New small car crash tests: Versa good!, Yaris, Rio, Scion, Fit, not so good.

[SteveJobs]

http://www.iihs.org/news/default.html
http://www.cnn.com/2006/AUTOS/12/14/iihs...index.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16273695/
http://www.autoblog.com/2006/12/19/iihs-...t-so-much/
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Autos/story?id=2736748&page=1


Nissan Versa Front: Good - Side: Good - Rear: Good


See my earlier review

http://forums.macresource.com/read/1/199...msg-199452

"Nissan Versa: Very comfortable car. The base seats are not as nice as the upgraded cloth. $16k or so. Buzzy engine on hard acceleration. LOTS of head room. I'd have to be 6'8" to bump the top. Good easy driving, tracks well. More road noise than I'd like. Has a keyless ignition + Bluetooth option that is nice."

Starting at $12,550. And GOBS of headroom.

http://www.nissanusa.com/versa/



Toyota Yaris (with optional side airbags) Front: Good - Side: Good - Rear: Marginal

Honda Fit Front: Good - Side: Good - Rear: Poor

Mini Cooper Front: Good - Side: Acceptable - Rear: Marginal

Chevrolet Aveo Front: Acceptable - Side: Marginal - Rear: Poor

Scion xB Front: Good - Side: Poor - Rear: Marginal



Toyota Yaris (without side airbags) Front: Good - Side: Poor - Rear: Marginal

Hyundai Accent Front: Acceptable - Side: Poor - Rear: Poor

Kia Rio Front: Acceptable - Side: Poor - Rear: Poor

[OWC Jamie]

"Mini Cooper Front: Good - Side: Acceptable - Rear: Marginal "

They bothered with a rear test?

:-)

[spearmint]

Suprise, suprise! Small cars are crash poor. I account a lot of the popularity of SUV's for a lot of people is safety. It takes a brave person IMHO to go out on the crazed freeways here in Silicon Valley in a tiny car. That being said if I had to choose one the Nissan is not only the safest of the bunch it's nice looking, again IMHO.

[BigGuynRusty]

[quote spearmint]Suprise, suprise! Small cars are crash poor. I account a lot of the popularity of SUV's for a lot of people is safety,
One giant hole in your theory.
SUV's are deadly.
Sudden rollovers, at the tiniest provocation.
Remember, SUV stands for.:
Sudden
Unexplained
Vehicular rollover.

BGnR

[SteveJobs]

I think his theory is sound...that people want to drive safer cars. But in your statement, the people make poor choices. You're both right (in your own way)

[jimbrady]

You got tired of just driving the cars, SJ?

[OWC Jamie]

Give me a MiniCooper and I'll roll it over for ya.
Cars 15%
SUV 37%
http://www.suv.org/safety.html

[Filliam H. Muffman]

What BGnR said.

I just saw a report in the last week that said single car accident SUV rollovers accounted for 2% of accidents but were responsible for about 20% of passenger deaths. SUV's are four times more likely to roll over, and those crashes are responsible for 53% of deaths in SUV's.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/rollover/

[SteveJobs]

I saw something once that said half of all fatalities happen between Saturday night and sunday morning.

[mikebw]

Assuming that were true, then I guess you could also say that half of all fatalaties occur between Sunday night and Saturday morning.