Knappster's Garage

[LWM]

You need to see these videos:

[Matt]

I can't see the videos on my phone.... but I sure hope one of them is the independent test done where they put a smart car against a normal sized family sedan (to compare it against the most common type of vehicle on the road that you're most likely to be in an accident with) in a 50mph head on collision and the smart car looked like a ping pong ball bouncing down the test track....

current test ratings/standards are skewed by these new light weight tiny vehicles. there has been some jive recently about adding test criteria to make the ratings more "realistic".

[Budasac]

I'll admit it does better in the crash tests then I would have thought. However, even the guy in the video said that just because a small car gets good safety ratings it still isn't going to protect as well as a larger vehicle. "You wouldn't put a feather weight in the ring with a heavy-weight" as he put it. And there are alot of heavy weights rolling around here.

Also those test were showing the smart crashing into a fixed object (less the 30mph side impact.) An accident involving two very dissproprtionately sized vehicles would be entirely different. Let's say a Yukon and a smart both going 50. When you facter in the laws of motion based on weight and size I think you'd agree. I know I'd rather be in the Yukon.

I think the real question when it comes to safety is would you put your 16 yo daughter in the car and let her go out on the interstate. If the highways by you are filled with motorcycles and Ford Pintos then the Smart would be just fine. But I know around here I would never trust a small vehicle like that.

I think it's a great car for Europe where vehicles are alot smaller. Personally I think the huge SUVs I see everywhere are a complete waste. I miss the days when the only trucks you saw on the road were work trucks. As opposed to business men driving pickups and soccor moms cruising in Suburbans while talking on the phone and drinking Starbucks. But that's the reality of roads in the US these days, and as such, I wouldn't want my kid on the road in one of those hampster cages.

[Budasac]

I can't see the videos on my phone.... but I sure hope one of them is the independent test done where they put a smart car against a normal sized family sedan (to compare it against the most common type of vehicle on the road that you're most likely to be in an accident with) in a 50mph head on collision and the smart car looked like a ping pong ball bouncing down the test track....

current test ratings/standards are skewed by these new light weight tiny vehicles. there has been some jive recently about adding test criteria to make the ratings more "realistic".

No, no head-ons with an average vehicle. Only 70 and 50? mile an hour crashes into concrete. The car faired pretty well, but even the vid pointed out that the passengers would not have.

[LWM]

No, no head-ons with an average vehicle. Only 70 mile an hour crashes into concrete. The car faired pretty well, but even the vid pointed out that the passengers would not have.

But you have to admit, even if a person were in a Commander or any other vehicle the chance of survival into a concrete wall at 70 mph is slim to none (the body cannot absorb those forces).

[Budasac]

But you have to admit, even if a person were in a Commander or any other vehicle the chance of survival into a concrete wall at 70 mph is slim to none (the body cannot absorb those forces).

Oh, no doubt. But the trauma to the occupants would certainly be less in the Commander since it has a much bigger crumple zone and would therefore absorb way more of the impact. It wouldn't bounce off the wall quite so violently.

But more to the point is what the outcome would be if the Commander and the Smart hit head on. That Smart car isn't going to stop the Commander dead in it's tracks like a concrete wall would, the truck will go through the car or push it aside. Obviously it would be catasrophic for both vehicles but I'm certain the Jeep would continue along it's path. You won't find it at the point of impact, it'll continue a bit beyond that, which means less trauma for the passengers. Remember 5th grade science, "an object in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted upon by an equal or greater force" The object with greater mass wins every time.

[LWM]

Drove my smart to work today:

[criket]

You know, as many pictures of your Smart car that I've seen, I have just now read your license plate. "Missed it by that much"

[LWM]

"Missed it by that much"

I had 1" on each side of the car fitting it through the door!

[Sal-XK]

I don't think your suppose to be in there with your car LOL


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