May 26, 2008

How Crashworthy Is Smart Car?

A lot of folks look at the tiny Smart Fortwo and admire its fuel economy, but they’re scared away by its perceived safety in a crash. Now the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety, which crash-tests a wide variety of cars each year, has put the lie to those fears. The 2008 version of the Fortwo, by far the smallest car for sale in the U.S. market, earned the top rating of “good” for front and side crash protection in the recent IIHS tests, while its seat and head restraints earned the second-highest rating of “acceptable” for protection against whiplash in rear impacts. Those ratings are similar to the marks this section’s editor receives from his wife when things are going smoothly at home.

The Smart Fortwo is classified as a microcar meaning, to those who can’t consult a dictionary, that it's smaller than a minicar. Weighing about 1,800 pounds, the Smart is more than three feet shorter and almost 700 pounds lighter than a MINI Cooper, which is a logical example of a minicar. It weighs about a third as much as one of the heaviest vehicles the Institute has tested, the BMW X5, a midsize SUV. As the price of fuel climbs and tougher federal fuel economy requirements kick in, auto companies are expected to introduce more small vehicles to the market. The Smart is the smallest car the Institute has ever tested.

“The big question from consumers is, ‘How safe is it?’” said Institute President Adrian Lund. "All things being equal in safety, bigger and heavier is always better. But among the smallest cars, the engineers of the Smart did their homework and designed a high level of safety into a very small package."