In what can only be described as a case for Captain Obvious, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has just released a report that shows the reduced crash worthiness of smaller, subcompact cars compared to larger, midsize cars.
According to the report, "The Honda Fit, Smart Fortwo, and Toyota Yaris are good performers in the Institute's frontal offset barrier test, but all three are poor performers in the frontal collisions with midsize cars. These results reflect the laws of the physical universe, specifically principles related to force and distance."
Ah yes, those annoying laws of the physical universe, not much we can do about those.
IL News: Small Cars Don't Protect as Well as Well in Collisions
IIHS: New Tests Demonstrate the Influence of Size and Weight
festiboi1 says:
07:50 AM, 04/14/09
Great, these tests will start a hysteria to buy bigger SUV's and cars again.
I've always had small cars; a Metro, Aspire, Justy, Elantra, Aveo, and Escort, and will continue owning them. These are the best cars on an everyday basis to own because they save me money and are easy to park anywhere in the city. People always ask if I'm worried about getting into a crash, and blantant answer is "no". The best defense is a good driver behind the wheel, and I can't keep worrying about what could happen. If you worry about life too much, you'll never get out alive. Although gruesome, I've always joked that my demise would probably be very quick if it ever happened, unlike the other driver who may be unlucky enough to survive and be in agony.
carlisimo says:
09:24 AM, 04/14/09
Very few crashes are head-on collisions; most fatal crashes are single-vehicle accidents and most of the fatal two-vehicle collisions are from the side. So keep these results in perspective.
kurtamaxxxguy says:
10:06 AM, 04/14/09
While the laws of physics cannot be changed, small cars can be made safer than present with better choice of steels/composites and more robust cage designs. Seam or stitch welding (VW uses this is many of their vehicles) will add more strength to existing structures.
Yes, these improvements will make small cars somewhat more expensive. But small cars are usually cheaper to run, and easier to deal with in urban settings.
jederino says:
10:58 AM, 04/14/09
I just watched the ridiculous tv ad for the new F-150 pickup, suggesting "It's Certifiably mad out there" 'cause the guy next to you is eating a cheeseburger while chatting on the phone. Remedy: buy the biggest truck you can find!
Of course, if you get to the bottom of the IIHS news release, they propose a return to 55 mph, citing its proven safety of over 2,000 lives per year. And fuel economy. It's gonna happen. The positive side is that small cars will be even more competitive, because all that weight and power means little at moderate speeds. The downside: speeders in small cars will still be at a disadvantage when they crash all by themselves.
bc1960 says:
02:21 PM, 04/14/09
Wait, are the labels on the photo from the IIHS, or added by IL? Because while the Fit is colliding with the Accord, the Accord is colliding with the Fit. Crash an Accord into an Accord and the picture looks a little different; it's going to do better than the Fit, but not as well as this.
Collision deaths, particularly per miles driven, have been falling fairly consistently for decades, even as vehicles were downsized during the 1976-1986 period and then grew again over the next two decades. The aggregate cost of all the safety equipment now required by law has a fairly modest benefit/cost ratio, even if you assign rather high value to each life saved, because collision deaths are relatively rare, although lurid. The IIHS is concerned with minimizing its members' costs and maximizing its members' profits; it doesn't consider what the automobile safety's overall cost and value to society is.
The proportion of smaller vehicles in the nation's fleet is going to rise, and average vehicle size is going to decrease, but I doubt that carnage on the highways is going to increase much, if at all.
estreka says:
05:49 PM, 04/14/09
Isn't the "average" car on the road the Ford F-150? It doesn't matter what kind of car you're driving, a truck will just monster-truck you.