joe_padavano

http://www.autoweek.com/article/2009...NEWS/904149995

olds67

hi joe
in italy they are quite a lot of it and they are comfortable, they consume little.
the only problem is the engine 80000 km/40000s miles and gives to refer.
marcello

Nilsson

They forgot to mention how these roller skates can also double as a casket. Once run over by a suv just pick it up with occupant still in it dig a hole and drop it in.

olds67

hi Nilsson
you are right.
me some years ago has seen one roll of it he didn't stop more but the boy has gone out unharmed and not as.
marcello

csstrux

I saw a smartcar crash test done at 70 mph on youtube. Wild. The were saying the collision would have killed you, but from rapid deceleration, not structural collaps. Those looked to be tough little cars for their size.

citcapp

Lets face it their size is against them. The bumper on a full size puckup it going to take them out. Nothing but sheet metal in the way at that height. You won't find me even taking one for a test drive. Rather ride my motorcycle at least I can dodge most issues

jensenracing77

i would feel safer on my 4 wheeler 30 foot in the air.

derek nesdoly

After 25 years in the Emergency dept. putting some back together[and pronouncing the rest], the answer Joe is NO! I'm sure as a mechanical engineer you have some great physics equations that explain things.I keep it simple and just know that small car meets big car-big car wins,and car metal meets human tissue-car wins .We get the same inane funded studies in Medicine..." Does smoking 3 packs a day&drinking a 60 pounder of JB a day affect your chances of becoming an Olympic sprinter ". derek

csstrux

I'll keep my truck.

68conv455

It's all about momentum.
Momentum = mass * velocity
The baseball flies off the bat, the bat doesn't fly off the baseball.
Hence, the microcar flies off the Delta 88.

csstrux

let's see here hmmmmm 78,000 lbs verses 2600, going ..... I WIN!!!!! Too bad the little shitz still try. the last one actually moved me about 2 " in my lane before he started rotating under my nose, man you should have seen the mess after he over corrected, and did the dukes of hazard across the median, over 10" curbs, 3 lanes ov traffic, and bounced off the curb in the oncomming lanes. Think he was doing a bit better than the posted limit? The cop laughed in the guys face when he told him that I hit him. Punks street racing.

ent72olds

Maybe this will wake some people up! If those cars had rear seats, I'm sure you'd find some idiots with child car seats in the back, trying to justify why they drive these...just dangerous!

Eric Anderson

Hmm... I think we should fund a study to study the validity of the previous study...

Olds64

It is an attempt to justify hiking up insurance rates on smaller vehicles. Once gasoline passes $4.00 again people won't be driving their SUVs and Oldsmobiles. There will be more small cars on the road, and the insurance companies will rake in the big bucks because they have some lame @$$ excuse to charge the Joneses more for insurance.

IMHO, I wouldn't drive a Smart or modern hybrid car because you can spend $1000 and buy a 1990 Dodge Colt that gets better gas mileage.

Oldsguy

The insurance angle is surely possible. I think there are basically two issues here. First; the hypocracy of the Federal Government making a big deal about these small cars and their safety issues (as clearly stated above) to explain the protectionism exerted upon foreign car manufacturers in the name of safety when on the other hand they do nothing about motorcycle safety and won't federally mandate the wearing of safety gear on all motorcycles. Second, which was eluded to in the first point, America drives differently than Europe/Asia and has a preponderance of larger vehicles and more of them per population which makes it more unsafe for the little cars. I bet there aren't as many serious accidents in Europe/Asia because ALL the cars are smaller there with much fewer, if any big SUVs with mommy behind the wheel trying to talk on the cell phone, appease the kids, drink her coffee and drive at the same time.
Face it, we are just different.

joe_padavano

Yeah, given that the study was done by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. For those who don't know, the IIHS is the lobbying agency for the auto insurance industry. This same study came out in the mid-1970s when cars were being downsized after the first OPEC oil crisis and again in the 1980s in response to government CAFE standards. Of course, the IIHS includes such folks as Joan Claybrook, who advocated long and hard for mandatory airbags in the 1970s then complained when those early airbags started killing people who sat too close to them...

Bottom line is that the number one mission of the IIHS is to increase profits for the insurance industry.

OLD SKL 69

x2

I could never drive one of those little turds anywhere, especially on the interstate.

wolfman98

I just took apart the bumper and steel bumper liner with the very solid steel bumper brackets that bolt onto the very solid steel frame. Thi is a 69 Olds 98 , I wonder what any small car would look like in a 60mph head on crash with something like that Pancakes turned on edge comes to mind I can't even imagine with a tractor-trailer

kartmaster

This is a shocking result. Truly shocking!

Coltonis

HA! In the parking lot on my way into work one day, I saw a mom buckling her 4(-ish) yr old into one of these:


I thought to myself, "What's the point!? Being thrown from that thing is probably the safest outcome you could hope for if it crashed! Plexiglass,fiberglass,aluminum - it all turns to razor sharp shards when its crunch time. At least getting tossed out you have the slight chance of landing on a comparatively soft bush/piece of grass."

I was in Northern Ireland not too long ago and was amazed at how roadways just looked like roller-skate rinks. Biggest car I saw the whole time I was there was the occasional full sized beamer or benz. It was almost a good thing though when the sliver-thin streets get factored into the equation.

I have never wanted to drive my Cutlass more in my life... The Renault's and Peugot's would would quake at the very echo of its 455