumerReports.org show that 88 percent of Americans regard safety as an important factor in their buying decision.
Quality was the No. 1 factor with 90 percent of Americans ranking this factor as important. Following safety as important factors were performance (83 percent), value (82 percent), fuel economy (81 percent), design/style (70 percent), and technology/innovation (68 percent).
Unfortunately, American automakers do NOT rank high when it comes to safety. Americans rank Volvo as their No. 1 choice for safety followed by Subaru, Toyota, Ford and Honda. Only Ford is an American company.
“The real news this year is the ascension of Subaru,” reports the article “2014 Car-Brand Perception Survey: Toyota, Ford, Honda, and Chevrolet continue to dominate in consumers’ minds.” “This modest-scale automaker has made big news over the last year with its “good” crash-test performance, among other accomplishments. All its models, except for the aged Tribeca, have earned coveted Top Safety Pick+ status from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS)…It will be a challenge for automakers to close the gap with Volvo, but Subaru demonstrates that it is possible with consistent performance across a model range.”
American companies need to take the lead in exploring safer technology, but in my report about driverless cars I focused on the cars designed by Audi and BMW because their cars were shown at a prominent trade show in Las Vegas, while American automakers are seemingly lagging behind.
The importance of safety in American consumers’ choices is reflected in Consumer Reports’ 2014 Car-Brand Perception Survey. Toyota is ranked first by a large margin, Ford is second, Honda is third, Subaru is sixth, and Volvo is eighth. Among the car companies that didn’t rank in the top five in the safety part of the survey, Chevrolet, Tesla Motors, Mercedes-Benz, Cadillac and BMW ranked fourth, fifth, seventh, ninth and 10th overall.
American companies did worse in surveys of drivers of used cars.
In “Top 10 most reliable used car brands,” seven of the 10 most reliable used car brands were Japanese, including first-ranked Honda, No. 2 Suzuki, No. 3 Subaru, No. 5 Toyota, No. 6 Lexus, No. 8 Mitsubishi, and No. 9 Mazda. South Korea’s Hyundai tied for third, and American companies Chevrolet and Ford were seventh and tied for ninth.
Two other best used car lists are also dominated by Japanese automakers. “The 6 Most Reliable Used Cars” reported that five of the most reliable used car models are Japanese and one is South Korean. “A car dealer’s scientific guide to the 10 best used vehicles" concluded that seven of the 10 most durable cars and trucks were Japanese and three were American.
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