đź“° Auto News IIHS on the Smart ForTwo: Officially Safe?

Bru

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From KickingTires by Jim Mateja:

http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2008/05/iihs-on-the-sma.html#more

You can call the Smart ForTwo cute and cuddly, but can you call it safe? That's the word many consumers have been waiting to hear based on the car's petite size.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety crash tested the 1,800-pound Smart ForTwo, and it earned the agency’s highest rating, Good, in front and side impacts. Its seats and head restraints earned IIHS' second-highest rating, Acceptable, for protection in rear impacts.

But IIHS president Adrian Lund stopped short of saying the Smart is safe.

"Among the smallest cars, the Smart engineers did their homework and designed a high level of safety into a small package," he said.

Even so, while small cars are safer than ever, Lund said, "the risk of death is higher in crashes of smaller, lighter models. All things being equal, bigger and heavier is better."

In front crash tests, the ForTwo bounced off a barricade like a pinball and could have crossed into another lane of traffic to be struck again. Lund said that because there isn’t a lot of frontal crush space, the Smart is very stiff to prevent intrusion into the passenger compartment. Because of that, it will bounce off what it hits in an impact.

"There's an added risk of bouncing off and striking something else,” he said. “If it runs into a larger and heavier Chevy Tahoe at 40 mph, the Smart is going to bounce off. But while bouncing is a risk, we don't know where it might bounce. We do know the clearer and greater risk is its size and weight -- you can put two Smarts in the space it takes to park one Town Car.”

Where Smart comes up short is in front-end crush space, which gives the driver more time and room to slow down in a frontal impact to prevent injury. Essentially, the safety belts and airbags have to work harder to protect occupants than they would if the car had a few more feet of crumple space in front of the occupants.

While a favorable crash rating was supposed to vindicate Smart for its size, Lund said that if you’re looking for a small, high-mileage car to counter high gas prices, "you don't have to choose the smallest, lightest car.”

“The Toyota Prius gets better mileage (than Smart), earns good front and side crash ratings, and is bigger and weighs more, so we'd expect it would be more protective in serious crashes," Lund said.

IIHS classifies the ForTwo as “micro” because it's smaller than a conventional minicar. It’s 3 feet shorter and 700 pounds lighter than a Mini Cooper.

My opinion: You can't beat physics. Yeah, the occupant is safe after the initial crash, but once you get thrown into the other lane and hit by other car, the airbags aren't going to re-deploy and the crumple zone is already smashed.
 

Dasfinc

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have u seen a smart car in person? its like the size of the playschool red and yellow car from our childhood

There was a yellow one on the road with a little asian guy in it the other day while I was in my focus. It looked like it was as tall as my focus, and maybe 2/3rds the length if that. I can't imagine its that much smaller than the civic though.
 

Bru

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It's considerably smaller than your Civic. I don't remember what year yours is, but a 1997 Civic hatch is 164.5-inches-long overall, and the Smart is 106.

Funny thing is, a Civic hatch will likely get the same fuel economy.
 

Dasfinc

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It's considerably smaller than your Civic. I don't remember what year yours is, but a 1997 Civic hatch is 164.5-inches-long overall, and the Smart is 106.

Funny thing is, a Civic hatch will likely get the same fuel economy.

My old 8 valve motor got 44mpg on the freeway, my B18B swap with me beating on it and with a bad O2 sensor is still averaging 28mpg, I'm sure once I replace the O2, and beat on it a little less it will be getting well over 35mpg.

My biggest fear is seeing those things on the freeway, They look like a good breeze could knock it over.
 

Bru

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Smart is rated at 33/41 mpg city/highway.

Personally, I'd rather have a compact car like the Civic, Corolla, Focus or Cobalt before I get into a Smart. I would sacrifice a few MPG for a more complete car around me.
 

Yaj Yak

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Smart is rated at 33/41 mpg city/highway.

Personally, I'd rather have a compact car like the Civic, Corolla, Focus or Cobalt before I get into a Smart. I would sacrifice a few MPG for a more complete car around me.



exactly.

crashing a smart car into the caddy would be like a fat woman sitting on a poodle. the poodle would no longer be a poodle, as the smart car would no longer be a smart car.
 

Dasfinc

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