Are new cars safer these days

New cars are much safer than they used to be. But basic safety problems are still an issuec with many models.

The consumer organisation has been testing cars since 1983 when the situation was dire - no standard rear seat belts, few head restraints, no airbags , and complete carelessness in many vital areas of safety design.

In its latest safety tests, several cars have seat-belt buckles that can be accidentally released by flailing arms, leaving occupants more vulnerable to injury or even being thrown from the car in a crash. Indeed, the 2006 Volvo S80 has poor belt buckle design in both front and rear seats. Chrysler, Honda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru and Volvo have been called on to change the buckle design on the affected models, but so far only Volvo has agreed to investigate further.

Meanwhile, upper leg damage accounts for a significant proportion of serious injuries in front-on crashes. Disappointingly, all cars recently tested had insufficient protection in this area, apart from the Ford S-Max and Volvo S80.

Isofix child-seat fittings (using metal catches to weld the seat to the car body) are a good thing, but their design and instructions can be dangerously confusing. The Nissan X-Trail and the Skoda Roomster were both criticised for these reasons.

Manufacturers do take note however. Back in 1984 the Peugeot 205 GL gained a shocking safety rating of just three points. But today's Peugeot 207 supermini scores a much improved 10 points. Similarly, the Vauxhall Nova scored just four points in 1983, whereas the Vauxhall's current supermini, the Corsa, achieves 9.5 points.

Of the 687 cars tested over the years, it rates the 2003 Audi A8 as the safest with a peerless 14 points. Joint second are the 2004 Volvo S40 and 2003 Lexus LS 430 - both with an impressive 13.5 points.

Five cars prop up the bottom of the post-1983 safety table with a dismally low 3 points: the 1985 Austin Mini, 1986 Citroen 2CV, 1987 Citroen AX, 1984 Yugo 45 and 1984 Peugeot 205.

Worryingly, there are still a fair number of these cars being driven today.

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