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Old 05-11-2009, 09:54 AM
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FSETH FSETH is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by poleposition View Post
Lets just hope a semi doesnt hit any of us. And this car gets the IIHS highest safety rating. Daimler engineered this thing quite well and I feel extremely safe in it. Thx for your concern though.
I agree. Lets hope none of us are hit by a semi.

You have to remember that those crash test results were into a solid barrier. In real world crashes where the Smart is typically outweighed by just about everything on the road with 4 wheels it does not rate so well.

Here is an example of the IIHS crashing a Smart and an MB C class;

Mercedes C class versus Smart Fortwo: After striking the front of the C class, the Smart went airborne and turned around 450 degrees. This contributed to excessive movement of the dummy during rebound — a dramatic indication of the Smart's poor performance but not the only one. There was extensive intrusion into the space around the dummy from head to feet. The instrument panel moved up and toward the dummy. The steering wheel was displaced upward. Multiple measures of injury likelihood, including those on the dummy's head, were poor, as were measures on both legs.
"The Smart is the smallest car we tested, so it's not surprising that its performance looked worse than the Fit's. Still both fall into the poor category, and it's hard to distinguish between poor and poorer," Lund says. "In both the Smart and Fit, occupants would be subject to high injury risk in crashes with heavier cars." In contrast, the C class held up well, with little to no intrusion into the occupant compartment. Nearly all measures of injury likelihood were in the good range.

Here is the whole article on micro car safety.

IIHS news release
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