Stopping distance on a Smart from 70mph, 167 feet; H2, 200 feet (Car & Driver).
Backing up over small children? Pints of blood for oil? Target cross section?
How about as a starter vehicle for teenagers? The more passengers a a teen driver has, the more likely the drive is to do something stupid. (google "teen driver passengers and accidents and CDC")
How about the golden rule - "do unto others" - how much more likely is a SUV driver going to kill someone else than Smart driver?
Define safe.
I think it depends on the vehicle and the driver. It has been statistically proven that riding the school bus is the safest way to school. And trust me, its not because its big and yellow. No one pays any attention to the 37 foot long, 12 ft high twinkie going down the road. Thats the excuse everyone uses when they hit them. But the driver is usually high trained. They are also designed to get hit. They are tall so vehicles slide under the children, and there are support braces along the sides and back. It all depends on the vehicle it self. If hummers were designed like smarts are, then a blanket statement like "bigger is safer" would be more true. There are pics on this site where a smart totaled a pick up. Smart sustained little damage.
LDGSmart, I mean no offense by saying this, but when has our society cared about others? SUVs became popular not because the people who purchased them needed to carry as much stuff as the massive vehicles could hold, but rather to show off their money and "personal" safety. Automotive companies kept upping how well massive vehicles do in crash tests, because there is so much crumple zone area and room for things to move compared to smaller cars. The truth is that a bigger vehicle with the same safety standards would win against a smaller vehicle with otherwise same safety standards. The problem is that we have gotten too big, but it seems like this fad may finally be dying off...dealerships around her are practically handing SUVs and trucks away...I saw an 07 Land Rover for sale with no issues whatsoever with it and under 20K miles for 5K the other day...why so low...cause no one wants them. After years of SUVs pouring onto the showroom floors there has finally come a day when people dont want them so there are hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of SUVs new and used rotting away. Car companies for the most part were all caught with their pants down not ready for the oil prices to go up soo fast. It takes years to produce a car from scratch and car companies just havent had the chance to make small cars yet. I give it another 5 years with economic trends staying on track with were they are today and I can imagine that we will be seeing many many more small cars driving down the road. Heck, even the smart cars engine is a horrible design...why are people so upset by the fuel economy in this car, its because we know the dinky engine should get better fuel economy...but for now we dont have any other options out there. My 10 year old car regularly gets 37MPG combined and easily gets into the 40s without much effort. I understand that standards have changed in ten years, but so has technology. It will take car companies to stop worrying about the fastest and focus more on the most economic means of driving from point A to point B for things to finally change.
jediknight36 a vehicles ability to sustain injury and a person within the vehicle are two totally separate things. A human body can only handle a certain amount of rapid acceleration and deceleration without succumbing to death. What is happening on the inside of the car is what really matters...if a larger car has more room to crumple it has more energy being dispensed on the vehicle rather than the body of the driver. Smart cars as much as I love them...dont have room for crumpling much. Smart cars are undoubtably safe, but to say they are going around killing cars like wrecking balls in accidents is just silly
jediknight36 a vehicles ability to sustain injury and a person within the vehicle are two totally separate things. A human body can only handle a certain amount of rapid acceleration and deceleration without succumbing to death. What is happening on the inside of the car is what really matters...if a larger car has more room to crumple it has more energy being dispensed on the vehicle rather than the body of the driver. Smart cars as much as I love them...dont have room for crumpling much. Smart cars are undoubtably safe, but to say they are going around killing cars like wrecking balls in accidents is just silly
Hey, Im not making it up. Its on this website. Truth is, comparing the safety of a smart to that of a hummer is comparing apples to oranges. The smart is more maneuverable and will always stop faster. You are not taking any of that into account.
Last edited by jediknight36; 09-18-2008 at 11:49 AM.
I am taking the maneuverability into account...you were taking about "when an impact happens"...not the ability to avoid an impact...there is no real way to test maneuverability beyond lane change speed and braking speed as they are going to change from driver to driver. The issue at hand was if a bigger car could take on a smaller car...you mentioned the smarts ability to wreck a truck and failed to notice the issue of a intact car in an accident means the force of energy had to go somewhere, i.e. the human is going to take the blunt. Believe me, I love small maneuverable car...always have...but as far as actual crashes...a larger/heavier car is safer (in the instance of a crash)
jediknight36 a vehicles ability to sustain injury and a person within the vehicle are two totally separate things. A human body can only handle a certain amount of rapid acceleration and deceleration without succumbing to death. What is happening on the inside of the car is what really matters...if a larger car has more room to crumple it has more energy being dispensed on the vehicle rather than the body of the driver. Smart cars as much as I love them...dont have room for crumpling much. Smart cars are undoubtably safe, but to say they are going around killing cars like wrecking balls in accidents is just silly
Ok, one reason I posted the picture above is due to so many ppl lacking what the smart is made like. Ok, yeah, if I am doing 70 and smack a wall, my insides will friggin go the way side. But, if you have read and researched as I have, the smart is a 'WALL' in the car wreck and the other car is the crumple zone. I looked up smart car crashes and got all kinds of stuff from around the world. One, being a smart car rearended in Mexico by a Chevy Malabu at 115mph. Ya, 115mph. Well, to say the least the smart fared real well, the Malabu, well, it's frontend was totalled, and the driver was banged up real good. Thus the CRUMPLE ZONE. I even seen a picture of a HONDA CIVIC crushed between two rigs. Guess what. I think the smart would hold up a lot better in that situation. If you watch that British car crash into the wall with a smart at 70mph, you would not live even though the car did. I am not worried about ME hitting a frickin wall. I have never had a wreck I caused and only been ran off the road one time in over 25 years of driving. So, my likely car accident would be one where I am sitting at a stop light, get rearended, thus my ORGANS would be fine. If I get hit from the side, it is likely due to a red light runner and I never just go running out across the intersection like MOST ppl do. I look as the light changes to see what is going on. One reason ppl die or even get in car wrecks is because they are smoking, on cell phones or putting on makeup and not doing the most important thing. "PAYING ATTENTION"
Here is the mexican car I told you about. Scroll down and look at the picture and also read the guys info first hand.
I am taking the maneuverability into account...you were taking about "when an impact happens"...not the ability to avoid an impact...there is no real way to test maneuverability beyond lane change speed and braking speed as they are going to change from driver to driver. The issue at hand was if a bigger car could take on a smaller car...you mentioned the smarts ability to wreck a truck and failed to notice the issue of a intact car in an accident means the force of energy had to go somewhere, i.e. the human is going to take the blunt. Believe me, I love small maneuverable car...always have...but as far as actual crashes...a larger/heavier car is safer (in the instance of a crash)
I have had whiplash in every instance I was in a wreak in a larger vehicle. Never in the smaller one. I was hit by a semi truck and drug for half a mile and I fared just fine. If I was sitting up 5 in higher, I would not be here. You cannot prove bigger is always better.
Bigger is safer? How about an armored personal carrier?
It is terrible on gas but not much will be able to harm you either.
Here is one called the Stryker. It is probably more road ready and faster.
There is a good example of bigger is safer! Abrams are fun to operate too. Not to fun to drive, but to operate. If you see any rolling down your street, get out of dodge quick.
Bottom line folks, if everyone would stop being in such a hurry to get everywhere there would be fewer wrecks for us to talk about. There would also be fewer wrecks if people paid attention to what they are doing, which should be driving and not talking on the cell phone or texting.
It looks like from the picture that the school bus may have been stopped and the Hummer was traveling more than 40 MPH. I don't know, I didn't investigate this wreck.
This is what a Hummer H3 looks like after hitting a solid object at 40 MPH:
H2 or H3, irrelevant. We can prove that speed was a contributory factor. As to what else caused at Hummer H2 or H3 to hit a bus that may have been stopped, I don't know but I can say that I do not think the driver of the Hummer was practicing safe driving habits.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has pics of the Smart ForTwo crash test on their website. While they did give it a "Good" rating and the Hummer H3 an "Acceptable", they slammed the Smart for a high probability of head injury.
In 2006, there were 42,642 people that were killed in the United States as a result of traffic accidents. Compare that to the 47,424 combat deaths in the years of the Vietnam war (1957-1973). Traffic accidents don't "just happen", they happen because someone screwed up and made a bad decision. Sometimes when people make bad decisions, bad things happen and someone gets hurt or killed.
Please choose good driving habits in what ever vehicle you think is safest.
Mike
The AutoGuide.com network consists of the largest network of enthusiast-owned enthusiast-operated automotive communities.
AutoGuide.com provides the latest car reviews, auto show coverage, new car prices, and automotive news. The AutoGuide network operates more than 100 automotive forums where our users consult peers for shopping information and advice, and share opinions as a community.
Big Red
R2-D2 42
Today
Linear Mode
