Car options: Value added, or not

The right options make your car safer and more valuable. The wrong ones just make it more expensive.

By Sam Grobart, Money magazine senior editor

Side airbags, especially ones like these that include protection for occupants' heads, significantly reduce the risk of death and serious injury from side impacts. They are standard equipment on many cars, including the Volvo C30, for which a mock-up is shown here.

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Must-have

Side airbags

Front air bags get all the cool crash-test footage, but side air bags are no less important for occupant safety. There are two basic types of side air bags: ones that protect the head (side-curtain air bags) and ones that protect the chest (side-torso air bags). A car can have curtain air bags, torso air bags or a combination of the two.

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, side-curtain bags have reduced driver deaths in side collisions by 37 percent. Side-torso bags have reduced driver fatalities 26 percent. Since 1999 a voluntary standard has minimized any risk side air bags posed to children; go to safercar.gov to see if your model meets that standard.

Side air bags will add around $600 to your negotiated price but, really, is this an area of the car where you want to be cheap?

The Verdict: The more your car looks like it was attacked by the Stay Puft marshmallow man in the event of a crash, the better off you'll be. Spend the money.