Ever wonder how the Smart ForTwo would fare in a car accident? Sure the car looks small and fragile, but apparently it has good passenger protection because of it’s Safety Cell unibody. An independant German team did an experiment, orchestrating a simple head-on collision between a Smart ForTwo and a Mercedes Benz S-Class to see what would happen. What I really want to see though is a collision between a Smart ForTwo and an SUV.
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After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history.
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wow…the smart was melayangla…with suv???…i think really melayangla dis car….still…car for a rich people who dunno wut to do with thier money…not worth it…
Amazing!!!..Merc pun teruk kena hentam.. but for2 cabin was still intact.. Just amazing… smartfor2 price in bolahland oso AMAZING!!!…
Wow man! That's one safe CAR! If I can afford it, will dump a GSXR1000 engine inside. Unfortunately, the estimated cost is around RM 200k (inclusive the car)!
Yes, the price of the Smartfortwo in Malaysia is ridiculous!
Imagine if you were in the Smart ForTwo, after the first crash your car lifted into the air and land on its side. Your are still alive but then you hear another tyre screeching sound and then you see the lights. Apparently your light weight car melayang backwards into oncoming traffic and the second crash caused vey severe damaged.
Just a point to ponder about using light weight cars. I use a Kancil and everyday I am worried about safety. But what can do, at the moment financially not favourable to change car. However, my next car must have ABS & Airbags for added safety.
Tell that to some Myvi supporters who think all you need are ABS & Airbags and strong body shell not necessary by their ridiculing the stronger shelled Savvy. They are all important. Period.
ohh…nooo….!!!!flying away!!!…agree with u Tracks,the opposite traffic will 'hentam' it and caused more tragic…..well,at least they show how strong the Smart cabin..i wonder if Savvy also strong enough..any idea?
teruk teruk…..both of them worthless…..smartfor2 melayang , mers s clss gigi semua hilang damn…need plastic surgery for the ladies….
haha amir, what did you expect? one car to come up unscratched? :p
both cars are super safe. there is a true story – a Smart was pulled all the way to ANOTHER COUNTRY in europe: a container truck driver didn't realise he had hit a Smart on the highway until both were in Germany… and the Smart driver didn't even have a bruise.
paul: speaking from personal experience, i can assure you that an S-class can easily crush most of the SUVs on our roads, except the European ones =)
ruykava: an suv's bumper and body structure is higher than a sedan liek the S class. so the damage would be hitting the Smart ForTwo at a point higher than what an S class would hit. the Smart ForTwo's structure might not be optimised to take damage at higher points.
Savvy bodyshell is strong but that doesnt mean MyVi bodyshell is weak. Get that fact right. A car with no airbag and ABS.. where your head will land onto when accident happens? on the steering wheel? good for you.
Wow… even though it 'flies' away but the the safety features are really great, even the big S-class can't harn the passengers badly. By the way, The Smart for-two is just the size of the engine part of the S-class! haha… n yeah… the Smart For-two is really expensive.. if Brabus version even more expensive… hmm… I only saw one in my town here, but I don't like the colour, green with black… strange….
Hm, I always thought that the ForTwo will not fare much better than a Kancil, but it is indeed very safe. I agree with Tracks though, it might survive one crash, but when you are on a highway and cars are travelling faster, multiple or series crashes do occur, the passengers of the ForTwo might not be so safe then. The test is just a frontal crash test, how about the sides? And what if the car is hit by a lorry, the bumper of the lorry is so high, it might just hit the mirrors. The rear screen of the ForTwo is very near to the head of the passengers. I think there's only a clearance about 1 feet + between the rear screen and the passenger headrest.
Aiya aesthari, every car safety feature there is a limit, but look at the crash test, Smart for 2 is consider safe under normal head-on collision even with big-bull S class.
If imagine and/or talk on extreme conditions, then why don't mentioned roll over by steam roller or American M-1 Abram Main Battle Tank, any sedan car also flatten like roti canai lol……….
ask P1 to do similar test and we see how is the result with their so-called TOUGH CAR' Savvy :)
Haha, I didn't talk about battle tanks and stuff cuz we don't have those running on our roads, but colission with larger vehicles like 4x4s and lorries are common on Malaysian roads. No, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the ForTwo isn't safe enough, I was just wondering about the results should a crash happen from the rear or sides.
hooiyo track…i cant imagine that…dats really horrible…
haiya u guyz…da start topic p1 and p2 pulak dah…alahai…not only p1 and p2…all carmakers if they dun hv a good safety features…the car will hancusla…if u jz hv a strong bodyshell…bt dun hv other features…u still not selamat…same like u hv good safety features xcept the bodyshell is not strong…still…x selamat…
Owww.. I wouldn't want to be in that smart fortwo. Even though the car will fly and the cabin is strong enough to protect me, i'll probably die of heart attack…
Conclusion: nothing is safe on the road. Be it a mayback or hummer…
TUV did the test?, there's a sticker written TUV on it at the side of the car..
Noted your comment aesthari. Anyway, my opinion are drive carefully and safely. We have a duty of care toward others during driving. Car safety feature is design to take certain impact and minimize injury to human body. Car with inadequate safety feature is too bad and make our life "cheap".
org tuh patah kaki jek… ekekekeke
well smart looks so pity….. they look like playing rubgy….
Stay on to watch our National Car SRM launching this FRIDAY 16 June 2006 CONFIRM!!!!!!!
Go to any Proton or eon showroom on this FRIDAY 16 june 2006 desire!
The occupants would have sustained serious head injuries after the rollover. No doubt that the cabin is sturdy but it's so prone to tipping over. Hmm.. Maybe it needs side airbags.
Honda has been doing vehicle crash compatibility test since 2001 in Tochigi, Japan. Massively expensive crash tests are conducted here. Sort of a English Premier League kind of thing where for example several Civics will be crash-tested one-by-one with other models, big or small like Accord, Life, Fit, Legend and etc.
not so smart after this…
i have a feeling this is a more "real-world" and closer to life test than the usual euro ncap one. because it seems that they're goin at a far higher speed, closer to wat we'd be driving, hence scarrier results. the s-class' grille popped out from the impact!
so terrible &wonder if the smart fortwo can be tough as proton savvy or put proton savvy VS smartfortwo car together to see the results..
anybody know at what speed this 2 cars collied?
eerrrr…it reminds me wut vw had done to thier car…vw phaeton and vw lupo…the lupo also melayang but not like this smart…horror…hehehek…
btw…out of topic…saw eurosport news today…the arabian use jeep wrangler to play football…jz like the aygo and fox…
TIN CAN!!
Though the cabin might still be in good condition, the ppl inside the car will die of the various and multiple impacts when the car goes 'layang'ing.
Personally, I don't think side airbags would have helped as it would have been triggered during the frontal collision rendering it useless during a roll over. Therefore, the result would still be severe head injuries due to the roll over.
not to mention a broken neck as it "melayangs" lol
however it does go to show that even small cars can be relatively safe today, unlike certain small cars on malaysian roads that dont feature new technologies
sure myvi oso can't handle dat !
savvy jz like for2 !
Tracks,
A frontal crash will not trigger the deployment of side airbags. There are only two scenarios where the side airbags will deploy. Current generation side airbags will only deploy when the side impact sensors detect a crash from the side. The sensors work independently on the left hand side and right hand side. Next generation side airbags will deploy together with driver and passenger airbags if the roll rate sensor detects a roll.
Compared to driver or passenger airbags, side airbags deploy MUCH faster while it also deflates much slower after deployment. The slow deflating action is meant to allow the side airbags to act as a cushion for the occupants heads against the road or roof.
Isamu,
Thanks for the info. However, what you have mentioned is also what I thought would have happen earlier before I watched the video. Take note that the side and curtain airbags on the left side of the S-class had deployed during the collision.
Looking back at the video at slow motion, you would notice that the for2 tridon cell flex significantly during the collision. Now, if the for2 had side and curtain airbags just like the S-class, my guess is that it would had triggerred the airbags but perhaps prematurely rendering it to be less effective during a roll-over.
These are just my assumption based on my observation of the above video.
Traditionally, technologies "GADGETS" found in S-Class are roughly 5~8 years ahead of others. This is especially true for safety technologies. So, the current S-Class is in fact a pseudo-next generation car. Of course next generation safety technologies will incorporate newer hardwares and softwares. Actually the most important thing in safety gadgets is the software. Most of the algorithms are proprietary stuff owned by suppliers. Even companies like Daimler-Chrysler, BMW, Volvo, Toyota and Honda don't know much about these technologies. They approach the suppliers in order for solutions customised for them.
There's going to be an SUV out soon on the local market with some next generation safety tecnologies. Most probably by the end of the year.