For the first time, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has tested the smallest vehicles sold in the US market, which are gaining popularity as fuel prices rise.
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Rated for comparison of occupant protection in front, side, and rear crashes. The Nissan Versa earned good ratings in all three tests while the Honda Fit (Jazz) and Toyota Yaris earned good ratings in front and side but not rear tests.
The non-profit institute cautioned that results of real crashes show that any car that’s very small and light isn’t the best choice in terms of safety. Driver death rates in minicars are higher than in any other vehicle category. They’re more than double the death rates in midsize and large cars.
“People travelling in small, light cars are at a disadvantage, especially when they collide with bigger, heavier vehicles. The laws of physics dictate this,” said institute president Adrian Lund. Death rates in single-vehicle crashes also are higher in smaller vehicles than in bigger ones.
Minicars weigh about 2,500 pounds or less. A typical small car weighs about 300 additional pounds, and midsize cars weigh about 800 pounds more than a minicar. A midsize SUV weighs 4,000 pounds or more, exceeding the weight of a minicar by at least 60%. In every vehicle category (car, SUV, or pickup truck), the risk of crash death is higher in the smaller, lighter models.
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By GlobalData“Despite the safety trade-off, more consumers are buying minicars,” Lund says. “This is why we tested them. We want consumers to use the ratings to choose the most crashworthy designs among the smallest cars.”
Bigger than the other cars the Institute tested this time around, the Nissan Versa is classified a small car, the next size class up from minis. But this car is marketed to compete with minicars, so the institute is releasing its ratings along with those of competing models.
The Versa was the only car in this round to earn the highest rating of good in all three tests. In the frontal test, its structure held up well, minimising intrusion into the space around the driver dummy. Most injury measures were low. In the side test, the standard curtain-style airbags prevented contact between the striking barrier and the heads of the crash test dummies (Nissan is modifying the side airbags in cars built after November 2006 to improve protection in side impacts).
“The Versa is bigger than the other cars we tested, so it has size and weight on its side as well as good test results,” Lund said.
The Honda Fit with standard side airbags and the Toyota Yaris equipped with optional side airbags also earned good ratings in front and side tests. However, rear protection wasn’t rated good. The Yaris was rated marginal for occupant protection in rear impacts, and the Fit’s rear rating was poor.
The Institute conducted two frontal tests of the Fit. In the first test the frontal airbag deployed too early, allowing high forces on the driver dummy’s head. Honda is modifying the airbags in cars built after November 2006 and said it would recall cars built earlier. In the second test of a Fit with the design change, the frontal airbag deployed properly, and injury measures recorded on the dummy’s head were low.
The Hyundai Accent, Scion xB, and the Toyota Yaris without its optional side airbags earned poor ratings in the side test. The Chevrolet Aveo was marginal. The Accent and Aveo didn’t perform well even though they have standard side airbags. The Aveo’s front seat-mounted side airbags did a good job of protecting the driver dummy’s head, but this car’s structural performance was marginal. Intrusion into the occupant compartment led to high forces on the driver dummy’s pelvis. There was no side airbag protection for rear-seat passengers, and the barrier struck the dummy’s head.
The Accent’s structural performance in the side test also was marginal. Curtain-style airbags in front and rear seats provided good head protection, but measures recorded elsewhere on the driver dummy indicate a motorist in a similar real-world crash would be likely to sustain internal organ injuries, broken ribs, and a fractured pelvis.
Overall the Accent was the lowest rated car in this group. The rank order takes into account all three ratings (front, side, and rear).
Another poor performer in the side test was the Scion xB. Side airbags aren’t available, and the xB’s side structure didn’t do a good job of resisting intrusion during the impact. The barrier intruded into the car and struck the driver dummy’s head. Measures indicate the likelihood of brain injuries, serious neck injuries, and a fractured pelvis in a real-world crash of similar severity.
“The Scion’s poor side rating and marginal rating in the rear test are especially disappointing because this car is marketed to young drivers, who have the highest crash rates and thus the greatest need for crashworthy vehicles,” Lund said. “Toyota says it will replace the current xB design later in the 2007 model year, and hopefully the new version will be a better performer.”
People often choose to buy very light cars for fuel economy but “you don’t have to buy the smallest, lightest car to get one that’s easy on fuel consumption,” Lund pointed out. “Models including the Honda Civic, not even the hybrid version, and Toyota Corolla are bigger than the minicars we tested and weigh more, so we would expect better occupant protection in serious crashes. At the same time, these and other small car models get nearly as good fuel economy as minicars.”
“Tests like these are going to set small cars back a half-decade,” industry analyst Eric Noble of CarLab told the Los Angeles Times. His Orange firm specialises in product testing and development consulting for automakers.
“Toyota doesn’t usually make mistakes,” Noble reportedly said, “but it was foolish of them to bring over small cars designed for the Japanese market,” where cars and trucks are much smaller than those in the US.
