You've probably long suspected that large cars are safer than small cars.
It comes down to basic physics.
Larger cars have more mass and longer hoods to absorb more impact.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety recently decided to see what sort of occupant damage happens when you crash a tiny car into a medium sized car.
They choose three small and fuel efficient cars.
The Honda Fit, Smart Fortwo, and Toyota Yaris, which are all good performers in the Institute's frontal offset barrier test, but all three are poor performers in the frontal collisions with midsize cars.
"There are good reasons people buy minicars," says Institute president
Adrian Lund. "They're more affordable, and they use less gas. But the
safety trade-offs are clear from our new tests. Equally clear are the
implications when it comes to fuel economy. If automakers downsize cars
so their fleets use less fuel, occupant safety will be compromised.
However, there are ways to serve fuel economy and safety at the same
time."
But the statistics prove that small cars, on roads dominated by big cars and SUV's, do much worse in terms of safety. Crash statistics confirm this. The death rate in 1-3-year-old minicars
in multiple-vehicle crashes during 2007 was almost twice as high as the
rate in very large cars.
See for yourself as this Insurance Institute for Highway Safety demonstrates what happens when minicars crash in medium sized cars:
