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Saab's Real Life Safety Philosophy Takes Honors Again

4 June 1999

Saab's Real Life Safety Philosophy Takes Honors Again; Two Recent Studies Support Effectiveness of Saab Safety Engineering Focus

    NORCROSS, Ga., June 3 -- Saab's real-life safety philosophy
stipulates that safety systems and structures in Saab vehicles must be
designed to protect occupants in real-world collisions.  And, although Saab
conducts over 40 crash tests -- including simulated animal collisions and
truck to car side impacts -- it is real-life collisions and their infinite
variables that drive Saab safety engineers and their work.  According to the
latest reports from the U.S. Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) and Sweden's
largest insurance company, Folksam, this philosophy indeed gets results where
it matters most -- on the road.
    According to the just-released Folksam report, the Saab 900/9-3 and
Saab 9000 have two of the best records in actual accidents.  Folksam makes
this assessment based on their study of vehicles involved in car-to-car
collisions, the largest such database in the world.  The company evaluated
70 car models that were involved in a total of 120,000 road accidents in
Sweden.  The five best performing models -- including the Saab 900/9-3 and
9000 -- earned inclusion in Folksam's "Golden Group."  Folksam's report
estimated this elite group of cars to be 50 percent safer than the average
vehicle measured in the report.  The Saab 900/9-3 is also the only mid-size
car included in the "Golden Group."
    Additionally, the 1995-1997 Saab 900 had the lowest personal injury claim
frequency among all mid-size four-door and two-door cars included in the 1999
HLDI report.  HLDI characterizes an injury score below 70 as "substantially
better than average."  Only two vehicles out of 29 evaluated in this category
were in this range. The Saab 900 was one of them, scoring 37% better than the
average mid-size car included in the report. The Saab 900 Convertible also
topped the "midsize sports models" category with the lowest claim frequency
score.
    A vehicle's safety performance is the product of many factors, including
driver behavior personal judgment and other car population variables. The
design of the car also influences its real-life safety integrity. The 1999
Folksam and HLDI data again support that when it comes to safety, Saab and
Saab drivers perform well together in the real world.