Do you really want a small car? are they really safe to drive?

mallet

All things being equal, driver fatalities in Full size and â€œultra luxuryâ€ cars and minivans will be the lowest because 1. their mass, 2. they are equipped with the very best in passive safety features (traction control, ABS, radar assisted cruising/braking, and etc), 3. they posses superior handling characteristics, and 4. they have superior passive safety features (such as more airbags in more places). Fully equipped (or â€œluxuryâ€) large SUVâ€™s will be the second safest due to the fact that they have everything that the former group has except for the superior handling characteristics. Large pickup trucks will be next because they have mass, but not the same level of safety technology. Small SUV and midsized cars would be next, and finally small pickups and compact cars.
Since all things are not equal, and certain at-risk groups (such as young males) prefer certain types of vehicles, this also plays into the equation. However, if one is considering the vehicle only, and not the driver, fully equipped large cars, minivans, and SUVâ€™s are the safest.

logicalgal

If drivers would reduce their speed, they would be safer and also save fuel.
If drivers would learn how to operate their vehicle in a safe and efficient manner, they would also be safer and save fuel.
SUV's and pickup trucks have higher center of mass and therefore roll easier than a lower-wider vehicle. Add more passengers and cargo load, and any vehicle changes in the dynamics of cornering, stopping, etc.
I would recommend that drivers look at the road conditions, traffic conditions, weather conditions as well as their own personal emotional/physical conditions before and while driving to determine their limit of control while behind the wheel.
Think - See - Do
Think and Live

Fred C

More children are killed and injured in SUVs than in cars of any size because the higher centre of gravity makes them more prone to roll-over. SUVs are not built to the same crash standards as cars, they are built to the lack of standards of trucks. In many accidents people are injured in trucks and SUVs by intrusions into the passenger compartment that wouldn't have happened with cars. The only time an SUV is supposedly safer than a car is in a collision where the higher bumper, which should be illegal, causes a car to submarine, or hits the side of the car but doesn't meet the safety bar in the door. If you look at trucks from the 60s, the bumpers meet the height of the car bumpers. People were ticketed if they raised the vehicle so the bumpers no longer met. Then, it was no longer illegal to make vehicles that were dangerous to others. If you are walking and get hit by a vehicle, you are far more likely to die if hit by an SUV than a car, especially if the SUV has bush bars on the front, which basically ensure your body is smashed, rather than allowed to fold and slide. If you doubt some of what I say, search for the video showing the crash test of the Mini Cooper and the Ford F-150. It basically shows that if the Mini and the F-150 hit a wall head on at the same time, the driver of the Mini would be calling the ambulance for the driver of the F-150. Considering the F-150 is the base for the Ford Expedition, it kind of puts to rest the theory that bigger is safer. Bottom line, bigger can be more dangerous to others, and more dangerous to occupants at the same time. There is a reason they have been called Stupid Useless Vehicles. Low-income people will not be putting gasoline into any of those useless beasts at today's prices. Some of them are sitting for months on dealer lots with nobody even looking at them.

StanS

Yes. I prefer a small car. Small does not mean cheap or dangerous. A car is only as dangerous as it's driver.

I've owned small cars as well as vans and pick-ups and station wagons. I have to assume the guy you wrote about above lost control of his car because he wasn't paying attention and was driving too fast. What other reason could there be? I know how to drive in wet snowy conditions. I've seen people loose it often. It's usually because they're going too fast for the conditions and/or they're driving without the proper tires.

To decide to buy a SUV because (you think) it's safer (read: to compensate for poor driving skills) is really asking for trouble.

It feels good to drive a large vehicle, to sit up there with the good view -- and feel macho cause you're bigger than (almost) everyone else. But it sure is a lot more fun to drive a small car. My AUDI A3 is one hot car, is a economical and a real blast to drive.

We have enough problems with the environment as it it. Lets do all we can to leave a small footprint on Earth as we can, or we'll find we've stomped it out.

Wolf Harper

It has nothing to do with the size of the car. It has everything to do with how well the car is designed for collisions and to protect its occupants.

For instance you seem to love large SUVs, but have you ever taken the front clip off of one? It just unbolts with some 6mm or 1/4 screws. There's nothing there. The energy of a collision just goes through it into the passenger compartment. Ouch. Contrast that to the ridiculously tiny Smart Car
http://money.cnn.com/2008/05/14/autos/smart_fortwo_iihs_crash_test/?postversion=2008051410
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju6t-yyoU8s

So that's a vivid example that engineering, not size, matters.

mighty i

with the high price of gas and the slumming of the economy we have no choice but to conserve. i dont really like them small car but what can we do?

Sarahh

omg..i do want a small car(Benze smart)...they're so cute and will make ppl who drive 'em cute:))

UCANTCME

I personally dont like them but you have to remember that it is not always the car at fault it is alot of the time the drivers fault.

john m

death traps.

Manny

Lots of comments here by people looking at test videos, well, drive a tow truck for a few weeks and trust me, you will be driving a full sized pickup forever there after....I've seen so many wrecks, and larger, older cars and trucks always win against newer smaller cars. It just works that way, sorry to disagree, but seeing is believing.

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