"Smart car"...

[firedome]

"No car ever built was repairable in a 30 mph collision into a solid object."

Likely true, but I don't care about the car. Instrumented testing has demonstrated that you might well survive in the right vehicle, but that category would not include a "Smart" car.

As always YMMV, drive what you want folks, but economy won't do you much good when you're dead. That's false economy if ever there was such.

 

[firedome]

more facts from IIHS

https://www.iihs.org/topics/vehicle-size-and-weight

"Kia Sorento vs. Kia Forte and Toyota Avalon vs. Toyota Yaris iA
In the first of the two demonstration tests, a used 2016 Kia Sorento, a midsize SUV, and a 2018 Kia Forte, a small car, collided with each other. In the second test, a used 2015 Toyota Avalon, a large car, was paired with a 2018 Toyota Yaris iA, a minicar. Both the Sorento and the Avalon are among the IIHS Best Choices for teens. The Forte and the Yaris iA have good ratings in the five IIHS tests relevant to driver protection, and the Forte is a 2018 TOP SAFETY PICK+ winner.

In each test, the vehicles traveled toward each other at 40 mph, with 50 percent of the smaller vehicle's width overlapping the larger vehicle.

Forces on the driver dummies in the smaller vehicles were much greater than those in the larger vehicles. Measurements indicated a high likelihood of head injuries for the driver of both the Yaris iA and the Forte in a real-world crash of the same severity. Right leg injuries would be likely in the Forte and possible in the Yaris iA. Neck and chest injuries would also be possible for drivers of both vehicles, and left leg injuries would be possible in the Forte.

In contrast, the Avalon and Sorento had mostly good injury measures, aside from a possible right leg injury in both.

The structures of the Forte, which weighs 928 pounds less than the Sorento, and the Yaris iA, which weighs 1,033 pounds less than the Avalon, didn't hold up as well against the larger vehicles as in the car-to-barrier tests on which IIHS ratings are based."

Etc etc.
The Laws of Physics cannot be repealed, just another inconvenient fact.

 

[firedome]

oh and btw:

Engineering is the application of the Laws of Physics.
Within the parameters of weight and structure a vehicle can be made only so safe:

P = M x V... momentum P is directly proportional to the object's mass (M) and velocity (V).
Engineering can't change collision V, but M varies depending on vehicle choice. Within a given M a structure can only designed so much to absorb P.

The fatality-proof car has not been made, but choices can determine the odds,
this is the point. Ignore it at your peril.

 

[henene4]

Ok, so

First off, it appears to argue with "Drive a heavy car, it will kill the others, not you!".

Which is so typical of people driving their huge SUVs without a thought.

Momentum has 0 meaning in any regard to driver safety though.

Force is mass times acceleration.
Force is what kills you.
Mass is your body weight.
Acceleration is how much your car slows down per time.

The reason a heavy car safes you there is that if your car collides with a lighter car, your car has more momentum and just ploughs through the other car.

As soon as the other car is as heavy, or it isn't a car you collide with, well, tough luck!

Again, a typical American thinking.

We could make things truely safe and give such weapons to no one - or we could argue that if everyone had such heavy machinery everyone would be equally unsafe, and those without it - well it's their fault.

Next argument against any of you is the number of traffic deaths.

In the US, 14,3 people per 100k die in traffic accidents.
In Germany, it is 4.

So what is the reason for that?
Well, infrastructure, mainly, yes.

But, you know, cars aren't the only part of traffic. I know, shocking, isn't it?
Cause per billion km, the US has fewer occupant deaths!
So you are right, aren't you?

Well, you are in a way. If YOU want to be safe and that is all you care about that is great, get a Semi. Or a tank!

If you want traffic to be safe, saying a Smart car is unsafe is the stupidest thing one can say.

Sure if a truck rams you, you are gone.
In most any other situation, you are perfectly safe.

We could further go into roll-over safety, road wear, deaths due to pollution, etc.

Selecting your data to suit your argument and disregarding all context will always be more comfortable than changing your opinion.

 

[henene4]

To make my point

A VW Polo: 96% in tests for grown up occupants.
https://www.adac.de/rund-ums-fahrzeug/autokatalog/crashtest/details/649/vw-polo/

A VW Up!: 89%
https://www.adac.de/rund-ums-fahrzeug/autokatalog/crashtest/details/372/vw-up/

A Yaris: 86%
https://www.adac.de/rund-ums-fahrzeug/autokatalog/crashtest/details/754/toyota-yaris/

And then heavy cars:

A Ford Kuga: 92%
https://www.euroncap.com/en/results/ford/kuga/39116

An Audi A6: 93%
https://www.adac.de/rund-ums-fahrzeug/autokatalog/crashtest/details/684/audi-a6/

VW Touareg: 89%
https://www.euroncap.com/en/results/vw/touareg/33478

In the same tests, in the same conditions, there is no correlation between weight, size, and safety.

The only time size is safety is if it is unsafe for the other party.

 

[bradfordwhite]

There are all kinds of made up facts to support driving gas guzzling, expensive to insure, and just generally more expensive vehicles.
That's a no brainer that seems to elude a lot Americans. Why?

I, as a genuine American, born and raised on this land.... that White settlers stole from the Native Americans.... am in my 50s and have nearly always drove what in this country is oddly referred to as a "compact" or "SUB-compact" car. Known in places like the UK as a typical/normal size car.
Things like a Honda Civic hatchback, Honda Civic DX 4 door, Ford Escort 2-door, 2007 Kia Rio (fun and cute car).

I've driven my fair share of miles, typically 15k a year.
Of the few accidents I've been in in the last 35+ years, happened when I was young and inexperienced, and doing something stupid like inattentive driving.

People in Europe, the UK, and just about every other country on the planet manage to drive compact and sub compact cars without any problems.

Why is that only delusional "Americans" have these weird fantasies that trucking around in 4-8000 pounds of recycled, gas-guzzling, over-priced steel-plastic-and- glass think they are some how desirable?
Why do they seem to block out how irresponsible that is to the environment and to other drivers?

One thing is good about those kinds of people is they are also a threat to themselves. The absolutely ridiculous prices that some dealerships have tried to get for junk vehicles and the stupid people who ACTUALLY bought into that crap has now spawned a repossession epidemic.  The banks that went along with financing all that crap see what's coming.  They are going to be left with the damages.   There is a whole crop of people who have tens of thousands of negative equity on junk vehicles...just amazes me.

 

 

 

 

[kenwashesmonday]

Years ago, my 2600 pound 1968 Rambler American was T-boned by a full size International Harvester school bus, and I was pushed sideways about 40 feet. I drove home, but the bus had to be towed because the bumper was pushed into the front tire. Of course my car wasn't worth fixing because the B-pillar was trashed, but that lightweight AMC unibody sure protected me from any harm.

I've noticed that most of the huge pickup trucks they sell today do very poorly in crash tests compared to cars that are much smaller and lighter.