Small cars: only Smart fortwo protects against life-threatening injuries
When a small car collides with a larger one, the smaller vehicle draws the short straw. This is confirmed by the latest ADAC crash test. With one exception: in this Davidand- Goliath clash the Smart fortwo was the only small car able to prevent lifethreatening injuries to the driver from severe trauma to the chest.
The standard EuroNCAP crash test simulates a frontal collision with a vehicle of the same weight. In contrast, for the first time the ADAC had four smaller models crash into a barrier vehicle equivalent to a lower-end mid-sized car.
Further, in this first compatibility crash test the unequally matched parties to the accident collided with an offset of 50 per cent. This is because, according to the ADAC, in an accident it is usually vehicles of different weights that collide, usually with a degree of lateral offset. The horrifying outcome of the crash test is that life-threatening injuries in the chest region are commonplace in smaller vehicles. Only the Smart fortwo protected its driver from such injuries ? despite being the smallest and lightest vehicle in the test.
According to the ADAC, the reasons for the alarming test results lie partly in the fact that the short crumple zone of smaller vehicles cannot absorb sufficient energy and the forces unleashed during an accident are often not conducted to the corresponding energy-absorbing components.
The Smart fortwo owes its good crash test result to an innovative construction based on examinations of actual accident scenarios conducted by Mercedes- Benz Cars as opposed to focusing solely on the requirements of EU and American laws.
Collisions with other vehicles in different constellations were therefore taken into account during the development phase of the Smart fortwo. Because the constructional crash-safety provisions and restraint systems of all vehicles of Mercedes-Benz Cars satisfy such strict, internal standards that in part go way beyond the statutory requirements, they have also proved themselves in everyday practice.
The same goes for the Smart for two.
? Words and image: quickpic.co.za
The standard EuroNCAP crash test simulates a frontal collision with a vehicle of the same weight. In contrast, for the first time the ADAC had four smaller models crash into a barrier vehicle equivalent to a lower-end mid-sized car.
Further, in this first compatibility crash test the unequally matched parties to the accident collided with an offset of 50 per cent. This is because, according to the ADAC, in an accident it is usually vehicles of different weights that collide, usually with a degree of lateral offset. The horrifying outcome of the crash test is that life-threatening injuries in the chest region are commonplace in smaller vehicles. Only the Smart fortwo protected its driver from such injuries ? despite being the smallest and lightest vehicle in the test.
According to the ADAC, the reasons for the alarming test results lie partly in the fact that the short crumple zone of smaller vehicles cannot absorb sufficient energy and the forces unleashed during an accident are often not conducted to the corresponding energy-absorbing components.
The Smart fortwo owes its good crash test result to an innovative construction based on examinations of actual accident scenarios conducted by Mercedes- Benz Cars as opposed to focusing solely on the requirements of EU and American laws.
Collisions with other vehicles in different constellations were therefore taken into account during the development phase of the Smart fortwo. Because the constructional crash-safety provisions and restraint systems of all vehicles of Mercedes-Benz Cars satisfy such strict, internal standards that in part go way beyond the statutory requirements, they have also proved themselves in everyday practice.
The same goes for the Smart for two.
? Words and image: quickpic.co.za
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