soren wrote:
Might want to get involved with a bit of education VS. assumption in that department. I'm no big fan of Smart cars, but they are, in fact, extraordinarily safe for their size, due to some interesting design features. They have an unusual steel "Exoskeleton" and have shown crashworthiness well above their class.
So I have a good friend who is a collision reconstructionist for our police department. He is part of the team that responds to all the fatal wrecks in our county. I've made your exact argument to him, and his response is as follows;
The Smart car is (or was at the time) a 5 star rated vehicle. That means that when it is crashed against similar size and weight vehicles it comes out well. That's great news!
Now comes the sobering reality... there are very few cars that are similar size and weight. At 1800 lbs, they simply don't have sufficient mass to absorb impact from a larger vehicle. They will get DESTROYED if hit by a typical half ton truck that weighs 3 times as much. Look at all the heavier SUV's, HD trucks, OTR trucks, delivery vans, etc on the road. Most vehicles on the road would cause serious damage to a Smart car.
5 Star ratings and cool exoskeletons are nice... but physics doesn't really care about that. Being "best in your class" doesn't mean much when you are the only one in your class. Being able to withstand cars twice your size is pretty good, but when you figure almost every car is twice your size and most are 3 to 4 times your size... that's not that great.
