CNN/AP: Small cars fare poorly in crash tests

[DeepModem Mom]

Small cars fare poorly in crash tests
Chevrolet Cobalt, Toyota Corolla earn 'acceptable' rating
Monday, March 7, 2005 Posted: 12:19 AM EST (0519 GMT)


DETROIT, Michigan (AP) -- The Dodge Neon, Ford Focus and Volkswagen New Beetle are among the small cars that got the lowest safety rating in new side-impact crash tests performed by the insurance industry, according to results released Sunday.

Fourteen of the 16 cars tested earned a "poor," the lowest of four ratings, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said. The Chevrolet Cobalt and the Toyota Corolla earned the second-highest rating of "acceptable," but only when they were tested with their optional side air bags. They earned "poor" ratings without the air bags.

Other vehicles that earned a "poor" rating were the Hyundai Elantra, Kia Spectra, Mazda 3, Mitsubishi Lancer, Nissan Sentra, Saturn Ion, Suzuki Forenza and Suzuki Aerio....

***

Four of the vehicles tested -- the Elantra, New Beetle, Forenza and Spectra -- have standard, head-protecting side air bags. But the institute's chief operating officer, Adrian Lund, said the cars had poor structure that failed to prevent injuries to the torso and pelvis....


http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/03/06/crash.tests.ap/index.html

[zalinda]

1. Should of tried the

Smart car. Great little car, can't wait for it to get to the states.

zalinda

[lastknowngood]

2. Ugh is this a study that really needed to be made. 3500 pounds

with huge bumper 2 feet of the ground runs into a 1600 pound car with a
top only 3 and a half feet. I'm no rocket scientist but that math ain't that hard.

[neomonkey]

3. More breaking news from CNN

LARGE CARS FARE POORLY AT THE GAS PUMP!

[girl gone mad]

8. If automobile manufacturers aren't doing a good enough job on safety...

issues, then yes, I want to hear about it.

Just because these cars are more fuel efficient doesn't mean they should be given a free pass on crash testing.

All of these cars can be made more safe, even against the SUVs. It's just a matter of engineering.

I don't get the defensiveness from Duers on this issue. SUV's have gotten quite a bit of bad press on these same tests through the years.

[conflictgirl]

11. I can tell you why I react with cynicism to this news

People read these studies at a time when gas prices are skyrocketing and anyone with common sense begins to realize that driving SUVs is irresponsible both environmentally and financially, and then they decide that they'll stick with their big gas-sucking behemoth because "small cars aren't safe". Of course the auto manufacturers need to make safer cars in all weight classes, but across the board indictments of small cars only convinces people to buy bigger vehicles, not to demand safer small ones.

[bemildred]

4. No shit. How do they do on rollover tests? And gas mileage?

And maintenance costs?
How do they affect congestion and traffic?
Are they cheaper to buy?

[CottonBear]

18. Rollover testimonial - Toyota Corolla

We were run off the interstate (I-65 in rural Alabama) at 65 MPH. Some idiot pulled into our lane. I could have touched their car (I was in the front passenger seat.), Our little Corolla fishtailed on and off the pavement, we went across the median, did a 360 spin in the median (OMG!) and went across the southbound lanes going north. Oh Shit! We're gonna die. We made it. It was a miracle: all southbound traffic was missed. We came to rest facing NORTH on the SOUTH side. (No one stopped to help us and the idiot driver stopped for a minute, saw we were alive and sped off...) Traffic started zooming past. We didn't drive to New Orleans for another 5 years.

Small cars and mid-sized cars (front wheel drive) are very stable in a skid-rollover situation. If we'd been in our Chevy Blazer, we would have been dead.

[bemildred]

19. I like Corollas too. I've had a lot of small cars, and they kick ass.

Not to mention that if everybody that didn't NEED something
else drove small vehicles traffic jams would be less prevalent,
gas would be cheaper, and the trade deficit smaller.

[CottonBear]

21. Corollas rock!

My good friend had a 78 Corolla that she drove for almost 15 years! Tina Toyota was sold for $500 and may still be going strong today!

We also have a 1978 Datsun Pickup. It's a bright blue rusty classic. A tin can Classic, but a classic nontheless. The Overhaulin' TV show needs to redo it!

[all.of.me]

22. toyota stories

i bought a 76 corolla brand new for $2200! i drove it for seven years, never putting oil in it, but maybe twice. i sold it at 95,000 miles for $650 and in need of a valve job. a friend of a friend bought it, and i saw it around town for years after that!

then i bought a 1982 pickup brand new for $7000. i drove that for 14 years and loaned it to a friend at 225,000 miles. it had been across the country at least a dozen times (i know i-40 by heart!) and up and down both coasts. that person rolled it and sent it to the junkyard. when he went to get parts off it, it was gone! the junkyard man told him someone had come and beat out the ceiling of the cab and drove off in it!

since then, i've had an 85 van (loved that thing!), a couple of landcruisers, a camry wagon, another truck i've had for seven years, and now i have a 91 4runner that i bought last fall with only 90,000 miles on it! i'm sure i'll have it for about 10 years.......

[CottonBear]

23. Amazing!

I had an '85 pickup. I love my little car. I've got a 1993 Dodge Dakota truck but the Corolla's the one we travel in when not camping or doing horse show stuff.

I love that the back seats fold down. And, I have a rack for the top: I can put two bikes and two kayaks up there plus any other extra gear that I can tie on!

[gratuitous]

5. This qualifies as LBN for CNN, I guess

What's next? The Humvee does poorly in terms of gasoline efficiency?

Though I will admit that that apparently came as a bit of a shock to some folks who bought the overweight, overpriced behemoth.

[Enraged_Ape]

6. Fuck the MSM whores up their stupid asses

Like I'm going to go out and buy a Humvee now that I know gas prices are going to be $4.00/gal within two years.

These people are so obvious. How can anyone still listen to them?

[Ready4Change]

7. Headline "Large cars fatal threat to occupants of smaller cars"

Why isn't THAT the headline?

[NYC Liberal]

9. It's CNN. Need we go any furthur?

[hippiechick]

10. Y'think ?

:freak: Geez, these people are brilliant. :eyes:

[daleo]

12. Small cars fare poorly in ambush tests.

Recent tests by the U.S. military confirm that small cars fare rather poorly when ambushed by military vehicles in Iraq. Journalists are advised to choose the largest target...er...vehicle they can afford.

[LiberalFighter]

13. My car is the best....

I don't let anyone hit me

[masshole]

14. No better car ever built

A 40-50 MPH head-on collision

"Note that the passenger compartment is almost perfectly intact, virtually no damage to the doors. This is a *RUSTY* Connecticut car, and it still did exactly what it's supposed to do."

Mine is the exact same year and model in the picture, it becomes my daughter's first car in about a month.

More Volvo safety stories:
http://www.swedishbricks.net/faq/safety.html

[DemoTex]

16. My wife was T-boned in her new '98 Volvo V-70 wagon in 1999.

She had left our downtown Dallas church (1st Pres) for her office at Los Colinas. A woman ran a red light in a big Mercedes E-320. My wife's car was hit at the right rear passenger door, spun around three times, and knocked up against a curb and Jersey barrier wall. The car was totaled. Dr. DemoTex was not scratched. The 50'ish woman in the E-320 (an employee of Trammell-Crow in Dallas) had her 30-ish boyfriend in the car. At least that was the way we read it vis-a-vis her phenomenal desire to co-operate and keep the wreck out of any scrutiny. Sport-fucking during the church hour was my read.

We replaced the Volvo wagon with a SAAB 9-5 wagon, which we love. But her partner in Chicago is now pushing for her to have a company car to level some pay issues with a company they are acquiring. I said "push it!" Always take a company car if nothing else is offered. She is going to ask for a new Volvo X-C (the X-C because of our bad gravel roads here on the mountain in NC).

Then we will sell the Saab and the old Sube Outback, and I will be able to pay cash for either a new Subaru Outback or Toyota truck (probably the Sube). Sound like a plan, Vern?

[XemaSab]

15. This does simulate being hit with an SUV

The institute's test simulates a severe crash. A barrier designed to resemble the front of a pickup or sport utility vehicle hits the side of the vehicle at 31 mph. A "poor" rating means a high chance of serious injury in a similar crash.

SUV's are total road hazards. No further comment needed....

[jwirr]

17. Isn't CNN/AP a little behind on the news?

Ralph Nader told us this in the 70s.

[napi21]

20. Anything small is always at a disadvantage up against BIG, but

my husband drove a Neon for 4 years, had absolutely NO problems until some idiot hit him very hard in the left front. Yes, it totaled the Neon, but he didn't even get a scratch! Sore chest for a while because the airbag deployed, but that was it.

The car that hit him was a camaro, and I'm sure things could have been worse if it had been an SUV, but people just have to understand that in a crash between small and large, the big boy almost always wins.