In vehicle crashes, size matters

Science has finally confirmed what motorists have been saying for years: Minicars may be attractive in the face of rising gas prices and a faltering economy, but they perform poorly in crashes with larger vehicles.

The findings by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety show previous crash ratings for small cars are misleading. The Arlington, Va.-based institute, which is funded by car insurance companies, typically determines safety ratings by crashing cars into standing barriers at about 64 kilometres an hour. Such a crash shows how a car would fare when crashing into one of the same size.

VIDEO: IIHS crash test results

For this study, however, the institute rammed small cars into mid-sized counterparts travelling the same speed.

"Minicars as a group do a comparatively poor job of protecting people in crashes, simply because they're smaller and lighter," said institute president Adrian Lund.

"In collisions with bigger vehicles, the forces acting on the smaller ones are higher, and there's less distance from the front of a small car to the occupant compartment to `ride down' the impact."

For the tests, the institute used three popular small cars that received the highest safety ratings in barrier crash tests: a Daimler Smart fortwo, a Toyota Yaris and a Honda Fit, all 2009 models.

The Smart car was sent crashing head-on into a 2009 Mercedes C-class sedan, the Fit into a 2009 Honda Accord, and the Yaris into a 2009 Toyota Camry. After the tests, all three small cars saw their safety ratings fall to poor, the institute's worst rating, in the frontal collision test.

The three makers of the minicars argue that such high-speed crashes rarely happen on the road and that stricter government regulations on fuel efficiency are leading to smaller, lighter cars.

"It is not healthy to focus on a report that seems to support the use of large vehicles when Canadians are continuing to choose to drive small cars," said Melanie Testani, spokesperson for Toyota Canada.

"The percentage of this type of collision in the U.S. is extremely small, and if you consider the fact that Canadians drive more small cars than their American counterparts, the percentage of this type of collision would be even smaller in Canada."

The Smart car went airborne and spun one-and-a-half times after colliding with the Mercedes sedan, which weighs almost twice as much. Both the instrument panel and steering wheel were pushed toward the driver's seat and head and leg injuries were recorded on a crash-test dummy. The sedan suffered little damage.

The interior of the Honda Fit was damaged extensively and the dummy struck its head on the steering wheel, even though the airbag had deployed. The institute also noted a high risk of leg injury in a real-world crash of similar severity. The Accord, on the other hand, earned good ratings in the test.

In the crash between the Toyota Yaris and Camry, the heads of both driver dummies hit the steering wheels through the airbags, and the smaller car's door was nearly torn off. The dummy in the Yaris showed signs of extensive force on the neck and right leg, and suffered a deep gash on the right knee. The Camry was rated acceptable.

Despite the poor safety ratings, Robert Tremblay, director of road safety at the Insurance Bureau of Canada, says smaller cars are safer than ever.

"A collision is always a result of a human error," he said.

"We have to bear in mind the chances of getting into a collision are only as good as the person behind the wheel. The occupant protection is only there in a worst-case scenario."

Related links:

Video: IIHS micro car crash tests

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