Which Is Safer in an Accident, Trucks or Cars? Students in Auto Body Repair Courses, Find Out!
There’s much debate about whether trucks or cars are safer in an accident, especially as larger vehicles become more popular with everyday drivers. Many drivers opt for larger vehicles because they assume they are safer to drive. However, there are more factors to consider than just a vehicle’s size in an accident.
If you’re considering enrolling in auto body technician training, it’s likely you’ll encounter countless vehicles that have been in accidents over the course of your career. You may even begin to notice a trend in the types of vehicles that are more badly damaged than others.
What trend could you see? Read on to find out!
Trucks Aren’t Always the Safest Option
Vehicles with more mass should fare better in the event of a collision, and when it comes to trucks and pickups, pros with auto body technician careers know that this is often true. With that in mind, you might expect that the number of fatal crashes that involve pickups is drastically lower than that of cars. However, you would be wrong. According to the IIHS, there’s only a 20 per cent difference in the fatality rates of cars and trucks. Cars still do come in at a higher 60 per cent, but trucks aren’t that far behind, taking in 40 per cent of fatalities.
According to research by the University of Buffalo, every additional 1,000 pounds of weight on a vehicle reduces the risk of injury in a crash by 19 per cent. With that being said, although pickup trucks are safer in some instances like head-on collisions, there are other factors that can make them dangerous in certain types of accidents.
For example, many pickup trucks ride much higher off the ground than the average car. While this offers drivers an added feeling of safety, it can actually make trucks more dangerous, as they are prone to rollovers when hit from the side. In addition, drivers in larger vehicles may have a false sense of security. Despite the fact that pickup trucks tend to be more powerful, they don’t necessarily offer superior handling on the rough road conditions that Canada is notorious for.
Students in Auto Body Repair Courses Know that Cars Are Sometimes a Safer Option
With safety features such as forward collision warning, braking intervention, blind spot detection, and complex airbags configurations, today’s cars are safer than ever. However, cars can only be so safe until they’re matched with an unfair opponent, such as a large truck or SUV. While cars are much less likely to roll over and lose control, which makes them safer for single-vehicle accidents, if they do get into an accident with a car that’s much bigger, their safety level significantly decreases.
One study showed, for instance, that in a head-on collision between a car and an SUV, the car driver was 7.6 times more likely to succumb to their injuries. In the same situation where the car had a better crash test rating than the SUV, the outcome was better, but the car driver was still 4.5 times more likely to be fatally injured.
Pros with Auto Body Technician Careers See Which Vehicles Suffer Less Damage in a Crash
So, which type of vehicle is safer in the event of a collision? If every collision involved two vehicles of the same type and stature, cars and trucks would be fairly equal in safety, or perhaps cars would even be considered the safer option. However, this is simply not the case. Each vehicle type has its pros and cons, but for now, drivers are probably safer to be in a heavier vehicle like a truck in most, but not all, accidents. Thus, after your auto body repair courses, you’re probably more likely to see badly damaged cars than trucks in your shop.
Do you want to start a career that allows you to repair vehicles damaged in accidents?
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