there are 2 ways to look at auto saftey.
1) The way I used to look at it. Ahh What ever.
2) WOW there are HUGE differences from vehicle to vehicle and there is virtually no way to tell except to look at crash data.
TopGear did a safety segment a while back Starts around 3:42
Those are all new cars. There is a significant difference and those cars all have decent safety ratings.
5th gear did an AMAZING piece that changed my mind
Volvo Wagon Vs Very Small car!