Crash Tests, do you feel safe?
 

It's all over the news today

Mini vs. Midsize in Crash Test - ABC News

YouTube - Small Cars Get Poor Marks in Safety Tests

This is what Honda said about the test.

Anyone know how fast the cars are going when they test them? All the article says is it's faster than real world crashes.
I feel safe in my Fit, as long as I'm doing the driving. If it's my wife behind the wheel I close my eyes and pray. J/K

So.... anybody else notice them pumping Ford Hybrids as a "safe" alternative?

This looks like a giant marketing scam with big payoffs to Ford... they even had one in the room for the insurance guy to walk over and start drooling over.

40 mph each one.

Only 80mph combined speed

That's correct, that's the reason why the automakers consider the test as something that happens in real Life very few times.

YouTube - Honda Fit-1

YouTube - JNCAP Honda Fit/Jazz Fullap Crash TEST

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfWDs19jzPs

Yes, I feel safe
 

Car safety has advanced in many, many ways in the last 20 years.

Now we have the ACE body engineering, antilock brakes, airbags, etc.

Hondas are some of the safest small cars.

Today I feel much safer driving the Fit than I ever was in my '85 or '91 Civics. And I never felt unsafe in them either.

I feel safe in my Fit, but then again, I feel safe riding my Harley-Davidson. Maybe I am truly clueless?

i say yes, if an SUV plows into ANY car in a side on crash at 60+ your gonna be in a world of trouble.... the other reason is i have AVOIDED several crashes due to the Fit's handling.... people often over look this factor, if were in a heavy full size car i would not have been able to avoid some of these wrecks, including one i avoided in moderate heavy traffic on the highway at around 70 MPH.... any other car it i would have been lucky to not die.... so yes I do feel safe, as safe as I can in any car, I'd rather be killed driving a fuel efficient car, than drive into some one in an SUV and kill them because i only cared about MY safety....

I could not determine if it was an 07/08 Fit they tested or an 09. I know the 09 made the change to incorporate the ACE body structure, specifically to deal with situations of a crash with a larger vehicle. But the bottom line is, physics is physics, and you can't break the rule of physics. If I get into a head-on collision at 60 mph with a Ford Excursion I'm probably going to end up worse off than the Ford owner. 2,500 lbs vs 6,000 lbs, there is only so much a manufacture can do with airbags and body structures.

However I knew that when I bought my car, and I've never been in an accident in all of my 22 years of driving and I'm not about to start now. It was far more important to me to get a well engineered, fuel efficient, fun to drive, inxpensive, and practical vehicle than it was to worry about crash test scores. My Fit has ABS, stability/traction control, side/front/head airbags, and a very well engineered body structure so I'll take my chances. The Fit may be a micro car on the outside, but it's huge on the inside and I love that about the car. I have always loved little sporty, fuel efficient cars and Honda has always had a steady stream of them.

The best offense is a good defense, so be as defensive as you can be out there and you shouldn't have to worry about crash test results.

Wow man, I feel the EXACT same way. As a matter of fact I've said those very words to some selfish SUV owners I've gotten into it with. They are selfish, you have to be a selfish person to even buy an SUV unless it's specifically used as a work vehicle (which is probably 0% in any major city). No, it's these selfish, self-centered "urban warriors" who bought their 6,000 lb SUV's so they could keep up with the Joanses. You know the lemming mentality, "my next door neighbor has one so I have to buy one too!" These people think off-roading means driving over a speed bump in a supermarket parking lot.

I loved it when gas was $4 a gallon watch those people filling up their gas hogs with tears practically in their eyes. That's what you get for buying a 6,000 vehicle you fool!

Not a Fit owner, I own a Yaris. (I'm a big fan of all small cars.) Regardless, I'm in the same boat as you guys. It's crazy. It's 300 year-old basic physics.

I think we all know that in a crash, the bigger, heavier car is going to "win." The Fit, Yaris, and ForTwo were all given "Good" ratings when initially tested, yet now get a "poor" when against an actual vehicle.

I hope this media frenzy doesn't inhibit the sales of small cars ...

FYI: I feel safe in both of my subcompacts.

Let's see the the Accord vs. Pilot now. The Camry vs. Tundra. The Benz vs. an M-class. Then what? SUV vs. semi? Semi vs. tank? Where does it end?

I feel safe in the Fit.

I would never want to test the Fit's safety features at 40 MPH any sooner than I would want to try to shoot a narrow gap in a developing accident situation in an Accord or a Pilot. I understand that if the Fit strikes another moving vehicle with greater mass, the Firt will experience higher accelerations than the a larger mass. What the insurance people do not appear to simulate is the superior steering response or the simple fact that a smaller, narrower car might completely miss an offset collision in the first place.

I am also happy that all of my passengers have the benefit of current generation safety features (airbag protection, active headrests, and dynamic seatbelts, ACE) absent on older models.

better than those chinese cars.......

I have a feeling that this is propoganda on behalf of the American automakers part.

Think about 6-7 months ago when gas was up to $4-5 a gallon and all the advertisement was for small fuel efficient cars people quit driving their SUV's traded them in for smaller fuel efficient cars. Now that gas is somewhat affordable again I've been seeing more trucks/SUV's/minivans on the roads. Maybe this is a futile attempt at regaining some market shares.

Im sure Gm is some how behind this surge of anti-small car bull crap... they need to resort to this kind of thing to sell those planet killing monsters "hey when you crash you will be safe! and you will kill who ever you crash into too!" great plan... I agree 98% of SUV's on the road are not nessisary at all... the largest car my family owns is a CRV and the only reason we have it is for snow, and when we haul our boat boat 2 times a year... other than that its rarely driven... and it still gets about 25 mpg and isn't a 6000 pound brick....

I traded a 1995 Isuzu Rodeo in on my '09 Sport, and feel just as safe and actually can afford to fill it up at the pump. In my opinion, more times than not, SUV drivers are busy on the phone, reading, trying to decide which exit to take, or some other activity. I saw someone eating a sandwich, talking on their cell phone, AND trying to feed their child in the backseat...umm, what are you steering with?!

what about small GM cars? or is this just testing imports only?
I agree with gd3vbp, sounds like propaganda.