Are Minicars Safe to Drive?
You’re going to be seeing more and more minicars on the road.
But you need to decide whether you want to see them from the driver’s or passenger’s seats, because these minicars might not protect you if you’re involved in an accident.
Recent crash tests put the minicars to shame. Several demonstrations have pitted mid-sized automobiles with minis such as the Honda Fit, the Toyota Yaris, and the Smart Fortwo. Why are the minicars falling short despite their trumpeted arrival on the US car market?
Let’s take a look at the safety features of two cars. We chose the Honda Fit and the Honda Accord, because they are both made by the same manufacturer.
They both come with 16-inch wheels, dual-stage, dual-threshold airbags, three-point restraints that function in all seating positions, tire pressure monitoring systems, daytime running lights and side-impact door beams, child safety features such as outboard lower anchors and tethers as well as child-proof locks.
The Accord also offers dual chamber front side airbags with passenger-side occupant position detection system. And while they both offer Honda’s trademarked Advanced Compatibility Engineering Body Structure, only the Accord boasts the Vehicle Stability Assist™ with Traction Control—although you can obtain this feature in the Fit Sport.
Both of them come with anti-locking brake systems and electronic brake distribution, but only the Accord has something called Brake Assist. Only the Accord offers an immobilizer theft-deterrent system and an emergency trunk release, which probably have little to do with safety unless your two-year-old first takes your keys and then locks himself in the trunk.
But you’ve got to be honest with yourself here. Probably the most significant difference is the weight of each vehicle. The Honda Fit weighs in at 2,489 pounds. The Accord enters the ring at 3,230. You do the math and decide which piece of metal you want to have wrapped around your family in the event of a crash.
The tests we’ve seen were conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, and they compared brand versus brand: the Fit versus the Accord, as well as the Smart Fortwo—one of the Mercedes family—against the Benz, and the Toyota Yaris versus the Camry.
In all of the tests, the crash dummies sustained head, chest, and leg injuries. With the Fit, the dummy struck his head on the steering wheel right through the activated airbag. The dummy in the Fortwo was damaged by instrument panel and steering wheel dislodgment. The smaller vehicles sustained more structural damage than the mid-sized vehicles. For those who are curious, the Accord is about thirty inches longer and six inches wider than the Fit, but these statistics were not mentioned in the test results.
The manufacturers are protesting that the test conditions were not realistic, but physics don’t lie. Just like scissors is crushed by rock, these mini cars are not going to stand up to the big boys in head-to-head competition—or, in this case, collision. Why are the manufacturers whining about the test conditions?
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, as well as its sister organization—the Highway Loss Data Institute—are funded by auto insurance companies but maintain they are “independent, nonprofit, scientific, and educational…dedicated to reducing losses.”
They maintain that head-on crashes at 40 miles per hour, which was the standard used in the minicar tests, provide the best evaluation of a car’s ability to survive an accident.
It is true that all three of the minicars did well in frontal barrier crash tests. But the collision testing resulted in a barrage of controversy because of government and environmental pressures to reduce gasoline dependence and increase fuel economy.
There’s no doubt that the minicars give you much better mileage, whether you’re driving in the city or on the highway. And once again using the Honda Fit and Accord models for comparison, the MSRP difference is about $6,000, which could make an appreciable difference in your monthly payment. But the results issued by the Insurance Institute could result in higher premiums for drivers who buy minicars.
So do you pick better safety features just in case you have an accident, or do you conserve gas and save the environment? In an economy with gas prices rising and paychecks stagnant, many consumers feel that they have to vote with their pocketbooks. What’s a poor dummy to do?
Warranty Direct offers extended warranties for minicars – call to get a free quote and find out what is covered on your new mini car.
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