I am a 16-year-old girl looking into buying the Volkswagen Eos. My only concern is with safety. Is the hardtop convertible with the top up as safe as a regular hardtop car?
You would think a hardtop convertible would provide more protection than a soft top, but according to a recent article on convertible testing from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, “folding hardtops aren’t as rigid as fixed roofs so they wouldn’t be expected to make a convertible more crashworthy than if the top were soft. Foldtops are for comfort, not safety.”
IIHS recently tested the 2007 Eos hardtop convertible and gave it an overall rating of Good, which is the agency’s highest rating. The Eos was tested in front and side collisions with the top down and received similar, but not quite as good, ratings as the VW Rabbit, which the Eos shares parts with. The Eos is on par with other convertibles of its size.
For rollover protection, the Eos has pop-up roll bars that deploy in a rollover accident or a serious front- or side-impact. In the IIHS crash photos above, you can see the bars deployed after a side-impact collision.
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The Rabbit is a Hatchback, not a sedan and the Eos is based on the Jetta and shares its 2.0 L turbo engine.
hard tops are safer, especially in places that can have severe storms, for they are less likley to be punctured by hail etc. and are better isnulated. thought they are not as rigid as fixed roofs obviously, they stil provide more protection than a conventional soft top.
The Eos shares parts with the Rabbit platform. It's the same platform as the Jetta. It also shares some parts with the Passat. We're not saying it is the "same" as a rabbit. Although perhaps "based on" isn't the right wording. We'll fix that.
"Based on" is perfectly acceptable, and completely understood by anyone that knows what they're talking about. If you look at the wheelbase for example, the Rabbit (and of course GTI), Jetta, Eos and Audi A3 (and maybe even the new TT; last generation was) are all based on the Golf/Rabbit platform. The VW models have the same service manual, and most of the same parts (with obvious exceptions, such as convertible components). Does anyone seriously believe that an automotive manufacturer would go through the time and resources developing multiple chassis for similarly-sized cars? VAG uses the Rabbit platform for almost a dozen cars in Spain, America, and Europe. And while the Eos may have its own body (and convertible top and trunk instead of a hatch!) the chassis is the same as the above mentioned cars.
Identical.
Not different.
The same.
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The EOS is not based on a Rabbit. It has its own new rigid chassis. This factory tour is very informational:
http://www.vwvortex.com/artman/publish/vortex_news/article_1814.shtml