So..........a friend called me early yesterday morning to tell me that my new smart had made the local news. So I came running out and turned on my TV, only to catch the very last of the video and the comments, which were to the effect that, basically even though the car is rated safe, "we still don't recommend actually driving one on the HIGHWAY"
I was so pissed! PLUS, they did the same thing AGAIN with the side-impact test where they circumvented one of the SAFETY FEATURES of the smart.........the self-locking doors, and then deducted points when the door came unlatched on impact. First of all, if they'd LOCKED the doors, as the car itself does as soon as you start moving, I seriously DOUBT it would have come unlatched!! Secondly, the only thing that the door coming unlatched would affect is if someone wasn't belted in!! Well, DUHHHHH!! If you're STUPID enough to go out in a smart (or any other vehicle, IMHO), and drive without your seat belt fastened, well................what can I say?? Right after I watched this on TV, my wife called me from work to tell me that a lady that she works with had just heard the news on the radio, and that they'd said the smart was totally UNSAFE!! I told her that her friend either completely MISUNDERSTOOD, or completely MISHEARD, or just heard what she EXPECTED to hear!! People are so narrow-minded a lot of times that they are just going to believe that you can't POSSIBLY be safe in anything smaller than the "slightly stripped down, gas-guzzling, Sherman tanks" that a LOT of us Americans currently drive. I work with a guy that has a Ford F-350 on steroids (and payments to match..........more than my mortgage payment!!!), and his big, beautiful truck now sits in his driveway at home, as I'm sure a LOT of others are doing now with fuel prices at $4.00+ a gallon! So maybe we won't HAVE to worry about getting run over by the monster trucks much longer, and we'll ALL be a lot safer and smarter!! I lived in Germany for 3 years, and they mostly drove small cars, and they drove them on the Autobahn at up to 120 mph (or more), and unless I'm mistaken, they have big trucks hauling stuff over there too!! So where's the logic in "It's more suited for around town driving. It's not intended for the highway!" We HAVE to change our mindset here in the states, because we're NEVER going to see fuel again for less than it is now!!!
Thank you for allowing me to VENT about this!! ;)
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