NHTSA safety test

[jjr_vw]

This was on CNN today:

http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/03/auto...ion=2008040315

could be old news to everybody here

[BandSofC]

That's news to me. Good thing I'm the driver.

[Steven79]

ouch... not good news.

i wonder if this is going to effect insurance rates?

[SmartAzz]

Maybe this should be combined with the other thread regarding the results.

In this article I find this statement interesting:

"For rollover resistance, the ForTwo earned three stars. No other passenger car - a group that excludes trucks, vans and SUVs - has a rollover rating below four stars, according to NHTSA."

I think the star rating is very confusing, because just looking at that, as most people will, it infers that the car does not do well *in* a rollover accident - it is not clear that they are grading the resistance. There is a big difference in that discrepancy, most SUVs do not only rollover easier then lower cars but the roof strength is not up to bearing the weight and impact and I doubt this is the same for the Smart. It really seems almost deliberately obtuse when you just see "Rollover 3 stars". Of course a small high light car will rollover easier then a heavy low car - the info they should be putting out there is how will you fair if it does?

[SmartAzz]

Its frustrating to see such scattershot articles with varying degrees of info stating things like the door opened during the crash when it actually unlatched afterwards from the look of it (and not addressing the related issues of locked or unlocked, seat belts etc) The overall tone they are choosing is negative whereas the results are actually very good, esp given that its a micro car

[Steven79]

lol at least its safer than a motorcycle. sigh....

[saronian]

Since 99% of drivers will never be in a life threatening accident the importance is exaggerated in my opinion. Yet, considering the average age of most registered vehicles, the smart is probably safer than 90% of the cars on the road. I don't feel any special vulnerability based on the crash test results.

[SmartDigger]

I wonder how it stacked up to other cars in its class ( kinda anyway) like the yaris and other cars with 14 inch tires?

[msjohnson1974]

I like to believe in this little thing called "Defensive Driving" for my safety. Not sure how they test rollover resistance but after driving a Jeep and an Explorer I've learned not to make sudden swerving motions.

[MP3SMART]

Originally Posted by Steven79

lol at least its safer than a motorcycle. sigh....

That makes the SMART 4 stars better than any of my other three vehicles. For me thats perfection on a relative basis.