Humvee aint so tough

[smartHHO]

Now here is one for you. When everyone talks the trash about how safer a Humvee is compared to a smart car. Ya ok, sure, what about this picture. School bus looks safer then a hummer

[smartHHO]

smart car vs SUV in germany. Stupid driver, but one tough car.

smart vs M-Class - Germany on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

and vs truck

http://jalopnik.com/389911/smart-for...eturned-by-van

[Dunerunner]

That's an H3, mostly a plastic wrap on a Suburban Frame! Looks like the passenger compartment is now the engine compartment. Damn!!

[jediknight36]

I used to be a school bus driver (until 3 months ago) and thats why buses are so high. Not one kid got hurt, Im sure. Smart could drive right under! JK.

[the_dude]

Originally Posted by Dunerunner

That's an H3, mostly a plastic wrap on a Suburban Frame! Looks like the passenger compartment is now the engine compartment. Damn!!

it's an h2, but otherwise, yeah...

[SuperGeek]

You'd think they'd design the H2 and H3 with a serious "roll cage" like the Smart has, as in, able to withstand twice the weight or more... those things are so freaking heavy I can't imagine surviving a rollover in a Hummer.

I'm pretty sure the Smart would have hit the rigid part of the bus at the midle of the Tridion and just stopped cold. No crumple zones, really, but then again at that height you don't want a crumple zone, you want last-ditch effort to prevent entry into the passenger compartment. Buses need to have a low-hanging rear shield if they don't already... like some trucks do. Maybe they already do and the 50 ton Hummer just plowed through it.

[nscaler]

I'm a school bus driver. We have over 500 buses and not one has a lower bumper. The conventional buses have a higher rear end (like in the picture) where the transit style has a lower bumper. Only problem is the transit style school bus starts at 10 tons - empty. If you hit the frame, there is no give at all. The bus kind of shakes and you say "Was that an earthquake?" Then you notice, maybe... the car behind you. The bus is 8 feet wide and you can't see behind the bus very well.
Just like the crazy people who change lanes right in front of you and then slow down. No bus or 18 wheeler stops very well. Over 300 feet to stop at 55 mph.

End of rant.

[saskdiesel]

Thats no humvee.
And if your Smart hit the bus that hard you would be history.......

[pabille]

smart vs M-Class - Germany on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

There is a MB dealer out here in Southern California (Fletcher Jones) that is not a Smart dealer and is running a TV ad professing the safety of their SUVs over smaller more gas saving sedans and coupes. They say that family safety in one of their bigger SUVs is more important than the gas savings of a compact car. It didn't quite work, huh?

[saskdiesel]

As a forensic (Police) photographer/investigator who has been to many, many fatal MVA's and the subsequent autopsies I have this to say.
A bigger vehicle is safer, without a doubt. No contest.
Now, with smaller vehicles and the Smart in particular, you can die just as easy and the amount of damage on the vehicle does not necessarily mean minor injuries.
The intrusion into the vehicle seems to be the way an on-looker may access the severity of the collision. However the amount of force on deceleration suffered by the occupants is the killer.
I have seem far to many dead people who appear otherwise intact except for torn aorta's, hearts and lungs.
Its quite sad really. Especially when the vehicle seems to have only a minor intrusion or nothing at all.