Straightline

Isn't it true that these tests are valid for a collision with a similarly-sized vehicles? I'm generally a fan of small cars and felt fine when I drove a Smart around town once, but I have to wonder what happen if one of these got bulldozed by a Tahoe.

I don't think they adjust the crash to the car size, if that's what you mean.

What would happen if the tahoe was bulldozed by a semi? You can never win the battle of size unless you want to take a bus.
 
The Smart does very well in crashes againest larger cars actually. You'll go for a ride when it hits you but they don't crush much or break up like a lot of other cars.

The car is so small it's almost launched when struck from the side. I wonder if that actually helps disperse some of the crash energy?
 
I appreciate how well the passenger compartment held up in the crash, but I'm not sure my head could handle being tossed around like that.

I think the dummy's instrumented to measure head acceleration, that's a critical part of the rating, IIRC.

It's funny that 4 stars is no longer a good result, but it isn't.
 
I think it's a matter of there just not being enough crush space.

Firstwagon, what you say about the Smart- 'they don't crush much or break up like a lot of other cars", is BAD for occupant safety. The whole reason cars break up and crush is to provide deceleration / energy absorbtion from the crash, limiting as much as possible to amount of energy making it to the occupants themselves.
 
Decades ago, cars were all built extremely well, and would go through most collisions with very little damage. Sadly, their drivers / passengers didn't do nearly as well.
 
I'd much rather see the Smart's results in tests against even midsized cars rather than other Smart-sized vehicles. After all, isn't it far less likely that you'll hit another Smart than that the other vehicle will be LARGER. (also why your Tahoe vs. semi argument holds little water- what's the most likely scenario to play out in the real world?)

4 stars is nothing to brag about. Esspcially since the goverment test is valid only against cars of similar size.
 
Firstwagon your right. I've seen the vidoes. The smart car doesn't crush at all. It can cut through a mercedes like a hot knife through butter.
 
The only problem is... everyone on the inside is subject to all that energy.
 
one of the reasons f1 cars brake up into a million pieces is to save the driver. the engine, wheels, tranny are all meant to break away leaving a light shell around the drive to protect them.
 
The smart is so small, that its not able to absorb alot of energy, so it has to be extra strong. Bigger cars have crumple zones, engines that have room to go down and under the car, basically 'padding' around them to take the shock away from the driver.
 
Imagine it this way, the smart is like a strong egg, hard to crack. But i'd like that egg to be a bit padded to protect the inside.

I really get the impression people are cheering for this car to fail.

"Isn't it true that these tests are valid for a collision with a similarly-sized vehicles?"
 
ONLY the FRONT crash is, as the energy of the crash is from the car's momentum.
 
The side crash uses that same 3015 lb weight.
http://www.safercar.gov/vgn-ext-templating/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=b2c72d0e0c2c8110VgnVCM1000002fd17898RCRD

Please note an error in your story: The Smart got 4 stars in the frontal test for the driver, but only 3 stars for the passenger.

From the Autoblog story, which was quoted:
 
and it actually did earning four stars in the front crash test for both the driver and passenger and five stars in the side crash test,

firstwagon,
 
This isn't about any of us WANTING the Smart to fail. It's about practicality and the blatant, obvious truth. Which is: how can a car this small be as safe as any other car on the road? What advantage does the Smart offer that any other car in the world doesn't? If you say price, I point to the Aveo. If you say mileage, I point to the Fit.
 
In my opinion, the ForTwo doesn't offer ANYTHING that a safer, more reliable, more trustworthy, more established brand can offer... plus some in the way of size, utility, and practicality.