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.
>>my only concern is a small car like the Yaris hitting a large vehicle like a suburban. on a head-on colition i would venture to say that the larger vehicle will do better than the smaller one… any thoughts???
I had just purchased my Yaris in July 2006, and was dring down a country road in rural Missouri, where I am a pastor. Topping a hill, my wife (who was a passenger) and I met a Dodge Ram 3500 (honkin’ big diesel truck) in my lane, going about 70 mph. I swerved hard, but alas, my intrepid driving skills and amazingly fast reflexes were no match for the 3.5-ton beast baring down on us, and the little Yaris took the full impact. We were knocked sideways around 200 feet and came to rest in a ditch. Both of us unbuckled our seat belts, opened our doors, and walked away. The only injury is a ringing in my left ear. Guess what we drive now? Yup. A Yaris. 40+ mpg on the highway, and a life saver to boot. Even against a massive farm truck. I bet if I had been in my Isuzu Trooper, we would not have been nearly so fortunate.
Just my experience…
Nick wrote:
“A tank is on a completely different level.”
So is an SUV, or a pickup truck, compared to a Yaris.
“Could you get a tank up to 67 mph?”
Nearly, with the governor off… but that has nothing to do with the subject at hand. Even at 40mph (as I stated) the Yaris loses to the wall.
“The tank has treads, not wheels and a MUCH lower center of gravity. It’s completely incomparable to a passenger car or truck.”
Not when it comes to the concept of impact energy based on mass… which was your point in the first place, wasn’t it?
“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.”
Not necessarily true, nor relevant, as it is coefficient of friction and PSI loading in addition to the total contact patch, not just the contact patch, which determines traction. Which likewise has nothing to do with impact energy expended in a collision.
“They also have a much higher center of gravity = easier to flip.”
Only if all things were equal. But they are not; a truck has a higher CG, but it is also longer, wider, and thus presents a much longer moment arm that must be overcome to make it flip in the first place. SUVs are a special and bad case, becasuethey combine high CG with very soft suspensions compared to trucks… making them more likely to flip.
But again, this has nothing to do with your impact energy argument. In which you are wholly wrong.
Based on the evidence of your experience, a Yaris looks to be pretty easy to flip. Easy enough, in this case.
Nick also wrote:
“Mr. literalist can’t comprehend abstract concepts, can he? Go somewhere else and hump another dog okay?”
You’re the one who professed faith in something - - apparently only so you could fire off a comeback at someone, rather than out of any actual truth. Don’t blame me if you’re not using the symbols right.
Perhaps Mr. Abstract would be better off steering clear of subjects that have literal truths, such as physics?
“Steering clear” used only in the metaphoical sense, of course.
I agree that they are more safe than SUVs, but your stand alone case is not enough to prove that small cars are safe though. I’ll take a large, lower center-gravity car any day.
Funny to read your story today. I was in my (Toyota) Scion trying to vote yesterday on the first day of early voting in Texas. I got rear-ended at high speed by a teenager in a Ford X250 pick-up truck — he was texting at the time. He hit my Scion so hard that everyone in the voting line jumped, convinced it was a bomb. My low-to-the-ground Scion XB was pushed up over the sidewalk, and into concrete barriers installed after the Oklahoma City bombing, crumping the front and rear of my car. I, too, an sore, but my small car saved everyone in the car. The last time some idiot in a big pick-up truck hit me, my Volvo S-70 got sandwiched between a Dodge Ram doolie and a Ford Expedition. The Volvo was totaled. The estimate on damage to my Scion XB is $2900. So, while the Volvo cage also “held” and I’ve always thought Volvos were safer than smaller, lighter cars, the Scion’s cage “held” too. And the idiot teenager’s insurance company is going to get a bargain repairing my car — which is due to be traded in next week for a 2008 model of the same car.
Good to know that you’re ok.
The problem here is that the car was acting under it’s own force. It is a small car, yes, and that means it will not carry very much kinetic energy. That was more than likely your case.
Imagine, though, if your Yaris had been hit by the suburban instead. That is what I feel a lot of consumers are fearing in the smaller cars. I certainly would rather be inside of a suburban in a collision with another car. The same cannot be said for the Yaris, however.
Glad you’re OK.
But walking away from an accident like this doesn’t prove the safety of that car at all.
I crashed a motorcycle at 90mph and ended up with just an ankle injury but you’ll never hear me claim that a motorcycle is a safe way of transportation.
What do you think would happen if you fell asleep at highway speed and ran into say, my 2 ton 1977 Dodge Conversion van head on? Do you actually think that you’ll have a chance in a car like that. My bumper is at your windshield level. What about a side swipe from a semi? Do you think you’d survive something like that in a small car like that? I know my buddy lived fine in his volvo when hit by a semi at around 60, but I doubt that little Yaris would even be recognizable as a car..
I’m really glad you survived, and I suspect that even if you’d hit a truck or something instead of an embankment you’d probably still have been OK. My concern with small cars is more relating to side impacts. Getting teeboned by, say, an F-350 is going to ruin your day because the bumper is so high up relative to where you’ll be sitting.
I have to agree and say, the larger the car/truck doesn’t mean safety at all. I’ve survived without any serious injury to violently severe crashes in medium sized cars. I first rolled a 1989 Acura Legend sedan at 55mph along the highway 3 times, when it came to a rest a Ford F150 t-boned me right at the driver/rear passenger door. I walked away with some cuts and I banged me knees up. The second accident I was a passenger in a car that ran an intersection, a pick-up truck t-boned our car at 50mph. The momentum carried us through the intersection and crunched us between the pick-up truck and someones house. This was in an 2007 Toyota Camry. Side impact bags came out, the whole 9 yards. I walked away with my same bruised knee…
The curb weight of a Suburban is 5743 pounds. The gross (max loaded) weight is 7400 pounds. No way does it weigh the claimed 8600 pounds. Safety is too important of an issue to spread any kind of misinformation.
Some wreck are better in a small car - like hitting a fixed barrier. The Surburban would be crushed by its own weight. Pit a Yaris against a Suburban though, the Yaris will lose.
For the record, I think the Yaris is a great car but I have to drive a truck for work.