Yes, small cars save gas...just don't get hit in one or they may kill you

Ya I know what they're saying...but I don't think any car would've had any survivors in the accident pictured above. GEEZ, a beam or whatever right thru the driver side windshield...

I've been trying to tell people that for years. Small cars are stupid. They're cramped for passengers space, they don't carry enough stuff in the trunk, and you will die in a collission with a larger vehicle.

AND they save fuel and space on the road, and can be parked easier..

Trying to tell people what exactly ?

That had to be one of the most STUPID articles i have ever read.

"The laws of Physics in favour of Larger Vehicles, even in single vehicle Collisions" is just bollocks.

Smaller/Lighter Vehicles are much more Agile and easier to evade accidents in.

The Well made ones are also quite Structurally Sound and fare just as well if not better than the Useless Behemoths the NA automakers Produce.

Please Look up the Crash Test Pictures of the Ford Escape or CHEVY SURBURBAN and compare them to those of the Audi A3/A4 or Golf Rabbit.

Anybody who knows anything about physics knows that the greater the mass of a moving object, the greater the impulse when it hits a solid non moveable object (Like a Wall) so the whole single vehicle accident thing is bollocks.

The only advantage of Bigger/Heavier Vehicles over smaller/Lighter ones is when the 2 are in a direct collision and the greater mass of the larger vehicle helps.

Whatever dude. You drive a Yaris, I'll drive an Escalade. Let's see what happens when we collide. I'll take my chances with the 'Slade.

Did you say "Sled"?

Nothing would of faired well against a beam. But it's just physics folks, larger cars have more mass and can cause more damage to other vehicles as well as themselves. But I will say Europeans don't complain that much about this fact of life. I think we're just use to having it all......and now we're paying for it.

I would rather have an accident on my small C230 sedan than a chevrolet astro van or silverado or any american truck, just look at ratings and videos from nhtsa, i mean even a small honda civic rates better than those "big trucks" in a front impact collision.....

Does not matter, This whole Midsize/Fullsize Nonsense has to stop. We all know the bigger Sedans being created by the NA automakers are not as structurally sound as the smaller ones from Germany / Japan. so the whole not as safe story is just aimed at the Illeterate/Ignorant part of society who will automatically think that it is true. Unfortunately that segment in the USA amount to a WHOLE LOT OF PEOPLE so the story will be effective.

It's not the small cars killing you, it's the large behemoths that crash into the small cars that do the killing. Take some of thsoe monstrosities of the roads, and we'll all be safer. I dont want to hear rants about 6 children and all their soccer gear or towing boats. Thats a bunch of nonsense people are deluding themselves into believing, to justify buying unnecessary Hummers and (yes, I'll be fair) even Sequoias.

Small cars are stupid. I regularly ride with a group and haul lots of stuff. I need my Tahoe. You just don't understand because no one wants to ride with you, you miserable bastard. Compact cars are for college chicks and lonely men.

I agree. How many of these "space wasting" vehicles exist on our roads today? It's always funny to see a Suburban 2500 with only one person onboard and no receiver hitch!!! Talk about a waste of money and resources.

Holy crap...that's some impact!

I95,

You bring up an excellent point- but there is a devil in the details. The momentum-impulse equation that states that impulse is the change in momentum is incomplete in regard to time. The standard and most useful impulse equation is the impulse as the integral of the net force vector over time- i.e. it is the area under the force/time curve. In a hypothetical sense, all things being equal, you would want a car, in a frontal collision anyway, to have a longer hood. That way the energy is dissipated in the form of the deformation of the frame as opposed to stopping the translation of the car through the frame. In addition a vehicle with a longer hood is more likely by virtue of the mechanics of materials to be more deformable. Because all other things are equal in this hypothetical situation, the car with the longer hood will have a longer collision time and because the area under the curve is the same, that car will experience a lower maximum force. Many cars have crumple zones for this exact reason.

I am even guilty of saying that “impulse is what kills you”- which isn’t strictly true. The maximum force is the actual physical thing that kills you, but that is related to the time over which it acts and truly the impulse.

Now the lowering of this maximum force would be offset by the fact that many cars with longer hood actually do have higher masses. That mass contributes negatively, however, the degree to which the offsets occur and what you are comparing it to, is completely contingent upon the specifics of the problem.

There are instances where being in a higher mass car is much better. In fact the NAS has statistics that shows “Years of statistics show that small cars "are involved in more collisions than larger vehicles," and "Small vehicles have higher fatality rates than larger ones," …”data show that drivers of the safest small cars are13% to 15% more likely to die in crashes than drivers of midsize and full-size cars are. But the chart also shows that the least-safe small cars are at least 90% more dangerous than midsize and full-size cars, meaning the driver is almost twice as likely to be killed."

001... I would expect you to debunk this article, not pass it along. Good work... not.

Driving a 5000 lb auto might be for me a fate worse than death. I'll take my chances driving a 3200 lb. sports sedan, and if I get smashed by a Surburban at least I'll die having a blast!

I agree that the real problem isn't small cars but big ones. Imagine a world where everyone drove 1,200 lb F1 cars (with smaller engines, obviously). Do you think there is ANY sub 75 mph crash one of these couldn't take with a yawn? Now imagine hitting a wall at 75 mph in an Escalade...any takers?

Obviously the F1 car isn't a subcompact that seats four, but my point is simply that there is a lot more to safety than dumb mass...except that dumb mass is certainly more lethal to other people.

how about the "dumb mass" comment about an F1 car being safer than an SUV...of course they are. The cockpit is made from titanium composite material, to protect drivers as they break 200mph!!!!

To incorporate safety materials of that level would be far too costly.

Maybe BMW should put 1/4 of that material in the 5 Series doors. Lol