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.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pVF1Wr7GLQ
So… perhaps you should all drive Fiat 500’s instead of SUVs
I go by bike!
Well, big cars are acutally more unsafe than a small car. But also if they are extremly small they are also unsafe, because there are a lot of big cars on the road.
There is a project from a german startup company which saves much of fuel. And it’s save. And not expensiv. They want to sell it in 2010.
http://evolution.loremo.com/index.php?lang=en
Sorry, but your wishful thinking notwithstanding, you’re far better off in an accident if you have the largest possible amount of mass moving on your vector. Congratulations on surviving your accident, but don’t kid yourself.
To be fair, the plural of anecdote isn’t evidence.
Also - that is a very smartypants discussion about .. car bodies.
I will disagree with everyone on the unibody vs body on frame collision theory. A few years back,I, in my honda civic, got clipped (front bumper even with rear wheel) by a guy in a ford f-150 extended cab. my car was totaled (the impact broke every window + the windshield), but I was able to walk away from the accident (straight to an ambulance who took me to the hospital to make sure I was ok of course).
I won’t go so far to say that all gas savers are death traps that is a bit illogical. But lets see how that yaris does in a side impact/collision vs. your average American size car ramming into it. A rollover is not the same as a collision since it has more to do with weight/inertia then anything, and collisions are a bit more typical then a roll over.
Anyhow be glad your ok, car wrecks are no laughing matter. Been in more then I care to have been myself….
Check EuroNCAP for security ratings on small cars: http://www.euroncap.com/tests/toyota_yaris_2005/246.aspx . Legislation is really tough here in Europe and some of the safest cars - Like the Smart - are quite small.
n=1 QED FAIL
It really simply depends upon the accident. Had the Yaris been T-boned or struck a tree at +35mph speeds, I doubt you would be reporting the same. Most vehicles are capable of rolling w/o heavy damage. As a paramedic, I see this all the time, and rarely do I see someone injured simply because their car has turned over a few times.
In the end, it’s really more about mass, speed, the object it impacted with, and where on the vehicle it was struck.
Toyotas are tasty cars, but they are by no means safe on our tractor trailer/SUV roads. :/ I would personally love to get a SmartCar, but I’d rather not die before I’m 50.
Oh yeah, and take lots of ibuprofen (if you didn’t get anything “fun” from the ER). When I got into my bad wreck, I ended up bruising my sternum and was wimpy for _weeks_. Oy.