Are you aware that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
and the Insurance
Institute for Highway Safety consider 10 inches to be a safe distance
from the air bag? Considering how close you sometimes have to get to
reach the pedals, it was borderline for me being just under 5 feet tall
in the car we currently had. So we decided it was time to invest in a
family car that had an airbag that would be more for safety and
potentially less injury.
So in the land of the petite, how does one find a car that can fit us and be safe? The boys over at car talk gave a great list to get started in my thinking, and the following list is what came next.
Things to look for:
1. Adjustable pedals. We liked this feature, however, was not readily found and was only available on new cars in our limited search. Didn't make sense financially for us.
2. Electric seat. High priority, really helps in getting the car to fit me.
3. Tilting AND telescoping steering wheel. In my past experience they all tilt, but now many of them telescope too, which was a huge help!
4. Dual-deploy airbags. Some car makers seem to remember that there are petite mamas like us in the world and have come up with dual-deploy airbags. The car senses if the seat is at a close distance to the steering wheel. If that is the case and the airbag needs to deploy--it does so with less force. This is a really great safety feature and something we had never heard of prior to doing some focused research.
5. Airbag on/off switch. This exists, but being that we like the idea of an airbag for safety we wanted to maximize everything else first before resorting to something as drastic as shutting off a safety feature.
Now that you have a few basic tools in your pocket on things to look for, where do you go to begin your research on the perfect chariot?
Consumer Reports was our weapon of choice. Tons of info broken down into model years as well, so really knew what you were getting. Also, the car kits were an excellent purchase as we knew how much we should be paying as well as what our trade in was worth. Excellent to walk into a car dealership knowing that kind of info before you start negotiations.
Finally, the Consumer Reports list of best cars for tall and short drivers was also a fantastic place to start looking. It can be found here.
So in the land of the petite, how does one find a car that can fit us and be safe? The boys over at car talk gave a great list to get started in my thinking, and the following list is what came next.
Things to look for:
1. Adjustable pedals. We liked this feature, however, was not readily found and was only available on new cars in our limited search. Didn't make sense financially for us.
2. Electric seat. High priority, really helps in getting the car to fit me.
3. Tilting AND telescoping steering wheel. In my past experience they all tilt, but now many of them telescope too, which was a huge help!
4. Dual-deploy airbags. Some car makers seem to remember that there are petite mamas like us in the world and have come up with dual-deploy airbags. The car senses if the seat is at a close distance to the steering wheel. If that is the case and the airbag needs to deploy--it does so with less force. This is a really great safety feature and something we had never heard of prior to doing some focused research.
5. Airbag on/off switch. This exists, but being that we like the idea of an airbag for safety we wanted to maximize everything else first before resorting to something as drastic as shutting off a safety feature.
Now that you have a few basic tools in your pocket on things to look for, where do you go to begin your research on the perfect chariot?
Consumer Reports was our weapon of choice. Tons of info broken down into model years as well, so really knew what you were getting. Also, the car kits were an excellent purchase as we knew how much we should be paying as well as what our trade in was worth. Excellent to walk into a car dealership knowing that kind of info before you start negotiations.
Finally, the Consumer Reports list of best cars for tall and short drivers was also a fantastic place to start looking. It can be found here.
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