Why is a Saab so safe?
Most cars on the market today claim to be among the safest on the road. Their advertisements show billowing airbags gently arresting the dummy in slow motion with no apparent injury. Car manufacturers in general love to base their safety claims on subjective findings,usually showing their particular model to be the safest car for a set of data figures. So how do you look beyond the marketing hype to actually get a proper indication of car safety? We will try to explain the art of saving lives as it pertains to Saabs, and highlight features, which are not so obvious to most buyers, but are just as important to the overall safety package. We will also show examples of how other car models who claim to be safe, really aren't.

Body Design
Saab’s have certain traits, which make them one of the few truly safe cars on the road. Saab has always designed safe cars, but why exactly is one car safer than another? The answer lies in the way the safety cage is put together and the way they are put to the test. Safe body strength and design stem from the ability to divert the large crash forces in a collision away from the occupants, preventing crush and impact force injuries. The physics of decelerating the human body safely is the ultimate aim of any car safety strategy. The goal is to slow the forward momentum of a person at a rate that will not cause internal injuries. This is separate than preventing cabin collapse where personal injuries occur by physically compressing the occupants space. Of course, both these concepts come together in a crash. Saab engineers dedicate their design efforts to minimize the impact to occupants in a crash, with the goal of allowing the Saab passengers to open their doors and walk away.

Saab's safety design begins with the bumpers, which are built to absorb impacts of up to 5 mph. The bumper is constructed of foam with heavy steel backing. This is the first stage of the larger crash picture, because it assists in spreading collision forces over a greater area, which minimizes the impact on the passenger compartment. Most car brands are merely fitted with a plastic clip-on, which has no structural strength. The next level of crash protection is up to about 12 mph, where specially designed structural members are designed to absorb the impact, saving the rest of the structure from damage and limiting repair costs. Up to this stage, the occupants are unlikely to be injured, due to the small forces involved. At this speed the Saab's airbags will not even deploy.They are designed to deploy above 15 mph in conjunction with the pre-tensioned seat belts. Above 15 mph, it becomes necessary to disperse the crash forces away from the passenger cabin, and to limit the deceleration forces on the occupants. This is accomplished by creating special structural points in the front and back of the car to crumple in a pre-determined way. This absorbs energy and does not compress the passenger cabin. It also becomes necessary at this speed to ensure that engine parts or other items do not penetrate the passenger cabin. Saabs are designed so that the engine slides under the passenger compartment rather than through it. The rear is also protected by similar structural points, which divert forces away from the passenger cabin. This is an area often neglected by most manufacturers. Most head-on accidents occur off the centerline of the car. Saabs are further optimized to evenly distribute the forces resulting from an offset collision, such as having strengthened front door sills to prevent the wheel from intruding, as well as structural points which take the impact force and spread it over the entire front end.

Broadside impacts account for about 40% of all collisions, and Saab has developed an excellent side impact system. It diverts forces away from the passenger cabin, and minimizes the amount of side damage. There are many lateral cross-members, including the Saab Safe Seat, strengthened pillars and very strong overlapping doors with side intrusion beams and interior padding. The doors overlap to prevent penetration of the passenger cabin. This type of door is a prerequisite for good side safety. In addition, the windows retract fully rather than only three quarters down, which in the event of a collision minimizes the possibility of the rear passengers being impaled on a sharp piece of window. A general tip on windows is to roll them down completely, or only down a couple inches. This prevents your temple from impacting the top edge of the window if it’s rolled down only half way.

Saabs are tested in many other types of real life accidents to ensure that they are safe in all situations, not just the ones that the government mandates. Examples include rollover testing, car to truck, car to pole, rear-end collisions as mentioned earlier and car to animal crashes to name a few. They are also safer for pedestrians, with rounded front ends and recessed windscreen wipers to lessen the severity of impact. Many people aren't aware that all Saabs can effectively withstand at least three times their own weight on their roof before buckling, so that a rollover crash will not crush you. Saabs have great rollover strength, with extra interior structural members specifically designed for this. Truck collisions are also a significant improvement over most cars, as Saabs are crash tested into trucks to ascertain that no part of the body is allowed to penetrate the cabin. The Saab body is one of the safest around.

A Safe Interior
Having a solid body is great, but you also need a safe interior for the complete safety package. It is in the interior where the occupant of a car will feel the immediate forces of a collision. Let's begin with the overall interior. Saab determined from the outset that the interior had to be free from hard edges or protrusions. The dash is laid out so that there are no switches protruding and the passenger side curves away from the passenger to give more room between them and a contact surface. The steering wheel has been designed to crumple inwards if the driver's head should strike it, preventing serious head injuries. Also, the steering mechanisms are far back in the engine bay to prevent them from being pushed backwards into the passenger cell in a collision, and the steering column from the engine bay side is designed to collapse rather than be pushed backwards. All this is designed to protect the driver even before the airbags are deployed.

The doors, reinforced with side intrusion bars, have soft lines with no hard armrest surfaces to protect the occupant if they strike an armrest at spleen or kidney level. Hard armrests are known in the safety business as "spleen killers", because that is their most common effect. Saabs have generous amounts of padding in the doors to prevent this from occurring. Safe Seats are also vital to interior safety. Many accident photos have revealed that the seats of most cars have been knocked backwards or sideways in a collision. Most car seats will rip from their mountings and do additional damage to the occupant. It is vital that the seat remain in its proper position to fully protect the occupants Saab seats are extremely robust, so much so that the seat belts themselves are attached to the seat, not the body. This benefit allows the wearer to have the belt at the proper location for a collision, to prevent internal injuries. In many cars the seat belts have hazardous placement. They sit too high or low when being used. Seat belts should sit over your pelvic area so that it prevents spleen or intestinal injuries that occur if it is too high. Too low and you will slide forward much further, increasing your chance of being severely injured. Saab incorporates Anti- submarining protection in its cars. A raised front plate under your legs is utilized to prevent you from sliding forwards and under your seat belt in an accident. All Saabs have this feature, which will keep you in your seat. The Saab Safe Seat also protects its rear passengers. It provides three full seatbelts, has steel backing plates to prevent rear cargo from intruding into the cabin, anti-submarining protection and a strong crossbar to prevent side crushing of the passenger cabin. Headrests are fitted to prevent whiplash, and baby seats can be firmly anchored to the top bar. In addition, the seat can be pre-ordered with child seats built in, to provide proper protection for children without having to fit extra seats. All of this ensures that rear passengers are equally protected, while maintaining the Saab functionality of fold down seats for increased cargo space.

A small but typical Saab feature is mounting the ignition key in the center floor instead of on the dash as with most cars. This is done for both ergonomic and safety considerations, It prevents the right knee from colliding with the key in a head-on collision, and is one less protrusion to worry about. It also has the added benefit of enabling a gear lock to be incorporated for extra theft protection. Footwell protection is also high on the Saab safety list. It is the area most likely to be crushed in a severe impact. Saab has addressed this by making sure feet, lower legs and knees are encased in smooth areas with no mechanical protrusions to injure them. Backing plates with soft foam exteriors prevent further injury to the legs, ensuring that any intrusions are prevented from directly impacting with flesh. Compare this to most other cars that have many sharp objects just above passenger and driver legs. Finally for interior safety, Saab has a good climate system, which provides plenty of air at the right temperatures for the driver. This may not initially seem like a safety feature, but a comfortable driver is an alert driver, and Saab has ensured that the right parts of the body are kept at the best temperatures to maintain effective driving. Saab has recently pioneered fan ventilated seats, a world first and a pleasant addition to overall driving comfort in hot weather, a big bonus in Arizona!

Supplementary Restraint Systems
To round out all the other safety features, and enhance survivability, all Saabs produced incorporate twin front airbags and side airbags as standard. These, in conjunction with height adjustable pre-tensioned seat belts, provide severe impact protection. This is important, because in recent years most car manufacturers are simply incorporating airbags to say a car is safe, without incorporating a whole safety design system. This is a grave mistake. An airbag is not going to protect you if the passenger cabin crushes around you. NCAP crash tests are revealing this fact. High decelerations are still being recorded on dummies in cars fitted with airbags but no other real safety measures. The car needs to be designed to absorb the shock of a collision. Saab uses the larger US airbags to protect their occupants better, as opposed to less protective face bags adopted by many manufacturers. The airbags in Saabs provide more room for deceleration, and a large area of cushion if the driver is off center at the moment of impact.

Airbags are to be used only as a supplemental restraint system. Seat belts are the best lifesaver you can use in a car, and without it you become a human missile in a crash. Not only that, but unbuckled rear passengers will be thrown forwards into the front seats, injuring the front occupants. Pre-tensioned seat belts are fitted to all Saabs. These act in conjunction with the airbags to limit the amount of forward travel by an occupant in a collision, increasing the distance to a hard surface or airbag and minimizing the force of the impact. Most modern inertia reel seat belts do little to actually prevent their occupants from pivoting forwards into the dash or steering wheel. The impact is too quick for the inertia reel to react. Pre-tensioned seat belts alleviate this problem by instantly tightening at the moment of impact. This system is calibrated with the airbags and crumple pattern to act at the right moment, so simply fitting one to a car without comprehensively testing it as part of the overall system will limit its effectiveness. Basically, these last two devices are there to slow down the human body to lessen the impact. Incorporating them into a car without a comprehensive crash protection strategy is ineffective.

Additional Owner Safety Guidelines


Tire Safety
Tires are the most neglected safety aspect on a car. A car's performance hinges almost solely on the four small squares of rubber that are in contact with the road. Your choice and maintenance of your tires is vital to your safety. Yet most drivers have some sort of tire problem, ranging from the incorrect tire pressures, to hazardous lack of tire tread or deteriorated sidewalls. These factors can lead to a blown tire or loss of grip in the rain, all potentially fatal situations. When replacing tires, try to replace them in pairs, as they will then wear evenly and not pull your car in one direction. The newest tires should always go on the front steering and driving wheels.

Wheels should be re-balanced each time a tire is changed, and the suspension setup should be such that the tire rest square to the ground. A square suspension setup ensures that the full tire profile will remain on the road at normal speeds, and maintain even tire wear.

For wet conditions, we would prefer a low profile tire. This type of tire will do the most to keep you in control in an emergency under the worst circumstances, namely emergency braking in the wet at high speed while swerving to avoid an object.Saab’s favorite brand is Michelin, but as a guide, any brand used as the preferred tire of a good sports or luxury car manufacturer(i.e. Porsche, Ferrari, etc.) is usually a safe bet. Finally, don’t buy retreads! Retreads have had the worn tire surface re-cut, which means that there is less rubber to puncture and less heat dissipation than the original tire was intended to combat. As a result you are more likely to blow a tire, with potentially fatal results. Don't skimp on the only area physically in contact with the road

Brakes and ABS
Once you have a good set of tires correctly fitted, your next best safety features are your brakes. A good set of brakes will prevent the majority of accidents when correctly applied. One of the most significant advances in automotive safety is the ABS (Anti-lock Braking System). This prevents wheel lockup when the brakes are applied hard in an emergency. The wheels do not lose their grip and can be used to steer the car out of trouble as well as provide maximum stopping ability. This is especially useful in the rain when brake lockup occurs much more easily. ABS allows you to apply maximum pressure to the brake pedal and keep it on, while the ABS computer continuously varies braking pressure to prevent wheel lockup.

If you have ABS fitted (as all current Saab models do) remember that the brake pedal will vibrate when the ABS is working. This is normal and is not an indication to ease off the pedal. Continue to apply full pressure until you are completely stopped.

Additional Saab Safety Features

Cabin Adjustable Headlights
This allows you to point the beam down when carrying a heavy load, improving night time road safety for you and other cars by reducing dazzle.

Fuel Tank
It is placed between the rear wheels to provide maximum protection in a rear or sideways collision.

Cargo Lugs
There are four lugs in the cargo area designed to tie down large objects or luggage to prevent it moving forward in a collision.

Brake Lights
Twin brake lights and high center light with sensors to let you know when one has blown.

Traction Control System
Optional and allows you to maintain maximum driving power to the wheels without wheel spin. This is especially useful in wet and slippery conditions.

Outside Temperature Sensor
Warns of black ice conditions.

Black Panel Display
Lights only necessary instruments as required to enhance night driving.

Heated Mirrors
Allows better vision when frosty.

Headlight Washer / Wipers
Another Saab first, these ensure that your driving lights are not dirty, giving better light and allowing others to see you better.

There are many other innovations and items that make Saabs safe. Rest assured that when you buy a Saab, you are driving the product of an ongoing safety program that has produces some of the world's safest cars.