Due to flimsy frames and heftier curb weights, convertibles have become an easy target for car enthusiasts to throw shade at over the years, but it turns out that this might help safety ratings.
A recent study conducted by America's Insurance Institute of Highway Safety shows that what convertibles may lack in the performance areas, in theory, they make up for in safety.
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Despite these findings, the author of the study, Eric Teoh, explains that safety on paper is a lot different to real-world occupant protection, and this data should be taken with a grain of salt.
When looking at NHTSA data from 2014-2018, which included 1-5 year-old coupes and their droptop counterparts, these convertibles had 6 per cent fewer police-reported incidents.
Despite the higher likelihood of a driver or passenger being ejected during a collision, occupant fatality rates were 11 per cent lower in the convertible than the coupe per mile travelled.
This then raises the question of why — and how is it possible that a roofless car is safer than a coupe? Teoh speculates that this is down to convertible drivers, being less aggressive behind the wheel.
Also noted in the IIHS study is that having a roof makes injuries less likely. Over in America, roof-crush testing is becoming more stringent, and convertibles and exempt from these tests for obvious reasons.
On top of this, the report explains "convertibles have remained a low priority for the [crash] testing program due to their small sales volumes."
Fixed or pop-up roll bars are standard on almost every single convertible sold these days, which are designed to prevent occupant injury or death in a rollover, but don't really compare to the safety of a fixed roof.
So on paper, convertibles may be safer, but don't go bragging too loudly about this, as fixed-roof vehicles are almost always going to offer more protection in any sort of incident.