Smart says poor crash scores for tiny ForTwo were 'expected'

Justin Hyde | McClatchy Newspapers

4/9/2008 - 4/10/08

The Smart ForTwo two-seat minicar received one of the lowest crash-test scores among 2008-model cars for protecting passengers, according to federal test results released last week.

While the other tests of the Smart produced better results, the scores highlighted the high safety hurdle Smart's U.S. sales team has to climb in order to overcome American buyers' fears about driving the smallest vehicle on the road.

Smart said the results were as expected, although the company has told customers the ForTwo was designed to get four stars in testing. The Smart scored four out of five stars for protecting drivers in a head-on collision under tests by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.



But the Smart garnered only three stars in the same test for passenger protection, meaning the agency estimates passengers face a 21 percent to 35 percent chance of serious injury.

Only one other 2008 car model — the BMW 5 Series — has garnered fewer than four stars in front collision testing for either drivers or passengers. The agency gave the Smart five stars for side-impact crashes, but noted that the vehicle's door popped open during the test, raising the chances of ejection during an accident. Several other vehicles have received similar warnings in side-impact tests.

Technically, NHTSA says the Smart's front crash-test scores can't be compared with any other vehicle on the market. For its tests, the agency runs vehicles into a barrier at 35 mph, which simulates a head-on crash with a model of the same size. NHTSA says the scores should not be compared across different types of vehicles — cars versus trucks, for example — or between vehicles with more than a 250-pound weight difference.



The ForTwo weighs about 1,800 pounds, 500 less than the next smallest model on U.S. roads, the Toyota Yaris; the extended-cab version of Ford's F-150 pickup weighs three times more. Many auto-safety advocates have long maintained that smaller cars are less safe, but some automakers have argued in recent years that better safety technology eliminated the disparity.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which is testing the Smart this week, has said that, for vehicles of different sizes with similar frontal crash test results, "the heavier vehicle will typically offer better protection in real-world crashes."