Are Tiny, Gas-Saving Cars Unsafe? Today Mine Saved My Life
I rolled my Toyota Yaris three times this morning after hitting a six-foot-high dirt embankment at highway speed. I crawled out with no more than a bump on my head, seat belt burn, and a massively stiff neck. So, for all you small car safety-doubters out there, I’ve now got personal experience to say otherwise.
Inevitably, whenever we post about small electric cars, funky three-wheelers, or any other small fuel-efficient vehicle here at Gas 2.0, we get typical responses along the lines of “It may get 60 mpg, but that thing’s a death trap,” or “It’s nice to drive electric, but would you trust that car to your family?”
After this morning’s shenanigans, I can unequivocally say “Yes. Yes I would trust my family to a small fuel-efficient car, and I’m miraculously alive and mostly uninjured… so no, it’s not a death trap.”
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My Yaris got 40 mpg and weighed less than half (35%) of a Chevy Suburban. From the outside it may not have looked very substantial, but it sure saved me on fuel costs. And, until today, I would have grudgingly agreed that it may not be as safe as driving a behemoth like the Suburban.
But now that my life has stopped flashing before my eyes, and I’ve had a chance to think, it is simply amazing that I walked away from that crash barely bleeding. I mean, just look at the remnants of my car.
In fact, after today, I think I fared better in my Yaris than I would have in a Suburban land yacht. Imagine how many times I would have flipped in the Suburban and the force of impact that would have come along with crashing a 6,447 pound car?
So, for everybody out there that’s using safety as an excuse to not go green, I must ask you to please take a look at that picture of my car and the wonder of how I walked away well enough to write this post the same day. Then try turning around and telling me that these upcoming small alternative cars aren’t safe simply because they’re small.
It’s more a matter of engineering, and, at least in Toyota’s case, those engineers are miracle-workers.
Editor’s note: This post was updated on October 22, at 8:00 am PST, to correct the curb weight of the Chevy Suburban from 8,600 lbs to 6,447 lbs. 8,600 lbs was the gross vehicle weight rating. 6,447 lbs is the weight of the heaviest Suburban — the 3/4 ton model with four wheel drive. My thanks to Ben Wojdyla, Associate Editor at Jalopnik.com, and the commenters on this post who pointed out that discrepancy.
Yes, it’s a matter of engineering, but you rolled 3 times. Rolling in most cars dissipates energy enough to make a crash survivable. The most spectacular NASCAR crashes are the ones where the car rolls 398 times down the backstretch. Accidents where the car stops suddenly are the ones that cause injury and death, like Dale Ernhardt’s. Regardless, I think you’re a cunt and am disappointed you are now even more smug than ever before about driving a pansy little fuel-efficient car. Crash into a wall and stop suddenly. My Escalade has crumple zones and it’s big enough that the crumple zones are effective. Your car has no crumple zones….small cars are deathtraps and I’m happy you think opposite because when you wreck again, I hope you won’t be so lucky.
The fact that you were not more seriously injured does not mean you would have been less safe in a larger vehicle. With more weight and a larger wheelbase, an SUV may not have rolled at all.
I’m glad you were not injured but this is not evidence, anecdotal or otherwise, that smaller, flimsier vehicles are more safe.
Well, you hit dirt, thank God for that.
Now had you hit something solid, you’d be praying for that suburban. Or, have something solid (like a Suburban) hit you with the same force, your car, and likely you, would be toast.
Learn a little about physics and energy dissipation before you write. The fact that your car rolled helped tremendously.
who cares!
Ok i’ll get my Tundra you get your Yaris and we will plow into each other and see who wins, i’ve always wanted to smash into a smart car
So are you buying another Yaris or are you looking for something different?
About a year and a half ago, I had been side swiped by a 21 year old girl who made an illegal left hand turn in front of me while I was driving my smart car. Her car, a 2007 (two week old at the time) Toyota Camry, was totaled while mine fared much better. All precautions were taken and I was checked out with just bruised ribs. That’s it. My insurance company wanted to get the car fixed but after a week and a half, I convinced them to replace the car. So, yes, I did get another diesel model smart car and tell everyone who thinks that it is a “death trap” that I’m living proof that that car saved my life. I knew it was rock solid when I checked out “smart car crash test” videos on YouTube…
I wish more people would study some physics before the opine about things that require an understanding of the physics of motion.
“Imagine how many times I would have flipped in the Suburban and the force of impact that would have come along with crashing an 8600 pound car?”
Based on this logic, a military tank driver experiences more “force of impact” crashing thru a block wall than would your Yaris. This is obviously not correct; an M1 tank will survive crashing head on into (through) a cinderblock wall at 40mph with virtually no damage, whereas your Yaris, and you, would have been obliterated.
Force felt by the driver of a vehicle in a crash depends upon the accelerations the crash imparts to the vehicle, and to the driver. This is determined by the ability of the struck object to slow or deflect the force of the moving vehicle, which, by basic laws of motion, is higher for a heavy vehicle.
It’s the RATE OF CHANGE in energy that does the damage. And a heavy object resists velocity cheange more than does a lighter one - - see “Newton.”
A heavy vehicle hitting the same object at the same speed will have it’s velocity changed less than would a lighter vehicle - - and thus experiences less, not more, acceleration.
A heavier vehicle would have experienced less acceleration (change in velocity vector), and so would have you.
If you’re properly strapped into the surburbscalader, you’re safer. Both from intrusion injuries, and from acceleration injuries.
Stick to opining about subjects you understand, please; you are misinforming people.
Oh, and by the way: how did that dirt embankment suddenly end up in front of your Yaris, at highway sppeds, anyway?
Sarge,
A tank is on a completely different level. Could you get a tank up to 67 mph? The tank has treads, not wheels and a MUCH lower center of gravity. It’s completely incomparable to a passenger car or truck. Large trucks, relative to their weight, have much less contact with the pavement in terms of area of tire always in contact with the road when compared to small cars. They also have a much higher center of gravity = easier to flip.
but just look at how you’re referring to it - a miracle - i’m leery of expecting divine intervention to make up for the lack of design engineering, esp. when it comes to a small family.
how would another family - i.e. mom, dod, baby have fared in this event?