One flaw with published safety tests is that they almost exclusively test what is likely to happen to occupants given that they crash in various standardised ways, and not what factors make it less likely to be in a crash at all, or to reduce the severity of some crashes before impact.
I don’t have any data on these factors, even just to back up the idea that they might be important, so I’m just posting this as a comment instead of an answer.
However, it may also be worth considering things like:
Visibility for the driver, and maybe even visibility of the car to other drivers
Suspension, tyres, brake systems, and their behaviours in poor weather
Driver monitoring, e.g. alertness, intoxication (especially if you think someone else might drive it)
Ease of maintenance for any of the above, and costs if they might discourage good maintenance
… and almost certainly others I can’t think of right now.
One flaw with published safety tests is that they almost exclusively test what is likely to happen to occupants given that they crash in various standardised ways, and not what factors make it less likely to be in a crash at all, or to reduce the severity of some crashes before impact.
I don’t have any data on these factors, even just to back up the idea that they might be important, so I’m just posting this as a comment instead of an answer.
However, it may also be worth considering things like:
Visibility for the driver, and maybe even visibility of the car to other drivers
Suspension, tyres, brake systems, and their behaviours in poor weather
Driver monitoring, e.g. alertness, intoxication (especially if you think someone else might drive it)
Ease of maintenance for any of the above, and costs if they might discourage good maintenance
… and almost certainly others I can’t think of right now.