The Cochran Firm Legal Blog

According to new tests by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), new, smaller cars that are being purchased by many people trying to conserve fuel may be more dangerous than other models.

Minicars, sometimes called microcars, are being promoted by car makers, partly to appeal to people looking for smaller, cheaper, and fuel-frugal cars. However, according to recent crash tests, they are more dangerous to drive than other cars. Most minicars do well on the Institute's offset barrier test, a good indicator of how well they will perform in an auto accident with another car of its size. However, when the Institute crashed three of the smaller cars into mid-size cars by the same manufacturer, each traveling 40 mph, they found that the smaller cars performed poorly.

The Honda Fit (31 mpg) was crashed into a Honda Accord (29 mpg). While the Accord scored a good rating, the Fit scored poor, showing likely injuries to the legs during a crash. The Smart Fortwo (41 mpg) was crashed into a Mercedes C-Class (25 mpg). Again, the C-Class achieved a good result, while the Smart Fortwo did far worse. It went into the air and spun 450 degrees, throwing the crash dummy around inside the car, with likely injury to head, neck, legs, and elsewhere. The Toyota Yaris (36 mpg) was crashed into the Toyota Camry (31 mpg). The Yaris showed likely head injury, neck injury, and leg injury.

For many of these cars, the increase in fuel economy is slight when compared to the increased likelihood of injury. In some cases, they may be considered defective vehicles for their inability to protect passengers. If you have been injured in an automobile accident, no matter what the car, you need representation to increase your likelihood of a settlement that covers your injuries. Please schedule a free, no-obligation auto accident consultation with the vehicle accident lawyers at The Cochran Firm today.

Labels: main