Car seat?

[CruisingAZ]

Originally Posted by smartindy

My wife is also pregnant but we don't plan on carrying the baby in the Smart, it will be primarily a commuter car for me or for my wife to drive if I have to pick up the baby on that particular day. We will use our Scion xB for all baby carrying.

I wouldn't put much more confidence in the xB either, my daughter hit one doing 30 mph and totaled the xB, the baby in the Scion went to the hospital for a check up but was not injured.


You can see that even though the xB was hit low it bent the frame and buckled the passenger compartment (left rear door).

[Dave777]

I don't understand your post about the xB. If it was hit by your daughter, going 30 MPH, and that's all the damage it has, I'd say that's pretty good. And if the baby was uninjured, I'd say that's also good.

[CruisingAZ]

Originally Posted by Dave777

I don't understand your post about the xB. If it was hit by your daughter, going 30 MPH, and that's all the damage it has, I'd say that's pretty good. And if the baby was uninjured, I'd say that's also good.

They TOTALED the xB!

[SmartAzz]

Ouch, that is not good. I had 92 Prelude that held up better then that when in a worse accident.

[dmwery]

Originally Posted by CruisingAZ

They TOTALED the xB!

I also think that's pretty good. Totalled only means the car repair costs would exceed the replacement cost. It looks like the car adsorbed the force not the baby. I can get my insurance company to replace the car.......

[SmartAzz]

Originally Posted by dmwery

I also think that's pretty good. Totalled only means the car repair costs would exceed the replacement cost. It looks like the car adsorbed the force not the baby. I can get my insurance company to replace the car.......

To each his own, but IMHO when the passenger compartment is compromised in a low speed collision the car is not well made/designed. Can't imagine it would do well at all in a more major accident. I wonder whey the xb was not designed to absorb the impact better at the rear and deform more there, where it was impacted, vs. bending up at the door frame closer to the occupants.

See, that's where I actually think the front seats are safer then the rear seats especially in a coupe, where if the rear portion of the car and passenger compartment deformed it could be tough to extract anyone from the back seats. Rear passenger crash protection never seems to rate as well as for the front occupants, probably especially true in small hatches where there is no trunk for additional energy absorption. At least the Smart has its robust little tridion cell - might not be the most impact absorbing crumple zone car, but it has the strong bones around the occupants and airbags.

[eqwalker]

Agreed. It is surprising to me that it damaged it that bad at the locations that it did.

[CruisingAZ]

Originally Posted by eqwalker

Agreed. It is surprising to me that it damaged it that bad at the locations that it did.

Thank you, that was the point I was trying to get across, I did not mean to imply that any harm should come to the pasengers, only that the low speed collision should not cause that much damage and if it does the car is not well made. My daughter drove the Camry home.

[Robbie51]

Originally Posted by CruisingAZ

They TOTALED the xB!

I think what he's trying to say is that even though it was totaled at low mph, (which stinks), at least no one was killed. Looks like someone may have been side tracked being that it was rear ended. Just be thankful your daughter didn't really hurt someone. Can you imagine how that would make her feel???

[Dave777]

Not to belabor the point, but I find it hard to believe that the impact was at 30 MPH and the Scion had no more damage than that and the Camry was able to be driven home. Maybe a 5 or 10 MPH impact?

We've all see the crash tests of cars hitting other cars or walls at 35 MPH and none of them are able to be driven home.

I understand the point that the Scion was badly damaged and the Camry not so much, but IMHO, that is not a 30 MPH crash.