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Are Small Cars Safe?

Edmunds.comEdmunds.com Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 10,316
edited September 2014 in General

imageAre Small Cars Safe?

When you're looking for fuel efficiency, you're probably looking at small cars. But are they as safe as bigger cars?

Read the full story here


Comments

  • steveg17steveg17 Member Posts: 1
    I just saw a list of the safest cars and was shocked to only see one Volvo on it http://zautos.com/carvideo/2011-volvo-s60-t6-sedan-4dr-hr/
    I always though Mercedes was just as good but didn't expect them to fade away
  • mishaomishao Member Posts: 1
    I own a corsa lite 1.4i and was in a really bad accident about a month and a half ago and walked away with just soft tissue damage a deer was in the middle of the highway on the n2 going south near the sibai casino offramp in kzn! i swerved lost controll and rolled down the embankment its not about what car you drive! the Lord was with me that evening i could be driving a bike ifd the Lord is with me i will survive anything unless its my time to go.
  • timplattstimplatts Member Posts: 1
    One thing not mentioned here is the age of drivers or the use of vehicles. Large sedans are more apt to be used by older drivers and small cars by newer drivers so speed, style of driving would make a huge difference. Pickups too are more likely to be used off road and in work conditions - not driving to the mall like SUVs.
  • foxxglovefoxxglove Member Posts: 1
    Thanks for the info in this article. I was looking specifically to find out whether two cars of different sizes with the same safety rating would be exactly the same. This article provided the answer: no.
  • Jjj69Jjj69 Member Posts: 1
    Never heard of momentum p=mv or equal and opposite forces.
  • Denis_JPDenis_JP Member Posts: 1
    Great to haver that summed up, thank you. However this article makes no mention of the danger for people outside the car. Pedestrians, cyclists, and even small cars conductors are all significantly more in danger because of the increasingly popular oversized SUVs. Elevated cars like SUVs makes it much harder to see pedestrian at close range, especially children. These injuries and deaths are important, and should matter to the driver too, who may bear responsibility for them.
  • J_ReisJ_Reis Member Posts: 1
    The safest scenario is to avoid the accident in first place. Smaller cars in general can stop in shorter distances than SUVs and are also more agile in emergency maneuvers. This theory here from this blog and this data does not address that. I’m still looking for data with a proper comparison addressing how many accidents are avoided by driving something smaller. And as Denis_JP mentioned before, bigger cars increase the risks of killing a pedestrian, not something I’d like to be living with knowing that it could be avoided. Nice numbers but the logic is flawed, the proper conclusion here should be “drivers of bigger cars imposes greater risk for drivers of smaller cars”. I’m looking for a more intelligent comparison to make a decision on buying a Mini Cooper S for my wife, not sure how safe it is in real life scenarios.
  • joedoaks69_joedoaks69_ Member Posts: 1
    Driving any vehicle, ie., any size vehicle will ALWAYS come with inherent risks, as we ALWAYS will need service trucks/vehicles, large/heavy semi-tractor-trailers, and larger, heavier everyday vehicles for those folks with homes, large families, etc. I have long long learned to ALWAYS give extra distance/space/watchfulness when driving around large vehicles. And to never follow closely any large vehicle. Very small vehicles have always been with us, motorcycles, Volkswagens (at first, agonizingly slow/underpowered), Isettas, Yugos, many others. We now have extreme proliferation of smaller vehicles, due to, largely, Gov't rules regulations mandates etc etc etc, re stringent emissions/mileage regs. Of course, to convince us that small vehicles are safe, the Gov't also mandates safety regs to force manufactures to include multitudes of safety features, including multitudes of airbags/airbag systems, forcing consumers, of course, to buy all those features. Unfortunately, small light vehicles are going to be with us, to stay, and will get smaller and lighter if that is actually possible, due to Government interference, and the ongoing increasing costs of vehicles, in general. Large and heavy vehicles will be always popular with those who really need them, and those who prefer the cocoon-like safety of size/weight. Years ago, a Toyota Corolla was going up a road, a lengthy incline, driver and 2 passengers, it was rainy, road was slick, the Toyota lost control, skidded, into the path of a full-size pickup coming down the road, the Toyota was totaled, all three occupants died, whereas the pickup, was able to drive away, no injuries to the occupants. I never forgot this sad sad lesson as to the unsafety of small light vehicles, in very serious, car crushing/destroying accidents. Thus, are you better off in a heavy, large, steel and steel-framed vehicle or in a light plastic unibody front wheel drive vehicle with no heavy frame or undercarriage. From the beginnings of the Automobile over a Century ago, what you buy is your own choice. Now, tho, our choices are quite limited by what the Government tells us we can actually buy.
  • JefftyEdmundsJefftyEdmunds Member Posts: 1
    Classic case of journalistic re-framing. Larger vehicles are more dangerous. They are more likely to get in an accident causing injuries to their occupants, and even more likely to kill other people especially pedestrians, bicyclists, and *occupants of smaller cars*. If everyone was driving a car there would be less accidents, injuries, and fatalities. That means smaller cars are less dangerous overall.

    We should change liability laws to make drivers pay for the increased danger to society at large associated with a large vehicle, and then maybe people wouldn't drive a truck with a one ton suspension to haul nothing more than their fat butt to work at a desk job.

    It's like saying that kids who die in school shootings are "dangerously not wearing bullet proof vests to school". After all studies show you are more likely to survive a shooting if you wear a bullet proof vest, but these reckless kids insist on wearing only cloth shirts. They died because cloth shirts alone are more dangerous than bullet proof vests, right? Personally I think the person wielding the firearm was the reckless one, but that's just me.
  • Laker21Laker21 Member Posts: 8
    steveg17 said:

    I just saw a list of the safest cars and was shocked to only see one Volvo on it http://zautos.com/carvideo/2011-volvo-s60-t6-sedan-4dr-hr/website
    I always though Mercedes was just as good but didn't expect them to fade away

    A small car a priori can not boast of good reliability on a big track, but Volvo really can make a good safety

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