According to the WHO, over 170,000 Europeans die in motor vehicle accidents each year, and a further 5 million are injured.  Improved vehicle safety is the most important factor in improving road transport safety.  Safety is very important to Swedes (the home of Saab & Volvo), and Sweden's largest insurer, the Folksam, produces an excellent crash-test report based on real-life accidents.  Although brand-new vehicles are excluded, Folksam's results provide a more complete picture of a vehicle's safety level.  The FIA's New Car Assessment Program tests provide an indication of a vehicle's protective capacity but fail to show how well a safe car performs in the real world.  

Key To Folksam Safety Ratings

	40% Safer Than The Average Car
	20% Safer Than The Average Car
	Average Car
	20% Less Safe Than The Average Car
	40% Less Safe Than The Average Car

Safety features and their capacity for reducing injury

(source: Folksam)

By analyzing every injury sustaining motor vehicle accident in Sweden, Folksam has discovered some interesting facts.  Improvements to the shock-absorbing capacity of vehicle front-ends combined with improvements to the occupants safety-cage, front & side airbags, and seat-belt pre-tensioners have reduced the risk of occupant injuries over 20% during the past 10 years. Even with these encouraging results, the risk of personal injury or death is ten times higher in the most dangerous cars when compared to the safest. The greatest improvements have occured in the smallest vehicles. Before the 1990's, manufacturers failed to apply the same safety standards to to small cars as they did to large. Historically the latest safety equipment always appeared in the largest and most expensive vehicles, while small and inexpensive models were ignored. Luckily, legislation and the public's growing concern for crash-worthiness have forced manufacturers to fit even the smallest and cheapest cars with the same safety equipment that is found on the largest and most expensive.