Hello! I am car shopping for my first car. I love the Honda Fit. I have heard though that it is very lightweight and therefore not a great safety car. I have looked on iihs and other sites, but the safety information I find only compares the fit or civic to cars in their own class. How do I research the safety of the fit or civic in GENERAL?
Also,we live in PA, so there is some snow in the winter but not totally terrible. Eventually my husband and I want to have babies and be able to put them safely in the backseat.
Any advice would be so welcome. I’m starting to go in circles on this one.
thanks!
Side impacts are actually comparable accross classes, and the insurance institute for highway safety rates both fit and civic “good” while the gov’t gives the civic only four stars for driver side impact and gives the fit 5 (passenger is five for both, however, rear seat gets only three for fit and five for civic)
there is no way to compare the safety of two classes of car for frontal impact in the gov’t or nhtsa tests. However, comparing the civic and fit is easy either way, because the gov’t at least classifies both as compact, and both get 5 stars.
The civic is a newer design and has Honda’s “advanced compatibility engineering” body structure, meaning you may be safer getting hit by a big truck in the civic vs. the fit. Plus the Civic is a little bigger. So for safety, go with the Civic. but if the fit moves you, get one. (I wanted the Fit but couldn’t fit behind the wheel)
For the best safety thoughg, a small car will generally lose to a big one in a front impact, so for 100% safety, get a new Ford Taurus.
Or if you really want to make sure you come out on top in a collision, get an International pickup truck. But really, most cars built these days are fairly similar in safety. Either the Civic or Fit will be fine. Personally, I’d choose an Accord, since I don’t like the Fit, and the Civic looks stupid.