Posted by Jonathan Adler:
Minicars Offer Minimum Safety:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_04_12-2009_04_18.shtml#1240076674
Some believe that smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles are a key
component of any sensible climate policy. But smaller cars, all else
equal, tend to be less safe cars. Indeed, a recent report on much
ballyhooed "minicars" finds that[1] they are less crashworthy than
normal sized vehicles.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) reported that in
a series of test crashes between minicars and midsize models, minis
such as the Smart car provided significantly less protection for
their passengers.
The tests did not involve the much ballyhooed mismatches between
subcompacts and Hummers, but measured the effect of relatively
modest differences in size and weight. Even though the Smart car
and other minis such as the Honda Fit and the Toyota Yaris have
fared relatively well in single-car crash tests, they performed
poorly in these two-car frontal offset collisions. In the words of
IIHS president Adrian Lund, "though much safer than they were a few
years ago, minicars as a group do a comparatively poor job of
protecting people in crashes, simply because they're smaller and
lighter."
That difference is reflected in the real world. The death rate in
minis in multi-vehicle crashes is almost twice as high as that of
large cars. And in single-vehicle crashes, where there's no
oversized second vehicle to blame, the difference is even greater:
Passengers in minis suffered three times as many deaths as in large
cars.
just as alternative energy sources are not free of environmental
impacts, more fuel efficient vehicles have their downsides as well.
References
1. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123993371229527975.html
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