Hi Scott and Community,
Ford Crown Vic/Mercury Grand Marquis/Lincoln Town Cars with Panther Platforms are often touted as safe cars for teenagers.
The IIHS crash test ratings for them are not at all impressive. Any thoughts? Thanks!
https://www.iihs.org/ratings/vehicle/ford/crown-victoria-4-door-sedan/2011
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI2ctRRtQXo
Generally, the bigger and heavier the car, the safer it can be in head to head crashes. That’s pure physics and one of the reasons people consider Crown Vic as a safe vehicle.
that side impact looks rough
Yes, the car looks solid, but crash worthiness appears to be not the same as solid looks!
Ford Crown Victoria large sedan: 4 deaths per million registered from 2009-2012 in the U.S.
That’s interesting! Should we then conclude that crash tests performance doesn’t match real world results?
In many cases manufacturers will engineer their products to do well on specific tests rather than a broad range of real-world situations.
But rates are also important. The Camry sold 6 times more in 2011 than the Crown Vic. And more crown vic drivers might be driving more cautiously and less in cities bc of gas mileage than the Camry. It showed Volvo as having the most deaths among SUVs and the VW Golf to have 0 deaths. But that might be because VOlvo drivers might think they are invincable while the Golf only sold 30,000 vehicles in that year. Context is important.
The death rates are per million registered vehicles. Not sure if the number of drivers or sales matters.
Yes lots of people say that they are safe but the reality is that they were safe FOR THE TIME just like how old 80s Volvos were SAFE FOR THE TIME, but not now. I would check this out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emtLLvXrrFs
If you want something safe, get something more modern. For example, I would rather be in a 2015 Camry as a teen than a 2005 crown vic if they crashed head on. Time has evolved. Plus side airbags are also an issue they were really really bad at side impact tests. On the other hand, the Ford Fusion got refreshed in 2010 and 2013 and would be a much safer car, even though it is on a completly different Mazda/Volvo platform.
@kerem
Well said and makes perfect sense. Thank you for sharing!
Which one do you prefer to be in when you are in an accident?
@yaser
If I am i an accident, I would prefer to be in a new Camry then to be in a 15 year old Crown Vic.
Did you pay the same money for both cars? Compare the same model year if you want to do the comparison.
@yaser
Fine lets do 2011 Crown Vic vs 2011 Camry. The Crown Vic gen came out in 1998 and the Camry in 2007. I might pick the Crown Vic on that one. But I would rather be in a crash in a 2012 Camry than in a 2011 Crown Vic, if you see what I mean. But I would also rather be in the 07 Camry rather an 07 crown vic in the side impact test because the camry has standard side airbags and the crown vic side crash was horrible.