{"id":867,"date":"2004-04-19T14:52:37","date_gmt":"2004-04-19T18:52:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wordpress\/2004\/04\/disposable_cars\/"},"modified":"2004-04-19T14:52:37","modified_gmt":"2004-04-19T18:52:37","slug":"disposable_cars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/2004\/04\/disposable_cars\/","title":{"rendered":"Disposable Cars"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has conducted another round of safety tests<\/a>, and if your in a car which gets broadsided by an SUV, things may bot be good for you:<\/p>\n

Ten of 13 midsize car models tested by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a research group financed by car insurers, received the lowest of four possible ratings, indicating a likelihood of serious or fatal injury. The tests also showed that women were at disproportionate risk in truck-car side-impact collisions.
\nBut the tests also showed that, in some cases, side airbags could make a difference, potentially between life and death. Two cars, the Toyota Camry and the Honda Accord, received the highest of four ratings, though only when equipped with optional side airbags that offer head protection. The standard version of both cars received the lowest ratings.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Even if you emerge from an accident unscathed, you may still get a headache once you take your vehicle to the repair shop. An article in The Christian Science Monitor<\/i> examines the rising costs of vehicle repair<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Costly air bags, expensive electronics, and lightweight body materials are driving up the cost of fixing new cars. Not only do many more parts have to be replaced rather than repaired, but fewer and fewer body shops can afford the special equipment and training required to do the work.”We’re moving closer and closer to the disposable car,” says Dan Bailey, an executive vice president at Carstar, the largest auto-body repair franchise in the United States.
\nRepairing a new car a decade ago, for example, cost an average of $2,578 per claim, while in 2003, the cost had ballooned to $3,681, a 43 percent increase that has outpaced inflation, says Kim Hazelbaker, senior vice president and head of loss claims analysis with the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) in Arlington, Va.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If that’s not factoring in inflation, then a 43 percent increase (over a decade) isn’t quite as bad as it sounds. Still, there’s really nothing to look forward to in taking a car to the shop.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has conducted another round of safety tests, and if your in a car which gets broadsided by an SUV, things may bot be good for you: Ten of 13 midsize car models tested by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a research group financed by car insurers, received the […]<\/p>\n<\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-867","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"h-entry","8":"hentry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brianarner.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}