The Safest Ride on the Road

On the Volt Owners Group in Facebook, it is very common to see posts about car wrecks ranging from the fender bender to the totaling of a brand new Volt. Sometimes it seems as if every other day, someone's Volt is being painfully crushed, crunched, dented or otherwise defaced by a conflict with another vehicle, often a truck.

One of the most recent, and most compelling, of these stories shared on the owners groups was also featured at Inside EV's, an online magazine devoted to electric vehicles. Here is the article. Long story short, a Volt t-boned by a 14-wheeled truck driven by a distracted driver (5 bucks says he was texting) sees the driver walking away with minor injuries while the truck ended up on its side.

But this is not an isolated incident. Yesterday, there was this post.

The theme that runs through the reports is that the drivers walk away. The Volt may be totaled, but the human toll is relatively low. So I wonder... does this mean the Volt is safer than other cars?

Another theme worth mentioning is On-Star's five-star response to these incidents. On-Star is of course an expensive, optional service that new Volt owners get free for 3 years following purchase. I'll bet that after experiencing an accident where On-Star responds to the crash by contacting the driver in-cabin before the car has even come to a halt and the driver knows what happened, this becomes quite the required service in the eyes of the driver.

A look at Chevrolet's Volt product page gives this information about 75% of the way down a very long page.

Top Safety Rating

When it comes to safety, there’s no mistaking that Volt has raised the bar. The 2014 Volt received a 5-Star Overall Score for Safety from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.† This accolade speaks volumes.

Throughout the Volt interior, eight air bags† are hidden. StabiliTrak® Electronic Stability Control System with Traction Control also comes standard and is there to help keep your steering on course in case of adverse conditions.

Eight air bags and a five star safety rating... and this is not on the top 8 list of things Chevrolet wants you to know about the Volt. Is that because it's not important? No - it's because the other things they want you to know are just that much cooler.

US News ranks the 2015 Volt on its list of Best Cars.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety ranks the 2015 Volt as the top safety pick for compact cars.  We can only expect that the 2016, with all of it's sparkling new improvements for the second generation, will equal or top these results.

I don't usually choose a car based on safety as a top priority. I feel kind of icky saying that, like I've been making a serious mistake for over 25 years. I am a mother of three. How can I not be prioritizing safety for my babies when choosing a vehicle? But the truth is, features are more important to me because those are things I use and experience on a daily basis, whereas safety only becomes an issue when something bad happens. However, this time it looks like I've made a great safety choice coincidentally. Which is very nice indeed.