I have personally been involved in two auto accidents, both of which were low speed and one of which was my fault. Perhaps not having experienced a serious collision what makes watching the videos of controlled crashes undertaken by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety so butt-clenchingly frightening for me. I have to admit that I find the slo-mo replays to be an almost hypnotic ballet of metal and plastic exploding like a work of modern art. I especially like it when a tire is knocked completely of the rim. Call me weird. A while back we queried whether or not an especially egregious performance in an IIHS test might cause you to discount a car or truck, and today what I want to know is whether the tests – which are far more strict than that of the Federal Government – really would weigh into any new – or almost new – purchasing decision.  No one expects to have a crash, and in fact I’ll bet you, like me, are of the mind that it’ll never happen to me, but in case it does, you want to know that you’ve made the right choice, right? What do you think? We often tout performance figures to justify an auto’s purchase, or even mileage if you’re into that (weirdo). Rarely if ever do we espouse the number of airbags or computer-designed crumple zones in our backyard BBQ braggadocio over the purchase of a car. Do you think that should change? Image: ISeeCars