Driving small doesn’t mean you’re less safe

For example, the federal government has toughened its requirements for things like side impact protection, mandating more metal in a car’s side. The Insurance Institute's offset front crash test and side-impact test are not government requirements, but customers insist on top scores in them, so car manufacturers respond by adding reinforcing bulk that improves a car’s performance in the tests.

Even some of today’s smallest cars — like the Honda Fit and Toyota’s Yaris — bagged “good” scores (the highest available) from the IIHS’s frontal and side crash tests.

On the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s tests, the Fit earned the maximum five stars in the frontal crash, and five stars for the front seat in the side impact test, with three stars for the back seat in a side crash. The Yaris got four stars for front crashes and three stars for side impacts.

Compare those scores with the old Chevrolet Sprint of 1985. It earned just one star in the frontal test, meaning it met the minimum requirements of that time, but no more. It also weighed much less, so it would be punished more in a collision with a bigger car.

Modern small cars are designed for greater safety too, although few are aware of this fact.

Unlike full-size pickup and SUVs with rigid bumpers and trailer hitches, a small car is more likely to show visible damage in a crash, as the crumple zones collapse to absorb the blow. Too many consumers still equate a badly damaged vehicle with badly injured occupants, when in fact the vehicle is suffering so the passengers don’t have to explains Natae Rayner, senior product education and development administrator for Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A.

“There are crush zones and crush boxes in the front of the vehicles used to absorb the impact then distribute that force in the proper places,” he said.

This kind of design could, over time, lead to lighter, more efficient cars that still provide the needed protection for a car’s occupants said S.M. Shahed, a corporate fellow for Honeywell Turbo Technologies who researches fuel-saving technologies.

Shahed says that very efficient cars (even ones that get up to 100 miles per gallon) have to be lighter than the ones on the road today. They will still protect the occupants as well as today’s cars, but would probably suffer enough damage to be totaled even in crashes of just 25 mph.

“I think our philosophy needs to change from safety for the vehicle to safety for the occupant,” he said. “What if I have a car that in a 25 mph crash is going be totaled and you are going to be 100 percent safe?” he asked. “If the price you have to pay for a 100 mpg car is totaling the car at 25 mph, I’m willing to pay that price.”

We’re nowhere near 100 mpg today, but there are an increasing number of small cars that score well in crash tests. In addition to the subcompact cars already mentioned, compacts like the Honda Civic, Subaru’s Impreza, Nissan’s Versa and the Toyota Prius all earn “good” scores in both front and side crash tests at IIHS.

No small cars earned five stars in every category of NHTSA’s testing, but many earned a confidence-inspiring mixture of four- and five-star ratings — that’s worth contemplating when you’re paying up to $100 to gas up a supersized vehicle.

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