Wow...poor crash test result for Toyota
Lexus Fanatic
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From: A better place
I really wonder what Daimler was thinking when they came up with the design for the Smart. Practically no crumple zones, but instead the body transmitting crash force energy through the cabin into the interior and to the occupants? 
While true that the car is so small it is hard to have crumple zones, I believe Toyota with the iQ was able to make a similarly-sized car as the Smart while implementing proper crumple zones.
While true that the car is so small it is hard to have crumple zones, I believe Toyota with the iQ was able to make a similarly-sized car as the Smart while implementing proper crumple zones.
Pole Position
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From: UK
I really wonder what Daimler was thinking when they came up with the design for the Smart. Practically no crumple zones, but instead the body transmitting crash force energy through the cabin into the interior and to the occupants?
While true that the car is so small it is hard to have crumple zones, I believe Toyota with the iQ was able to make a similarly-sized car as the Smart while implementing proper crumple zones.
While true that the car is so small it is hard to have crumple zones, I believe Toyota with the iQ was able to make a similarly-sized car as the Smart while implementing proper crumple zones.
When you are on the leading edge of vehicle efficiency and small vehicle design, the issue of safety is a critical element. That's why the core design philosophy of the smart fortwo is focused on something called the tridion safety cell. Much like a nut is protected by its hard outside shell, the smart fortwo's occupants are protected by a steel housing that combines longitudinal and transverse members that displace impact forces over a large area of the car. So it's not about the amount of steel, but how that material will resist an impact. That's what the tridion safety cell is all about.
What's a crash box?
The smart fortwo is designed with steel bumpers at the front and rear that are bolted to the safety cell´s longitudinal beams via slip tubes. They can be replaced after minor collisions at low costs. For parking lot bumps, an impact of less than 2 miles an hour won't affect the crash box at all. Up to about 10 miles per hour, the slip tubes move to keep impact away from the tridion safety cell. Over 10 miles an hour, the tridion safety cell transmits impact over its entire surface to dissipate energy and protect its occupants (assuming a perpendicular impact involving the entire front width). At the rear of the car, the crash box is also built of steel, which crumples much like the front slip tubes do. At an impact exceeding the severity threshold, the fuel supply to the engine is stopped and the central locking system is automatically unlocked.
Side impact strength
You might have noticed that the smart fortwo has a pretty short wheelbase, but you probably haven't thought of that as a safety feature. If you suffer a side impact in your smart fortwo, chances are that the car hitting you will hit the wheels and tires of your car. Those wheels and tires are connected to either longitudinal structural members or axles that help to displace the crash energy. Each door also has a side brace installed.
What's a crash box?
The smart fortwo is designed with steel bumpers at the front and rear that are bolted to the safety cell´s longitudinal beams via slip tubes. They can be replaced after minor collisions at low costs. For parking lot bumps, an impact of less than 2 miles an hour won't affect the crash box at all. Up to about 10 miles per hour, the slip tubes move to keep impact away from the tridion safety cell. Over 10 miles an hour, the tridion safety cell transmits impact over its entire surface to dissipate energy and protect its occupants (assuming a perpendicular impact involving the entire front width). At the rear of the car, the crash box is also built of steel, which crumples much like the front slip tubes do. At an impact exceeding the severity threshold, the fuel supply to the engine is stopped and the central locking system is automatically unlocked.
Side impact strength
You might have noticed that the smart fortwo has a pretty short wheelbase, but you probably haven't thought of that as a safety feature. If you suffer a side impact in your smart fortwo, chances are that the car hitting you will hit the wheels and tires of your car. Those wheels and tires are connected to either longitudinal structural members or axles that help to displace the crash energy. Each door also has a side brace installed.
Lexus Fanatic
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From: tech capital
Lexus Fanatic
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From: A better place
The problem is, it's still largely irrelevant. Mercedes does not address the fact that the Smart still has to obey the laws of physics.
Look at the Smart in this video and in other crash videos. The Smart always bounces away from the crash impact like a tennis ball. Yes, part of the crash energy is reflected by the Smart's structure outwards, but the fact remains that a lot of the crash energy is still transmitted into the interior and therefore the occupants.
Crash tests don't lie.
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From: Massachusetts
Yes, the Smart has an extremely hard safety shell and is unlikely to be penetrated.
BUT, it does result in severe whiplash when you bounce 15 feet off something else. It doesn't absorb much energy but rather reflects it. I can only imagine the resulting neck and spine injuries.
BUT, it does result in severe whiplash when you bounce 15 feet off something else. It doesn't absorb much energy but rather reflects it. I can only imagine the resulting neck and spine injuries.
Pole Position
Joined: Jan 2006
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From: UK
Yes, the Smart has an extremely hard safety shell and is unlikely to be penetrated.
BUT, it does result in severe whiplash when you bounce 15 feet off something else. It doesn't absorb much energy but rather reflects it. I can only imagine the resulting neck and spine injuries.
BUT, it does result in severe whiplash when you bounce 15 feet off something else. It doesn't absorb much energy but rather reflects it. I can only imagine the resulting neck and spine injuries.
I can understand those who are of a nervous disposition in life steering clear of a smart. I'm assuming they are never pedestrians walking by the side of traffic in the street, cycle, ride a motorcycle, or drive their Lexus in heavier traffic containing trucks and vans - all situations where their lighter vehicle is likely to come off worse in a collision.
Driver
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From: MADRID
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From: tech capital
I can understand those who are of a nervous disposition in life steering clear of a smart. I'm assuming they are never pedestrians walking by the side of traffic in the street, cycle, ride a motorcycle, or drive their Lexus in heavier traffic containing trucks and vans - all situations where their lighter vehicle is likely to come off worse in a collision.
As I said before:
"Yes, but regular cars/SUVs outnumber 18 wheelers in US, so the odds of a 18 wheeler hitting you are much lower than being hit by a regular car. Not that this changes anything when a collision happens between a smaller vehicle and a larger vehicle, we know which vehicle will have the most damage inflicted on it (and which vehicle has higher incidence of injuries too)."
The stats for the higher injury and death rates for the smaller vehicles is well-documented already.
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From: Massachusetts
So what you're saying is that in any major impact the whiplash injuries sustained by the smart occupants when they rebound from the accident will be greater than the whiplash injuries sustained by the occupants of a heavier vehicle brought to an abrupt stop? You may be right, you may be wrong - could you show me on what evidence you base your opinion? Or are you just imagining as you say?
I can understand those who are of a nervous disposition in life steering clear of a smart. I'm assuming they are never pedestrians walking by the side of traffic in the street, cycle, ride a motorcycle, or drive their Lexus in heavier traffic containing trucks and vans - all situations where their lighter vehicle is likely to come off worse in a collision.
I can understand those who are of a nervous disposition in life steering clear of a smart. I'm assuming they are never pedestrians walking by the side of traffic in the street, cycle, ride a motorcycle, or drive their Lexus in heavier traffic containing trucks and vans - all situations where their lighter vehicle is likely to come off worse in a collision.
It's not to criticize the Smart or small cars. I drive a Yaris.
But perhaps you should watch the Smart/C-class crash test again. There's no question who sustains much worse whiplashing. The Benz appears to be in a rather minor accident while the Smart is whipped into a 360 degree spin in the air rendering the occupants into a violent compound type of whiplash.
Yes, the Smart has an extremely hard safety shell and is unlikely to be penetrated.
BUT, it does result in severe whiplash when you bounce 15 feet off something else. It doesn't absorb much energy but rather reflects it. I can only imagine the resulting neck and spine injuries.
BUT, it does result in severe whiplash when you bounce 15 feet off something else. It doesn't absorb much energy but rather reflects it. I can only imagine the resulting neck and spine injuries.
Once the car has stopped moving after the accident, it is likely hard to tell it was ever a car at all. Essentially, the "safety shell" or the cockpit of the car is the only thing remaining in tact, and usually with a perfectly conscious, perfectly ok driver, minus some bumps and bruises. So, that can be compared to the Smart, somewhat. What can't be compared to the Smart at all, is that for the race car to go from a very fast car to a safety box, takes lots of engineering skill to design. They design the nose cone of those not to withstand an impact, but to crumple relatively slowly to disperse some force. Then, the suspension does the same, as well as the fairings, then eventually, the motor and transmission part ways as well. All of these things are dissipating the initial force of the crash. With the Smart, this simply doesn't happen.
With an average car, its not nearly as an abrupt stop as you might believe. Impact force is lessened the longer the car takes to go from its initial speed to a stop in forward momentum. Watch some crashes in slow motion and you will see that it actually takes a while for the car to stop. Watch the same crashes of a Smart, and you will see that it takes much less time for it to stop in the forward vector, and then, it turns around and bounces back giving a whole different direction of force affecting you.
Back in the day, people drove these huge mammoth all steel, no crumple zone cars. People thought they were great because you could "hit anything" with one and they wouldn't be harmed. The reality is that when a car like this was in a major accident, serious forces were transmitted into the interior, resulting in major injuries in what would now be considered a minor crash.
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From: californication
Umm. No. It's exactly the same as hitting a wall at 40 mph. Ask Mythbusters.
nah. my estimate was way off. But it's not the same as 40mph because of conservation of energy, and mass difference.
yaris weighs 2300, camry weighs 3500.
fuzzy math with conservation of energy says it's about the same as crashing the yaris into a wall somewhere between 60-68mph.
