Safe Cars

I know that high oil prices are causing a drop in numbers of newly registered cars but traffic jams on Tokyo’s highways and other roads do not seem to be getting any better. It is because this is the political and economic centre of the country, I know that; but it makes any planning extremely hard if I want to use my car.

Today, I had to go to the Land Transport Office to de-register some cars for export. Although I usually avoid congested main roads and use other not-so-crowded ones, because they are undergoing repairs the moment, I did not have any choice but to use the main roads. I was prepared for some traffic jams but once I was there, it did not seem like it would end. Taking more than twice as long, when I was just about out of there, I saw a truck, a BMWX5, a Land Cruiser and two police cars. Guess what? They were the cause of the congestion, a chain collision. Driving slowly by the scene, it looked like the truck first hit the rear of the BMW, then the BMW hit the Land Cruiser as the result. Policemen were asking questions to all the drivers. Regardless of the truck, both the BMX and the Land Cruiser are very expensive and looking at the damage it will cost around \\500,000 altogether to fix them. If it is 100% the truck driver’s fault and if he had not got insurance, it will be expensive for him. Oh, it wasn’t any of my business, was it?

Of course it is ideal if you can avoid any accident but in this case, the front two cars could not avoid the accident from the back if it was the truck driver who misused the brake. Fortunately all three drivers were not injured but to save our lives, as well as using seatbelts, we should understand our cars safety instructions.

In April this year, an extra-government organisation, NASVA (National Agency for Automotive Safety & Victims’ Ade) checked 15 different models of cars out of the top selling cars in 2007 and Japanese cars which were fully model changed; and decided that Subaru Impreza was the safest. Although 3 other cars (Honda Fit, Toyota Premio/Allion, Honda Crossroad got 100% in the safety of the driver’s and passenger’s seats, Impreza excelled with the safety for head protection when a person hit by the car then hits the bonnet.

On the Subaru’s official website, they say their safety philosophy is to reach the maximum safety from both high “Active” safety and high “Passive” safety. “Active” safety can be achieved by high quality engineering and the way the driver controls his/her car, the safer it gets. Subaru’s design is focusing on collision avoidance which includes minimising blind spot and making the driver to be able to see a 1m child in the rear view mirror.

“Passive” safety is to limit the victims’ injuries in case an accident happens. For protection of the occupants, it includes making shock absorbing and dispersing car bodies, seatbelts which minimise whiplash injury and SRS airbags. For the people outside the car such as pedestrians, they design the front bumper so that it reduces damage to the victims’ heads.

Sorry it was a bit technical. In today’s collision, the “Passive” safety Subaru calls was important. I am sure both BMW and Land Cruiser had some sort of safety measures loaded although they were not on the list of NASVA’s.

When I went to a course the other day, one speaker mentioned the head rests. Most people do not pay attention to adjusting them but according to him, if they are at proper height, you can reduce the chance of getting bad whiplash. Please re-check your head rest. Make sure it is not on your neck but on your head. (I know a lot of people overlook this!)


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(Editor)
JPC TRADE CO.,LTD.
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Japan Used Motor Vehicle Exporters Association (JUMVEA)
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