RX and Safety
 

Well Im inches away from buying my RX-8, but of course my parents have to have last minute safety peeves... They think the car and its seats are a little low, and the car is very small making it unsafe... Give me some material to prove them wrong, I have wanted this car for over 8.5 months, I dont want a BMW 3 or an a4 i want my RX-8... what should i do?

airbags! lots of airbags..

Been there said that, the main arguement they have is that, there are a lot of SUVs out their, and this car is very low, so thats what makes it dangerous.... Yes I know what they are saying makes no sense...

I routinely take my two kids in it. The back seat is very secure (and the divider keeps them far enough apart so they cannot hit each other).

Amazing brakes... just amazing.

Do a search here for people who have been in accidents. The car is very safe. Side airbags in both front and rear and steel beams reinforce the the doors. Also my wife and I have an A4 and it is a good car but not as much fun as the Audi. Bring up how the RX-8 will limit the number of friends you can have with you to 3. This will mean that you will be less distracted and more likely to pay attention to the road. You will get a better insurance rating on the 8 than you will on the 3 series BMW.

Personally, I hate driving my wife's SUV because I feel like I have no control over it. If you need to make a sudden evasive maneuver or stop quickly, an SUV is useless. I will take an RX-8 over an SUV any day. The best way to not get hurt in an accident is to avoid it completely. With an SUV or a large truck, you're pretty much just along for the ride. Ask them this - when they encounter an accident on the side of the road, what types of vehicles do they see the most? Where I come from, it's SUVs and pickups.

I could easily roll-over my wife's SUV on a flat surface if I wanted to - it's impossible to do in an RX-8.

Lastly, there have also been pictures of 8's in accidents posted on this forum, and it looks to me that the occupants were always well-protected.

THANK YOU ALL...

like others have said being little and quick really has its advantages. Especially on SoCal freeways where you get trucks that lose their ladders and have to do evasive manuveurs. (like I had to do just recently) Better to be able to avoid something than barrel down in an uncontroled manner.

The crash pictures should help. illustrate the crumple areas and protection of the cabin.

I will admint though that being in a smaller vehicle does have its drawbacks as I cannot see anything while admist the bazzilion SUVs in LA.

But I do feel like I am in control of my car at every moment. Something that I lack when I am driving a truck.

limited slip differential, abs, dynamic stability control, traction control, low center of gravity, low polar-inertia moment, 50-50 weight distribution, incredible structural rigidity(all of these things combine to make the car nearly the most stable car on the road, and keep you on the road), iso-fix child seat connections, stereo controls on the steering wheel(keeps the hands where they should be). front,side and full length curtain airbags. steel reinforcement beams in the doors (keeps those suvs out) etc. etc. etc. has passed all of the most stringent crash tests in the world with flying colors. it is even safer to the unlucky pedestrian as mazda developed a new hood design to keep them from getting too injured should you hit one. incredible brakes so you can stop instead of hitting that guy and ruining your hood. the list goes on and on and on.....

I am one of those people who have been in an accident with an RX-8 and I'm happy to give you a perspective on the car.

The first thing to remember is that the car's handling is one of its best safety features: you can avoid getting into accidents in the first place. This was the point of a recent article about vehicle safety in The New Yorker magazine. You can search the forum for a discussion on this point.

As for situations where you can't avoid being in an accident, I think that the safety engineering of the car saved my and my wife's lives. I had to stop suddenly at highway speed when a van had stopped in the passing lane of an interstate. Because of the great brakes I was able to stop before hitting the van. I was then rear-ended by a pickup truck at a high rate of speed (probably 50-60 mph.) The crumple zone in the back of the car took the brunt of the impact . The car was totaled but my wife and I were unhurt. We opened the doors and walked away without a scratch. (No one else was hurt in the accident.)

Two weeks later I took the insurance money and bought another RX-8. Believe me, I wouldn't have done that if I had thought that the car was unsafe.

I hope this information is helpful to you and your parents.

I also had a rock drop off a truck in front of me. I bounced right over my 8. If I was in a SUV, it would have hit square on the windshield!

Cleared your entire car and didn't touch a thing?!?!? Now, that's what I call good luck :)

It got a 5 star safety rating.

Someone posted here a few weeks ago that the car had a 5 star rating...I have not been able to find that...

Yes what evidence is their to back that up, I have seen no government test results...

well it won't flip over so easily since it's so low . . . .

jniamehr, when I was doing my research before buying, safety was one of my criteria too. Here in the US, the 8 hasn't been crash tested yet by NHTSA or Insurance Institute. It has been crash tested in Japan and meets their requirements. Thought I bookmarked it but can't find it right now.

one of the magazines that reviewed the rx-8 said it had a 5 star rating. I *THINK* it was C & D in the "Rotary Revival" article, but im not 100 pct sure.

please post those RX8-safety-related articles in this thread! thanks guys

It was incredible luck. It went right over the middle of the entire car. I don't know if it hit someone behind me. We were on the turnpike doing about 70.

It doesn't show as being tested by NHTSA
http://www.nhtsa.gov

It is a proven fact that SUV and safety are direct opposites. SUV have the worst safety record of anything on four wheels.

Yea I know, I even explained that to them (and my mom is an suv driver...)

I almost forgot. What about the DSC or VDC (Dynamic Stability Control, or Vehicle Dynamic Control "I forget what it is for the RX8" Either way, this has saved me many times, it actually takes control of the car when it starts to slip.


This is one of the best safety inventions since air bags.