Anybody know if any particular car rental company is offering cars with side (head curtain) air bags?
I had been researching car ratings in trying to decide between a Chevy Cobalt ("Intermediate"), or Pontiac G6 ("Standard") or Chevy Impala ("Full Size") at Enterprise (all for about the same rental price). I eventually settled on the Impala b/c it got all "OK" ratings from Consumer Reports, while the Cobalt had a disturbing "poor" Crash rating.
In my browsing, I hit upon this recent article in Consumer Reports Safety Blog about how GM sold Cobalts and Impalas to Enterprise _without_ the side-curtain airbags, and how Enterprise continued to advertise (and sell) those cars as including the side airbags. All for a cost savings of $175 per car!
I think the 2008/2009 G6 comes with side airbags as standard, and since it wasn't involved in the above GM "scam", I may be OK with that one.
I've started to look thru car rental sites to see what airbags their cars include. So far, no specific mention of side bags from the few I've checked. I don't have much confidence, tho, that if I call the RAC co., the clerk would know such detail about their equipment.
Anyone care to update?
PS As an aside, I've been using carrentalsavers.com, and Enterprise had far and away the cheapest prices -- I figured they must just be trying to grab market share, or at least get their cash flow up
PPS Consumer Reports says that "side impact crashes are the second most frequent type ... and side curtain air bags are an extremely important safety feature."
You may not be guaranteed a particular car model. The rental agency would give you a car from your reserved class or higher when you show up. They may have an assortment of cars for a class.
scrouds said: Seems kinda paranoid to be looking up crash stats for rental cars.
As for enterprise, that doesn't surprise me at all.
My feeling was -- I should have at least as good a rental car as I do at home -- considering that we'll be doing more driving than usual, and in a big city (LA) vs our usual suburban driving.
murrr77
Member
posted: Oct. 21, 2009 @ 9:56p
I'll second the rental company not guaranteeing a specific car, they will give you a specific SIZE or car (or free upgrade) but not a certain make/model. You may ask for a G6 and get a free upgrade to an Impalla. Standard policy with all rental companies.
First off, the Cobalt probably got "poor" due to its size--it's a compact car, while the Impala is a "full size." A full size car without any side airbags is probably going to be a better bet than a small car WITH side airbags.
I honestly wouldn't sweat it too much. In a side impact, the airbags are only good if there's minimal intrusion from the other vehicle. A t-bone at 50mph, it doesn't matter if you have side airbags or not.
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