Study: "A Good Car Is a Safe Car," Say Women, but Other Factors Matter Too

The question here is, “what do women want from their cars?” The number one feature – according to this study – is safety. Why does this not surprise me at all? Well, because women thought of safety-related improvements in automobiles a long time ago. Not only did the ladies think of them, but they set to work and invented some of those.

Things like turn signals, brake lights, windshield wipers, rearview mirrors, instructions manual, or GPS are all women’s work. So yeah, safety makes complete sense. Serbia’s representative in the Women’s World Car of the Year jury gathered answers from 14,000 car-related interviews with women. The majority emphasized an automobile’s safety-oriented options and seating position (with a raised position regarded as a more desirable aspect).

Practicality, performance, and space are also essential for ladies who take the steering wheel into their own hands. Women pay attention to safety features like rearview cameras, blind spot monitoring, and other driving aids. This is not to say that creature comfort features (storage pockets, cupholders, or air-conditioning) are not considered, says Vietnam’s envoy.

It’s not all about the security of a motoring experience – aspects like fuel economy and looks (inside and out) are also important. Reliability, handling, performance, or environmental impact – all these traits are on a woman’s checkbox list when choosing a motorcar.

The reason-centered method prevails over the emotional factor – something that strongly contradicts urban legends, pop culture, and shallow-thinking myths about women drivers. When it comes to cars, girls follow their heads before their hearts, according to the Chilean juror of WWCOTY.

When women put logic ahead of emotions, they prefer to gather as much information as possible before making a decision. No surprise here, either – it was a brave woman (Dorothy Levitt) who wrote a motoring book full of valuable instructions, and that was 114 years ago.

Of course, one generic rule of thumb does not apply to every individual situation. After all, conditions dictate radical differences in car-purchasing behavior. Mothers will look for kids-oriented automotive attributes (safety being paramount), like extra space for toys, childcare accessories, and clothes. A special note for “ease of access” is added by women with small children who require car seats; buckling an infant - or more! – is a task that all family car manufacturers should put in the first five priorities.

Horsepower is not overlooked – although it isn’t a top-tier factor – as a more potent vehicle would be chosen in favor of a least powerful alternative with similar traits. At least, that’s what the information from the United Arab Emirates indicates.

Environmentalism is present, too, on women’s list of car specs and features – a green(er) vehicle holds a higher-up spot on a motoriste’s book. Women have always been the sensible side of the gearheaded community.

Don’t believe me? Next time you punch in a GPS destination, thank Hedy Lamarr and Dr. Gladys West. The first one gave us the concept of Wi-Fi (an early 1940s' version of it), and the second calculated the mathematical algorithms that eventually led to satellite navigation.