Smart car crash test

The Smart car is getting a lot of attention for its small size and style, and now it's earning impressive crash test ratings. In recent Insurance Institute for Highway Safety tests, the 2008 Smart Fortwo, the smallest car for sale in the US market, earned the top rating of good for front and side crash protection. Its seat/head restraints earned the second highest rating of acceptable for protection against whiplash in rear impacts.

Smart Fortwo is classified a microcar, meaning it's smaller even than minicars. Weighing about 1,800 pounds, the Smart is more than 3 feet shorter and almost 700 pounds lighter than a Mini Cooper. It weighs about a third as much as one of the heaviest vehicles the Institute has tested, the BMW X5, a midsize SUV. As the price of fuel climbs and tougher federal fuel economy requirements kick in, auto companies are expected to introduce more small vehicles to the market. The Smart is the smallest car the Institute ever has tested.

"The big question from consumers is, 'How safe is it?'", says Institute president Adrian Lund. "All things being equal in safety, bigger and heavier is always better. But among the smallest cars, the engineers of the Smart did their homework and designed a high level of safety into a very small package."

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• 2008
• smart
• car
• crash
• test

[MrScrewloose22]

@warset

Absolutely false!

Real World accidents prove the smart car to be the safest small car made!

Proof is at safeandsmartdotcom.

65mph head-on into a stopped truck- Karen WALKS AWAY with just a busted wrist!

Or- F150 doing 45mph T-bones a smart car. Truck is TOTALED.. folds like an accordion against the smart's strong roll cage. People in Smart car are just severely bruised!

Run a report at the NHTSA site for more proof!

[eikichi2009]

Dr. Genius' comments appear as logical constructions but they aren't really; perhaps in the short term( think GM) his arguments have some merit, but in the long term his arguments are nonsensical as oil supplies are finite( as well as the biosphere's tolerance of greenhouse gases). Moreover one has to question the wisdom of a selfish philosophy; history has always shown that selfish policies have never been indefinitely sustainable. Keep living in your dreamland Dr. Genius.

[reagirl4505]

I drive a 2009 Smart Car. Last year, I was stopped at a red light when a standard truck hit me going over 30 mph. I was shot across the intersection until my car came to a stop. My car was DRIVABLE, my back was slightly bruised, but the truck was TOTALED. How about that?

[frank8907]

this car is a death trap, the side impact test was at 30mph try that at a normal speed of 55mph good luck...

[counterclockwise123]

@MrScrewloose22 That is bullshit. Any normal sized car would push the "Smart" out of the way like a toy.

[phil8422]

@MrScrewloose22 ABSOLUTELY FALSE! have you ever been to an accident like that? tell you what, if you spend your time on the internet looking for good crash scenarios for smart car youll find them... but in REAL life they suck... and most "small" cars are pieces of shit, its like wining the special Olympics, yeah the smart car is safer... but its still a death trap... they paint the car red inside

[FMXndMXismylife]

@MrScrewloose22 you are stupid the car may stay in tacted but look at picture of peoples body from inside the car, because the car does not give as easily wayyyyy more force on your body resulting in broken bones and internal bleeding.

[hearsedriver1968]

@MrScrewloose22 As a crash investigator, you should really consider your claims. I have in my files no less than 5 cases involving these "toys of the road". Each was a fatal. Three involved midsize vehicals,(Camery), one with a Ford SUV, and one with an MCI Motorbus, of which, thankfully, the operator did not try to swerve, thus endangering the 47 passengers aboard. The driver of the Smart was attempting to operate on snow. Bad Idea, for a bad car.

[highvoltagerocker95]

Now for a coal drag at 20mph

[goregore82]

@MrScrewloose22 of course these stories all come from a biased source. Also when you die in a smart car accident you can't post your story on a web site. Yes it is also true there are other cars out there that get the same if not better gas mileage.

[donnyosmand86]

this car is not safe at all. my friend has a smart car and they got hurt really bad in the crash. :( but if there that small ur going to die if u get in a crash with a van or something like that

[pattycarljackson]

@MrScrewloose22 but as the guy said when the car rebounded violentely in real world crashes if your on a buisy road or highway and you get into an accidrnt sometime other people cant stop fast enough and the car can get hit a few times i saw it and the passenger was thrown from the car and driver was pinned in the car cause it got hit so much