Sturm und Drang: MPG and Safety

by Andrea Millar — April 21, 2008

So, big question: do you give up safety for mpg? The answer is--boy, I really do not have the unquenchable lust for car specs really necessary to answer this question. After a few hours of scanning stats like the average speed of traffic in San Francisco (an unalarming, if congested, 10mph on most streets), the speed of frontal crash tests performed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (40 mph), and the delineations of "car" versus "quadracycle" (important because cars have to pass tests that quadracycles don't), I am quenched, quenched! Add the known knowns and unknown knowns of hydrogen fuel cells and the resuscitation of the electric vehicle, and I swear, I'm seeing double. Certainly, no closer to reconciling the pulls of safety and mpg in making a purchasing decision.

In a way, this firehose of information and new technology is a great sign. When you have the sensation of pushing yourself away from the table and finding the next hole for your mental belt buckle, that's a good indicator that automaking with an eye to the green is a thriving industry.

Still, some things are holding true: in a recent list of the 13 safest cars released by CNN.com, only a few broke the over-25 barrier for mpg on the highway. Out of the list, which included green-savvy producers Toyota and Honda, only the Audi A4, Saab 9-3, and Subaru Legacy models were able to top out at 27mpg on the highway. I had a weird moment of déjà vu with the dismally mid-90's numbers of the Mercedes Benz M-Class and Toyota Tundra, both clocking in at top mpg of about 19 on the highway, 15 on the street. A new car with 15 miles per gallon? In 2008? At last, a rating to match that denim jacket I've been waiting to dust off.

Further down the rabbit hole, I checked out the safety ratings of the Honda Element, one of the top-rated cars in safety for 2008, and current green favorite, the Honda Civic; with a 30/40 mpg street/highway rating, it is NOT one of the safety faves of the Institute. But guess what? In comparing the two, there doesn't seem to be much quantitative difference in the crash test results from 2008 models. In the Element, electronic stability control is standard, while it runs as an option in the Civic, which is probably what's pulling the rating down. Still, it provides evidence that the green + safe formula is by no means unworkable, if rather poorly publicized.