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December 31, 2006

SMALLEST CARS, LEAST CRASHWORTHY IN IIHS TESTS, ARE BIG SELLERS

Much to nobody’s surprise, a series of IIHS front, side and rear crash tests of “minicars” – the smallest models in the market, which are increasingly popular due to their good gas mileage – showed the vehicles to offer the least protection to occupants. Only the Nissan Versa, which actually is larger than a true “minicar,” earned a high overall rating. In side impact tests, three minicars failed to pass: the Hyundai Accent, Scion xB, and the Toyota Yaris without its optional side airbags. The Chevrolet Aveo was “marginal.” The Honda Fit and Toyota Yaris with side airbags did well in the frontal and side tests, but not the rear impact test.

“Crash test results indicate which vehicles in each weight category afford the best protection in real-world crashes, and this round of tests reveals big differences among the smallest cars. But results of real crashes show that any car that's very small and light isn't the best choice in terms of safety. Driver death rates in minicars are higher than in any other vehicle category. They're more than double the death rates in midsize and large cars,” IIHS said. It released details crash tests results for each of the tested minicars, along with fuel consumption figures for these and other, larger vehicles.

Reaction to the IIHS test results announcement was swift and predictable. Opponents of higher fuel economy standards cited the tests to claim that such standards would compromise safety. The Competitive Enterprise Institute said in a statement that the test results “undermine” demands for tougher fuel economy standards. It alleged that existing Corporate Average Fuel Economy requirement (CAFE) ”contributes to about 2,000 deaths per year through its downsizing effect on cars.”

Meanwhile, ConsumerAffairs.com reported that the “Toyota Yaris, Honda Fit and Nissan Versa are low-priced choices in a small-car market that is up 42.2 percent compared with a year ago... At the same time, the overall automobile market is down 2.5 percent.” Despite IIHS’s findings, it said, “Consumers keep snapping up the tiny units… Discounts on the economy subcompacts are the smallest in five years but the tiny cars are selling in an average 29 days, less than half the time it normally takes to sell a vehicle.”

Dr. Leon Robertson, former senior scientist at IIHS, recently pointed out in a paper in the American Journal of Public Health (see October “Current Developments" Archive) that the federal government has the authority to balance crashworthiness, size, weight and fuel economy requirements for cars so as to minimize their hazardous disparities in crashes and thereby substantially reduce highway crash deaths, but has not so far done so.

Posted by MVHAP at December 31, 2006 11:48 AM