NPR Cartalk - Suziki Swift deathtrap

[i_am_socket]

Originally Posted by slurp812

I believe the car never killed anyone, its the idiots behind the wheel that make them dangerous.

Indeed. Just like someone mentioned above: most of the worst death/# ratio vehicles are most likely to be driven by idiots... er... invincible morons... er... "less experienced drivers" and those with the better ratios are more likely to be driven by families and "more experienced drivers."

Guns don't kill people, people kill people.

[MazdaMatt]

When i found the page with the f150 death stats it said that it was likely caused by the demographic of F150 ownership. Typically over-aggressive, under-educated, young, rural males. I'm not making it up, that's what the website suggested. Not sure if it came from a valid study, but that pretty much sums up the "stereotypical" F150 driver to me. I'd be willing to bet that drunk driving charges and other stupid-factors would file neatly into the same demographic.

[texanidiot25]

Crash between a mid-sized SUV (By our standards) and a Civic: It's a test of "compatibility issues" large cars and suvs vs smaller cars. Even identical cars that have difference in ride height thanks to a heavier load.

YouTube - Fifth Gear - When an SUV rams a smaller car

More stunning then you think. Side impact..

And that is all too common. I've seen Accords tossed 30-40 feet from the point of impact when t-boned by a Tahoe. Tahoe was comming down off the freeway, to the intersection. Aparently the Accord ran the light and the Tahoe hit at near freeway speeds (50 mph is common at that light on the feeder).

The Tahoe faired very well, no damage beyond the firewall into the cabin. The accord was shoved with it's side in the middle of the car now, down in the retention pond (empty at that time) some 30-40 feet away.

[akcapeco]

I find myself wondering what the intent of the original post was here. But either way, these conversations are important. Those of us who choose to drive very small, lightweight cars are better off making the choice with our eyes wide open vs. in denial.

And it doesn't take a genius to know that a car, the Swift-Metro-Firefly-Cultus, whose last generation arrived in the marketplace thirteen years ago... is bound to have serious compromises compared to current small cars.

Mazda has been committed to reducing weight in its vehicles, and recently introduced the Mazda2 to the European market -- at roughly 400lbs lighter than its competition. 60% of the weight reduction came from engineering while 20% came from simply size reduction.



And the Mazda2 falls roughly into the same size and weight category of our Suzuki Cultus-based Metro's and Swifts. How does it fair in the Euro Encap tests?

It's amazing to see -- of course, even a well-designed little car, with all today's best thinking, can't change the laws of physics. It does it's best:

Mazda2 Euro Ncap Crash Video's
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[Krieg]

That's a nice little find there. Thanks for posting.

See how the roof stays intact? That's engineering in action!

The front end is crushed to absorb the forces of the accident. The passenger compartment does not deform at all.

Only problem with crash tests like this is that they don't simulate a crash with a larger vehicle.

[Krieg]

Keep this in mind as well: new cars are MORE efficient than old ones.

Honda says that it is increasing the efficiency of its engines by 1% per year. That is an astonishing rate of increase for something as old as the IC engine!

It's a small increase year to year, but over time, it really adds up.

That's how the automakers can build such large, heavy cars that still meet the same CAFE standards as the older, smaller, lighter cars.

[akcapeco]

Here's a similar vintage Honda Civic, yikes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Y4yIjT83kA