The Homa Files

Excerpted from WSJ, “Small Cars Improve in Crashes” by Jonathan Welsh, December 17, 2008

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The demand for smaller, more fuel-efficient cars has increased. Sales of compact cars like the Honda Fit, Toyota Yaris and Nissan Versa rose 24% though November, while sales of large utilities fell 36%.

Among small-car buyers, safety tends to take a back seat to fuel economy and a low sticker price. While 86% of basic compact-car buyers rated fuel economy as the feature about which they cared most, 29% rated safety as a top concern…

The good news: Small cars fare better in crashes than they used to … But, they still lag behind larger vehicles in protecting passengers. Their disadvantages are especially clear in side-impact crashes. Of the nine small cars recently tested…all received the group’s top rating of “good” in frontal crashes — but only two got good ratings when hit from the side. The test results highlight the difficulty for designers and engineers in developing cars that are small and light yet still strong enough to withstand collisions with large vehicles…

Only the SX4 and Matrix, and its twin the Vibe, received good ratings for protection in side crashes. The Ford and Chevrolet were judged acceptable in side-impact protection, while the Hyundai and Saturn were marginal and the Chrysler was poor. Only the Ford Focus was top-rated in rear-impact crashes…The Chrysler PT Cruiser was the worst performer…Car makers have rapidly improved small-car design in the past few years by strengthening vehicles’ protective framework and adding side airbags…

The … side-impact tests are especially difficult for small cars because the barrier used to strike the test vehicle simulates the front end of a large SUV or pickup truck. The high bumper typically hits the test car at the same level as the heads of test dummies representing the driver and rear driver-side passenger. This makes head-protection side airbags critical.

Edit by SAC 

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Ken’s Take:  I wonder if small car drivers pick airlines based on the same criteria?

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This entry was posted on December 22, 2008 at 7:52 am and is filed under Autos - Travel, Environment - Green. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.