IIHS crash test Mercedes Benz C versus smart car
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It looks to me like there wasn't a lot of passenger compartment intrusion. The door itself stayed on, so tridion structure pretty much kept its shape. The smart dissipates impact energy by rolling and shedding parts, which is what happens in the video.
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I am an official for a motorsport called stage rally (where cars race against the clock on gravel forest roads and such - if you have seen in-car video with two people inside the car and one speaking gibberish to the other, that is stage rally). I have seen many aftermaths of cars hitting trees and rocks, rolling in every axis, etc. I have seen damage on cars where it takes some effort to work out how it happened. I have also seen car damage where if the point of impact were a foot in either direction was the difference between someone likely being seriously injured and walking away. Each IIHS crash tests are one data point. To figure out whether that data point is a good one, they need to be able to reproduce it but that costs too much money.
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I wonder how the test dummies legs faired, in the smart car crash. I wish they would show the dummies injured points.
The small crash overlap test wasn’t available at that time. I pretty sure the smart would have failed. pretty much of all the new cars offered now. Meet that test now.
In the driver-side small overlap front test, a vehicle travels at 40 mph toward a barrier with 25 percent of the vehicle's front end overlapping the barrier. The test mimics what happens when the front driver-side corner of a vehicle collides with another vehicle or with an obstacle such as a tree or utility pole.
The small crash overlap test wasn’t available at that time. I pretty sure the smart would have failed. pretty much of all the new cars offered now. Meet that test now.
In the driver-side small overlap front test, a vehicle travels at 40 mph toward a barrier with 25 percent of the vehicle's front end overlapping the barrier. The test mimics what happens when the front driver-side corner of a vehicle collides with another vehicle or with an obstacle such as a tree or utility pole.
One video doesn’t tell the whole story. Ask many of the owners who owe their lives to the PROVEN safety engineered into a smart.
Our beloved smart was actually rated GOOD by IIHS!
jalopnik.com
Our beloved smart was actually rated GOOD by IIHS!
2008 Smart ForTwo IIHS Crash Test Results In, Little Tyke Did "Good"
Although we've already seen the NHTSA crash tests and the leaked IIHS test video, the official Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) crash test results are finally in for the 2008 Smart ForTwo. It turns out the little bugger did pretty well. IIHS awarded the micro-machine its highest...
jalopnik.com
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What’s strange, the top video, is a 2009 451 IIHS test. Did they change they crash test finding, the following year. Humm?One video doesn’t tell the whole story. Ask many of the owners who owe their lives to the PROVEN safety engineered into a smart.
Our beloved smart was actually rated GOOD by IIHS!
2008 Smart ForTwo IIHS Crash Test Results In, Little Tyke Did "Good"
Although we've already seen the NHTSA crash tests and the leaked IIHS test video, the official Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) crash test results are finally in for the 2008 Smart ForTwo. It turns out the little bugger did pretty well. IIHS awarded the micro-machine its highest...
You wouldn’t think, anyone would survive this crash. A guy, I know did. He’s legs were a mess. Had to learn to walk again. Many like surgeries over a couple years. He’s alive, modifying his Audi. The smart cabrio, saved him.
The 453 crash test is really good.
And the answer is, smart MY09 by IIHS...
Let’s be fair, the picture that you have posted is NOT the end result of a horrific crash. Rather it is a heap of torn metal and plastic that is the result of the cabrio being ripped apart by EMS and the jaws of life.
Hardly demonstrates the true safety built into a smart and durability of the tridion even in the crash of a cabrio.
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You missed the point. He lived out of that mangled mess. It was a horrible crash, he had to be cut out of. The smart tridon cell saved he‘s life. Even in the cabrio model.
The original IIHS YouTube video, demonstrated the smart car. Really wasn’t match to a larger MB vehicle. No small car is. That why it was rated poor. In that crash test.
While it may seem like it didn’t fair well in that test keep in mind that’s a staged test.
Google na Miata crash test(not sure if it will pull up) but there is one where a guy hit a Ford Taurus in a Miata and survived(both cars was totaled but both survived)
Honestly if you survived a wreck like that the car did it’s job.
I say that as a good friend of mine’s girlfriend had a wreck with a Toyota truck(she was in a Ford ranger) where the guy in the Toyota came across the median and hit her truck head on.(this was a 80’s era Toyota that hit her truck)
She was shaken up and had some injuries to her legs and from the air bag(she was on the brake since she was stopped)
Totaled her truck but she survived.
The safety rating of the Ford ranger isn’t the best but the fact she survived it speaks volumes how real world crashes can turn out different from the tests.
My friend still has the pics of the truck.
Google na Miata crash test(not sure if it will pull up) but there is one where a guy hit a Ford Taurus in a Miata and survived(both cars was totaled but both survived)
Honestly if you survived a wreck like that the car did it’s job.
I say that as a good friend of mine’s girlfriend had a wreck with a Toyota truck(she was in a Ford ranger) where the guy in the Toyota came across the median and hit her truck head on.(this was a 80’s era Toyota that hit her truck)
She was shaken up and had some injuries to her legs and from the air bag(she was on the brake since she was stopped)
Totaled her truck but she survived.
The safety rating of the Ford ranger isn’t the best but the fact she survived it speaks volumes how real world crashes can turn out different from the tests.
My friend still has the pics of the truck.
Is that a former member's car? I think his screen name was Smart Brett. If so, he was a real fanboy until the wreck.What’s strange, the top video, is a 2009 451 IIHS test. Did they change they crash test finding, the following year. Humm?
You wouldn’t think, anyone would survive this crash. A guy, I know did. He’s legs were a mess. Had to learn to walk again. Many like surgeries over a couple years. He’s alive, modifying his Audi. The smart cabrio, saved him.
View attachment 65070
The 453 crash test is really good.
That will help a lot, you'll be using other car's crumple zones.
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Any details on what hit him? An Abrams tank or a diesel locomotive? I see it's a Cabrio. Can't help but wonder if there are some crash differences between it and a non-Cabrio. Even with the top rails locking in. I would think that at some point the latch points will fail before a continuous welded steel beam will fail.What’s strange, the top video, is a 2009 451 IIHS test. Did they change they crash test finding, the following year. Humm?
You wouldn’t think, anyone would survive this crash. A guy, I know did. He’s legs were a mess. Had to learn to walk again. Many like surgeries over a couple years. He’s alive, modifying his Audi. The smart cabrio, saved him.
View attachment 65070
The 453 crash test is really good.
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Pretty sobering pictures. But your point is well taken. To survive such a horrific crash is a testament to the strength of the smart design. Obviously, there are limits, as with any vehicle. but considering the size of the smart, it's pretty amazing. I expect that its small size and agility may have saved more than a few individuals.
The top rails on the cabrio provide no structural support.
As top rail “runners,” they are made of plastic and held in place by spring loaded pins.
The “open” cabrio tridion does have additional high strength steel reinforcement AND the addition of a “roll bar” in the rear.
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I'd have no problem driving one myself. Just curious as to what differences exist. I know one of the reasons the old Mercedes convertibles were so heavy was all the extra reinforcement to make up for the lack of the roof support.
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The coupe, is so much safer, then the cabrio. You cut out the roof support, the little car folds in. What I like about the Fiat 500c. Fiat doesn’t cut out the structure of the roof. It has the same folding Retractable cloth system.
so much for the roll bar. That would be a safety feature, if you rolled over the smart car.
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