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This list needs to include cars made by Volvo, SAAB, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. I bought a used Volvo S80 for less than a comparable Honda Accord, and I have no regrets. Furthermore, I feel confident driving that vehicle as it has all the modern safety features (ESC, side airbags, whiplash reducing seats, SIPS, etc). It would do far better than a Honda Accord in an accident. Only SAAB, BMW and Mercedes-Benz come close to Volvo in safety engineering. Also, fuel economy is not much worse either... fuel is very expensive in Europe, so they design for that too. Reliability varies more but, all 4 of these European automakers have vehicles that could last just as long, if not longer, than a Honda (plus, Hondas rust like no other).
NHTSA and the IIHS have both conducted studies and found that the European imports are the safest and that Japanese imports are no more safe than American domestics. If you can afford it, get a European import otherwise, buy a Ford. They're safer than a Honda.
Great advice on not repairing body damage for teens (boys). After his third crash, my son asked when we were going to repair his car's dented door so he could roll the window up. After we told him that we would not be repairing it he coincidentally stopped hitting things.
Teens are EXTREMELY image conscious and the very best thing you can do is hand them an old car and tell them that if they get in ANY accidents, that it will ONLY BE MADE DRIVABLE AGAIN BUT THE BODY WILL NOT BE FIXED - you will get the crowbar and sledgehammer out and bang on the car until it's drivable - and if it looks like hell-on-weels with a crushed-in side door as a result of their foolishness, well then they can just deal with all their friends laughing at them. And if they completely smash it up, then your just going to replace it with something that looks worse than the cars from Rent-a-Wreck.
The other thing is by all means get your teen a manual transmission vehicle. If they don't learn to drive a manual when they are learning to drive they never will - and manual transmissions save 2-3 MPG over automatics no matter what chassis they are used in. Consider your teen will probably be driving 60 more years and at the US average of 14K miles a year that is 840,000 miles during their lives, with current fuel prices the dollar savings over their lifetime if they drive a manual is over $20,000.00 . And manuals are more fun, anyway.
If you really want to make sure your teen stays safe then buy a tracking computer, there are many listed here:
http://www.gps-practice-and-fun.com/teen-car-tracking.html
These plug in and record the speed of the car, and you as a parent can sit down and review the report at the end of the day with your teen. So your teen speeds at 65Mph in a 55Mh zone? No problem. But your teen speeds 45Mph in a 35Mph zone? Big problem. The fact is that most ADULT drivers who drive regularly very likely DO NOT KNOW THE POSTED SPEED ON MANY ROADS THEY DRIVE - as we all should know, municipalities LOVE to CHANGE THE POSTED SPEED AT RANDOM on feeder roads as a way of ENHANCING TICKET REVENUE. So these tracking devices can help your teen to learn the appropriate speed on the roads that they drive AND AVOID REVENUE-GENERATING TRAFFIC TICKETS.
My comments are meant to be directed at Consumer Reports for their promotion of those foreign, Asian Pacific cars for the teen and senior. We make great cars here in America under the banners of Chrysler, Ford and Genera Motors. They are safe, reliable and have all the features and more than found in any of this offshore product. They provide jobs and require material and manufacturing equipment that we make here in North America.
How many of us remember when we had money to build roads, tall buildings, maintain those properties? We had money for education, health care and amenities that made life in Canada and The USA the best in the world. The money for these luxuries came from taxes and jobs provided by Chrysler, Ford and General Motors. Products made here, from materials made here, by American and Canadian workers.
This is what one third of our disposable income is spent on, cars. Why are we giving it to another country when we need it at home. Buying a foreign car, in my opinion is giving away our lifestyle, heritage and should be considered akin to treason.
Consumer Reports? I've never believed in you and now you've dug that hole deeper with your stupid promotion on foreign products, when what we make right here would make economic sense for the purchaser and the country as a whole. And you try to tell us nobody pays you for promotion of their product? Get real Consumer Reports!
And Harry, I'm very disappointed that you, and CBS wouldn't look for domestic content before subjecting your viewers to all this foreign products dialogue.
According to the NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System, 14.26% of all motor vehicle fatalities in the United States were in Hondas for 2008, the most recent year for which data is available. Every day, 13 lives are cut short while behind the wheel of or traveling inside of a Honda.
Don't let yourself or someone you love become one of the 13 to die in a Honda today. Remember, Toyota is not the only car company to have safety and design issues. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has over 1100 complaints on file about the 2003 Honda Accord. Of the 1139 complaints (as of August 3, 2010) referred to this agency, 379 fall into the "power train: automatic transmission category."
Information from the NHTSA web-site reveals that in the 2003 Honda Accord, transmission failure occurs quickly and many times at highway speeds. The complaints from NHTSA are mostly similar to each other in that the vast majority of the failures happen suddenly at higher speeds and the car's occupant(s) are often unsafely jolted forward while coming to a near stop in the travel lanes.
This is a serious safety issue. Coming to a near complete stop from 60 or 70 miles per hour, in some reported cases, has resulted in some injuries and will eventually result in someone's death.
In April of 2004, Honda issued a recall on the automatic transmissions of Honda Accords, Odysseys, Pilots and Acura 3.2CL and 3.2TL models. According to Honda's own press release, "this condition may lead to gear breakage and possible locking of the vehicle's transmission, creating a potential safety hazard." The very same potential failures cited in the 2004 recall have become frequent for owners of these vehicles in the years subsequent to the recall and the resulting "transmission lockup", referred to in the recall, that "could result in a crash" has become a reality for many.
Honda was supposed to fix the problem when it issued the 2004 recall, however, it appears the company tried to do the cheapest thing for its bottom line in an attempt to have these vehicles fail after the warranty had expired. By not fixing the problem they are putting lives at risk.
Honda's blatant disregard for the safety of its customers and the public at large is best exemplified its refusal to take responsibility for the safety and design flaws engineered into their cars. It is no wonder that Honda has 14.26% of the share of automobile fatalities in the United States.