Mini and Microcar Bumpers Can't Stand Up

[BigWarpGuy]

Mini and microcar bumpers allow pricey damage;
none of the 7 tested rates good under new system

Bumper performance in low-speed crash tests:
VEHICLE REPAIR COSTS

Rating

Front
full

Front
corner

Rear
full

Rear
corner

WEIGHTED
AVERAGE

Smart Fortwo

ACCEPTABLE

$1,480

$663

$631

$507

$899

Chevrolet Aveo

MARGINAL

$1,071

$1,437

$1,370

$612

$1,155

Mini Cooper

POOR

$2,291

$2,637

$929

$743

$1,637

Toyota Yaris

POOR

$1,688

$1,167

$3,345

$474

$1,951

Honda Fit

POOR

$1,124

$1,216

$3,648

$999

$1,960

Hyundai Accent

POOR

$3,476

$839

$2,057

$831

$2,123

Kia Rio

POOR

$3,701

$1,758

$3,148

$773

$2,705

It seems the Smart Fortwo had done better than the other ones. It is the only one with 'acceptable'.

[rfernatt]

Originally Posted by BigWarpGuy

It seems the Smart Fortwo had done better than the other ones. It is the only one with 'acceptable'.

Since no car tested by IIHS has been rated good and the smart is one of only three cars including the Ford Focus and Scion xB to get acceptable, I'd say we're sitting pretty good. The news media failed to mention this fact though.

I did get a NY Tiimes site to update their info (see end of article and comments):
Small Cars Have a Big Bumper Problem - Wheels Blog - NYTimes.com

[BigWarpGuy]

It is a shame they did not call before doing the article. I am glad you had them check it out.

[gbryers]

And at the bottom of the article, added in after the fact (I think), is the following, that throw an even better light on the smart:
"Updated: June 11, 2009, 3:17 p.m. As the reader Robert pointed out, none of the 49 vehicles that the institute ran through bumper tests this year have received a Good rating, and only three received an Acceptable. A call to the institute confirmed those numbers. For more details, go here."

[Padawan]

Originally Posted by rfernatt

Since no car tested by IIHS has been rated good and the smart is one of only three cars including the Ford Focus and Scion xB to get acceptable, I'd say we're sitting pretty good. The news media failed to mention this fact though.

Exactly. Just goes to show how the media can conveniently omit facts or data in order to give an article a certain spin. It seems that lately everyone is trying to convince the general public just how "bad" small and mini cars are, but their arguments are almost always severely flawed.

Most people depend upon the media for their information, and if they didn't dig a bit deeper, they'd be left thinking that their (fill in the blank) was surely rated higher than those super tiny "death traps on wheels".

[BigWarpGuy]

The Smart is in the elite group of cars.