how_safe_is_the_smart_car_in_a_crash_fortwo_451_crash_test_ratings¶

2 excerpts.

Excerpt¶

youtube.com/auto_knight/how_safe_is_the_smart_car_in_a_crash_fortwo_451_crash_test_ratings · p. 1 · Applies to: 450, 451, 452, 453, 454, #1, ebike

If you drive one of these cars, then like me, you must get tired of hearing the same old lines. Oh, it [clears throat] must be a death trap. You'd never survive a crash in that and that kind of thing. Now, in this video, I'm going to tell you the reality of the situation, the truth behind the safety of these cars, and you may be surprised. At the heart of the smart car is something called a tridian. This black area around here, this is an immensely strong safety cage and it's reinforced in all the right places. You could very easily be forgiven for thinking that this car is made entirely of plastic. And much of it is, like the bonnet, the wings, the door. In fact, everything you see here that's silver, except the wheels, is made of plastic. But these are just cosmetic panels. They're not there to save you in an accident. They're just there to look good. But this incredibly robust tridian extends throughout, even where you can't see it, silently protecting you. Here we can see the tridium in its barest form. And the areas in red, well, they're the reinforcements. And check this out. Yes, this really happened. As it says, this was not a dramatization. Spelled incorrectly with a zed rather than an S. I think we know which side of the pond this is from. Now, by itself, this tridian would be very hard and unforgiving. And we've known for decades now that you also need crumple zones to slow the rate of deceleration because as creatures, we're actually quite fragile. And the human body just does not like coming to a very sudden stop. If this vehicle was to hit a wall at say 50 mph, there are essentially three crashes. There's the vehicle hitting the wall. And as the vehicle goes from 50 to zero in a millisecond, I also go forward at 50 mph inside this car until the seat belt or the airbag stops me. That's crash number two. Crash number three is when my brain hits the inside of my skull and all my other internal organs hit my rib cage. And the effects of that last bit can be profound. So, you can see why it's important we don't just come to an absolute sudden halt. And to aid with this, at the front and at the back, you have crash boxes. And with the front panel stripped away in this diagram here, you can see the green arrows are pointing to the front crash box. And the red arrows, well, those are two more deformable cone elements. And here is a great example of a deformable element. One of the cones doing its job. The one on the left has collapsed. It could have collapsed a whole lot more. So, it's only partial. And the one on the right, well, that's the replacement. And here we can see the structure of the door beneath the plastic panel. The red arrow highlights the side impact protection bar. And the green arrow, the very robust perimeter frame. And if we were to strip away the rear panels here, you can see the rear crash box just above the exhaust silencer. You see, the idea is that these crash boxes are sacrificial. They're bolt-on components. And not only do they protect you by slowing down the rate of deceleration, they also protect the tridion. So, it only really has to get involved in more serious impacts. These elements can easily be replaced. And the fact that they are replaceable in this manner does reduce insurance costs. In this diagram here, you can see how smart sell you this concept. In the brochure, you can see the tridian, the reinforced areas in red and yellow, and the crash boxes there in blue. The rear-mounted engine is fitted low, and if you are hit hard from the rear, it's designed to go under the car as opposed to making an unannounced intrusion into the passenger cabin. So, we've covered the construction of this car and what the manufacturers claim. But what does this mean in the real world? Well, in truth, it all comes down to physics. You see, there's a reason you wouldn't pitch a featherweight boxer against a heavyweight. And if you're unlucky enough to have an accident with another car, all things being equal, the bigger, heavier car will always come off better. It's just down to weight. So for this reason, crash tests are standardized and all vehicles go through the same tests. But how a vehicle performs into a solid or deformable object is not going to be the same as in a real world collision. So these tests are very good at pitching similar classes of car against each other. So you can work out within a certain category, say small city cars for example, you can work out which would be a safe one and which ones to avoid. And the same with small

Excerpt¶

youtube.com/auto_knight/how_safe_is_the_smart_car_in_a_crash_fortwo_451_crash_test_ratings · p. 2 · Applies to: 450, 451, 452, 453, 454, #1, ebike

hatchbacks, larger saloons, there are many categories and this data is readily available so you can make an informed choice. Now depending on your geographical location, the standards can vary considerably. They do get put through their paces but in different ways. So, as I said, in the real world, the larger car will have the advantage, and these cars are very light, and I've seen crash tests where they actually leave the ground. The rigid structure of this Tridian combined with very short crumple zones does mean that the supplementary restraint system such as the seat belts and the pre-tensioners along with the airbags have to work extremely hard to keep you safe. And so for the crash test ratings in Europe, Euro NCAP gave this car, the Smart 451, four stars out of five. And the same with ANCAP, which is for Australia and New Zealand, four out of five stars. The IIHS, which is the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in the United States, stated that it was good in the front and side impacts. There have been some other impressive crash tests, all easily found on YouTube. Take this one for example where the Smart goes head-to-head with a C-class Mercedes. And then there was this one from Fifth Gear where they drove an earlier model, the 45 into a concrete barrier at 70 mph. It was devastating. And although the doors could be opened, sadly they did conclude that the forces would have exceeded those that are survivable by a human. So in conclusion, do I feel safe when I'm driving by Smart? Well, yes. But it's all relative. I mean, this is quite an old car now, and technology will have moved on. Later smarts will meet higher, more recent crash test regulations. It's a fastmoving industry. But I'm happy with this. And if the worst did happen, I would certainly rather be in this than some teeny little Korean car of a similar class. I do feel reassured by this tridian that's around me. It's like a suit of armor, and every night needs one of those. But if someone told me that I had to drive one of these into a wall at 50 mph, which would it be? Well, the answer's clear. The BMW. Because sometimes in life, size matters. I hope you enjoyed the video. I look forward to seeing you again in another one very soon.