Top 10 safest vehicles on the road

I think it is fair to argue that the safest vehicles on the road today are ones with the lowest death rates.

If that's your yardstick, put the Audi A6 and the Mercedes Benz E-Class luxury cars on your list of the safest cars. Also include the Toyota Sienna minivan, the Ford Edge SUV, Nissan's Armada SUV, the Land Rover Sport and LR3, and the Lexus GX 470 SUV.

One safety feature all these vehicles have in common is electronic stability control (ESC). The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which today released a report on driver death rates for passenger vehicles from 2005-2008, credits ESC for preventing rollover accidents that lead to fatalities.

And because of the widespread introduction of ESC, tall vehicles such as SUVs are now safer than regular passenger cars thanks to the reduced rollover risk.

"The rollover risk in SUVs used to outweigh their size/weight advantage, but that's no longer the case," Anne McCartt, the Arlington, Va.-based group's senior vice president for research, said in the report.

"It's not just weight that gives SUVs an advantage. It's also their height and other factors. When cars and SUVs of similar weight are compared, the SUVs have lower death rates."

SUVs, then, are safer than cars because they are bigger and heavier and thanks to ESC they are less likely to roll over.

Which vehicles are among the least safe? The Nissan 350Z sports car, the Titan pickup and Chevrolet's Aveo and Cobalt small cars did not fare well. Drivers of these vehicles, notes the report, are more likely to die in accidents than those of other vehicles.

Keep in mind that none of the 26 lowest-rated vehicles had standard electronic stability control, while almost all of the top-rated ones did, the study found.

Here is the takeaway, then: ESC is a life-saver. If you want the safest car or light truck possible, get one with ESC.

Top 10 Safest Vehicles: These vehicles had the lowest rates of driver deaths

(2005-08 models during calendar years 2006-09)

Audi A6 4-door 4WD	luxury car	large
Mercedes-Benz E-Class 4-door 4WD	luxury car	large
Toyota Sienna	minivan	very large
Ford Edge	4WD SUV	mid-size
Nissan Armada	4WD	SUV large
Land Rover Range Rover Sport	4WD	SUV large
Land Rover LR3	4WD SUV	large
Honda CR-V	4WD SUV	small
Jeep Grand Cherokee	4WD SUV	mid-size
Acura MDX	4WD SUV	mid-size

Top 10: Vehicles with the highest rates of driver deaths

Nissan 350Z	2-door sports car	mid-size
Nissan Titan crew cab	2WD pickup	large
Chevrolet Aveo	4-door car	mini
Chevrolet Cobalt	4-door car	small
Nissan Titan extended cab	2WD pickup	large
Kia Spectra	station wagon	small
Chevrolet Malibu Classic	4-door car	mid-size
Hyundai Tiburon	2-door car	small
Nissan Versa	4-door car	small
Chevrolet Colorado extended cab	2WD pickup	small

For the full report, click here. http://www.iihs.org/externaldata/srdata/docs/sr4605.pdf

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