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.
I was in a Geo Metro and was hit by an old midsized pickup truck. The rear driver side was destroyed - if the timing was off by a split second I would have ended up with at least a broken hip and probably severe head trauma and lots of other injuries. I would have been in the crumple zone. Now I drive an SUV - mileage isn’t great but the raw physics of a bigger, stronger structure it worth it.
Glad to hear you’re safe and sound, Nick.
When I had my ‘98 Chevy Metro Hatchback (avg. 52 mpg) I often wondered if I were crazy for “driving a deathtrap”. I also wondered, because of my car’s tiny size, to what extent it’s tiny collision cross-section (sorry, I’m a physicist) canceled out the danger due to decreased protective barrier and smaller mass.
I, begrudgingly, sold the Metro last year because I didn’t want to put my kids in the rear seat. (I felt like they’d be sitting ducks for a rear-end collision…of which I’d been the no fault recipient twice now in the past 4 years, thankfully in my wife’s Chevy Impala…both times with kids in the back).
I replaced the Metro with a 2004 Pontiac Grand Am SE 5-spd manual which got 37-38 mpg consistently and felt much safer for the kids.
Modern cars that can take the force of any impact and distribute it evenly into and and around the frame while keeping the occupant in a bubble of airbags is going to be much much safer than a heavier vehicle that does not distribute the force of the impact. A modern car will literally eat an older car, using it as an external crumple zone.
But if you have 2 modern cars, one large and one small (say Volvo XC90 vs Yaris) I can’t say the Yaris would do as well.
Nick,
Just curious, are you going to get another Yaris or opt for another car?
-Tim
Nick, from your description you likely have a whiplash injury, and it will probably get worse before it gets better. Please see a medical professional about it soon and be careful with your neck (no straining or sudden moves, always try for good posture, etc.).
I say this not as a doctor but as someone who was once in a freeway accident in which my car was hit, spun around three times, and stopped by a guard rail. I had only a sore neck at first, but it got worse and worse for days. It still bothers me at times, 25 years later. I’m glad you made it out in one pice, but just wanted to warn you that you may still have a significant injury.
Tim,
That’s a good question. I haven’t decided yet. I’ll let you know in another post perhaps
Forget about a Suburban, what about a light pole? Sorry, not buying it.
I think you lack a basic understanding of physics.
Just because your little car did ok in a single-vehicle accident does not mean that all little cars will do well in all accidents. If you had been driving something with a longer wheelbase you might not have been in the accident at all.
I agree, a smaller car is safer simply due to the fact that it is lighter and the impact of a flip has less weight to impact on itself. It will also cause less damage if you hit an object since there is not as much force being thrown into what you are hitting. The only case where there are unsafe is when a bigger vehicle hits you, which is the case in America because everyone drives inefficient huge trucks and suv’s for daily drivers. When they do not need a vehicle of that size except for when they are towing something large. However driving a large vehicle like that obviously will have more impact on the driver due to the weight you are trying to control. I personally drive a civic and feel perfectly safe driving it, and have modified suspension to allow me to swerve easily from any obstacle that may come unexpectily. This also makes it easy to control at higher speed where in a truck I would have the fear flipping if a slide ever occurred.
true , seems to be a real miracle that you walked out of that wreck with minor injuries and were even able to write your interesting article .
On the other hand I agree with what you say . Modern small cars have not only been developed to use the least possible amount of gasoline , but also according to highest security standards . In Europe most of the people started driving small cars , because it is just too expensive to drive huge cars ,which often use 4-5 gallons of fuel / 100 km and pollute air unnecessarily . Because of this massive trend car producers changed their strategy and are producing tiny cars , which are save and use little fuel .
Even Audi managed to reduce the consumption of their big Audi A8 to under 8 liters ( a bit more than 2 gallons / 100 km , makes me think … why wasn´t that possible already many years ago ?