[Dgrocho]

Originally Posted by 61BelAir

In my opinion this car is potentially very dangerous regardless of what the crash results say and the last few sentences of this article along with its not so good results in "whiplash" go along with what I have been saying all along.

When going head on into a larger car the forces will be greater and combine this with the stiff structure of the Smart you will have those forces transferred to the driver instead of the larger crumple zones we are use to seeing on most larger cars currently produced. These forces IMO will be similar to what Dale Earnhardt experienced when he died. When he hit the wall his head snapped forward so fiercely that it resulted in his death.

They said that the damage to the dummy was not significant enough to even change the rating. While I'm more skeptical about these super compact vehicles after this report, do you have any evidence to backup your claim that a collision in a ForTwo (with seatbelts and airbags) would cause the same forces on a person's head and neck as a collision at 150 mph? Your example of Earnhardt is referencing a vehicle hitting an immovable object. To replicate these forces, the ForTwo and the opposing vehicle would have to be going around 75 mph each and the other vehicle would also have to have no crumple zones, both premises are highly improbable if not impossible. Also add in the additional weight on the head as a helmet and subtract the airbag, and the example seems even more preposterous.

I think this car will be great for commuting and city driving given the crash test results.