What's the more sexy statistic: 0-60 mph of 4.0 secs, or 0 deaths per million vehicles? Just from casual perusing of the top auto websites, the answer is obvious. For example, I just checked Car and Driver's ranking of midsize luxury crossovers. The usual suspects hold the top 9 spots, headed by the Porsche Macan (followed by a bevy of German cars and some British makes mixed in). At the number 10 spot and the only non-European make is the Lexus RX 350. But according to this IIHS report, a different ranking should have been reported by Car and Driver. Indeed, CD can't even be bothered to report this important IIHS press release anywhere in its website.

 

Neither one, IMHO.

(Sometimes) those attempting to DO 0-60 in 4 seconds simply add to the total of deaths per million miles.

 

True that.

 

Aren't most fatalities due to high speed collisions? I have never seen either of those on the highway. What is the top speed?

I am somewhat surprised to see the chevy truck listed. Is it because of number sold? Or is it a death trap?

 

In general, yes.....but vast differences in vehicle size and weight (such as, say, between a Smart and a Chevy Suburban) can cause injuries or fatalities in a small car even if the impact is not all that severe.

The Scion iQ has not sold well anywhere, but the Smart for Two is fairly common here in the D.C. area, which includes a Beltway and Interstate Highways 95 and 66.

 

Woohoo!

 

I always see them in the highway here and leaves me scratching my head. What's the appeal? Mpg? No, other cars can match or exceed it. Safety? No better cars out there. Price? No, one can get an Honda civic, accord in some cases, Toyota corrola, Mazda etc for the same price.
Give me ONE benefit to having this car. Prior to buying a car I always ask "would I put my kid in it?" Smart car? No is my answer.

 

Smart cars are for densely populated urban areas with their ease of parking/maneuverability, anyone using a smart car to commute miles daily on the freeway is doing it wrong.

 

^ Camaro being high on the fatality list doesn't surprise me. Especially for how cheap you can buy 4th gen LS1 V8 Camaros now days. 3-5k will buy you a good, high mile runner that might look kind of rough. This is a car that will do 160mph, 0-60 in under 5 seconds, and run a low 13 second quarter mile at 104+mph. It takes a judicious right foot to put all that power down too, as you can easily smoke the tires all the way through 1st and part of 2nd. Run bald tires or put your foot down in the rain, you will die.

Really the entry barrier for young guys on that car isn't the price, its the insurance premiums.

 

True, but there are a surprising number of new-car buyers who have little or no idea what they're doing. Anyone, though, it seems, with a normal mind, who has had primary or secondary school and even the most rudimentary introduction to physics, should be able to put a simple 2 and 2 together and see that a major impact in a Smart-for-Two with a larger vehicle, even with its hyped Mercedes safety-engineering, is not going to be good news.

 

Watch how many of them drive Mustangs and Camaros (particularly Mustang V8s) and you'll see why. Not all of them are irresponsible, but, unfortunately, more than their share.

 

is this a true statement for single-car crashes versus immovable guardrail or tree?

 

I wouldn't read too much into the list. Just like CR, it can be skewed many ways.

The first list of supposed safe cars are lower volume cars, a Sequoia/Hybrid Highlander/Odyssey sell nowhere near the volume levels of the Ford Focus or Chevy 1500. So the chances will be greater in the smaller cars which obviously sell in higher volumes.

 

well, i don't know what you've seen, but i wouldn't read much into it as you (nor anyone) obviously can't see very much of the available cars on the road. my experience is mustang v8's are driven by many middle-aged men who'd like to have a corvette but can't afford one. and i don't see them driving recklessly at all.

exactly.

no, you're reading it wrong. the rates are calculated relative to the same volume regardless of sales. see the full article on yahoo.

 

Well, bit, I'll respect your opinion and your experience, but, if I had a dollar, over the years, for every time I saw some idiot in a Mustang GT, SVT, or Cobra cut me or someone else off with some idiotic or dangerous high-speed maneuver, or a dollar for every Mustang-driving young kid in the newspaper whose parents will never see them again, or not see them in one piece, I could probably buy a Mustang with it.