Surprising insights into vehicle safety

I am currently in the process of picking a 7 seater automobile for road trips. From the getgo, my heart was set on two cars, the Volvo XC90 and the Chevrolet Suburban.

So while I have been going back and forth on the model and engine for the XC90 mainly because there were more options,  for the Chevy it was simply a question of what year I could afford. Of course I would have wanted the next to the current model but my the prospect of buying two for the price of one appealed to me.

The bottom line though was that as far as I was concerned, the safety of both cars was a given. The XC90 by reputation and the Chevy by sheer size.

It was quite a shock when I found out today that I was dead wrong about the Chevy. It seems that in a report by the well respected IIHS or Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the Chevy was a deadlier car to be in compared to a Mini Cooper!

I know right? Who would have thought that such a behemoth could be a a softie in collisions. But how can one argue with statistics?

So I went over the study and sure enough, the Chevy Suburban was in the middle of the pack. The XC90 truly shined there while the Ford Expedition was a surprising addition to the safest cars list. There are a lot of surprises there too which can be quite sobering, as it was for me.

Needless to say, I am rethinking my choices but thought I'd share these revelations in the meantime in the hope that it can enable those who read it to make safer vehicle choices.