IIHS rates the Fit's bumpers "poor" (along with four other small cars)
 

The Honda Fit was rated a "poor" by the IIHS with regards to front and rear bumper performance. The Toyota Yaris, MINI Cooper, Hyundai Accent and Kia Rio also got poor ratings. The Chevrolet Aveo got a "marginal" rating and the Smart ForTwo got an "acceptable" rating.

IIHS said the avg. cost to repair a Fit that had been involved in the crashes: $1,960.

Anyway, more info here:

Subcompact Culture: IIHS says small call bumpers are expensive to fix

yah, basically, dont hit anything. :D

^^another reason why the Fit is so nimble ;)

It's actually a tradeoff... if a fit hits another car on the side, does the passenger on the other car die? The bumper should give in instead of piercing the other car and increasing the chance of killing the other person. Such technology proved an increased safety to F1 racing. But the cost of fixing the car is a different story.

My wife got rear ended in december in her 09 fit and the repair total was roughly $480. That included a new rear bumper. To me it doesn't seem like it is any more expensive to repair any of the cars mentioned than it is for any car.

I'm beginning to suspect the IIHS has some sort of agenda, publishing all these articles discouraging people from buying small cars...

They're talking about a 6mph incident here, not a crash at speed. The sole measure of success or failure is how much it costs to fix. The Fit does poorly because of bumper height; the other vehicle rides up over the relatively cheap bumper, and hits expensive bits such as lights.

There is another IIHS study that says disparaging things about small cars vs. larger cars in accidents, most of it having to do with small cars not having enough mass to fend for themselves. They crash a Fit into an Accord, a Yaris into a Camry, and a ForTwo into a C-Class. In that study the ForTwo does exceedingly poorly. Scary stuff. Here's a link to the report; there is a link to the video in there:

IIHS news release

They do indeed have an agenda -- to lower the cost of insuring automobiles. They're funded by the insurance industry. If that means making cars more complicated, heavier, and more expensive for the consumer, so be it.

Bottom line: be safe out there, folks.

QFT.

The IIHS isn't going to paint small cars in a positive light. Sorry to sound biased or even a bit conspiratorial, but I can't help but feel that way.

it also means that bodyshops overcharge even the smallest of damages.

I'm sorry but I don't mind their agenda of trying to avoid paying out money due to massive repair costs and hospital bills. The Fit is a wee little car shaped like a wedge. Of course it's not going to fare well aginst something bigger and more massive. I don't have an issue with that. I DO have an issue with high repair costs, ACE or not. We're talking 6 mph, not 60....

bk, considering a typical female jogger runs at about 6.5mph if she hit a brick wall at her pace, i think she would be pretty hurt.

now consider the weight of the car... 6mph is substantial impact imho. :)

Ding ding ding ding! We have a winner! The IIHS is an insurance industry sponsored group. I guess this study will be used as justification to raise your rates on collision insurance.

If you consider 6 mph substantial, I'd hate to think of what you consider a real smash 'em up freeway wreck.:p

Really. At one point in the not too distant past, we DID have a 5 mph bumper mandate-meaning the car should not sustain any damage at 5 mph or lower when hit on the bumper. So from rolling over 5 should take us from $0-1,960?

Like I said, not like I care. It's a small little car. It's not going to be a bank vault. Anyone thinking otherwise....:rotfl:

Didn't know that the IIHS was an insurance industry-sponsored group - as my location points out, I don't live in the US. Thanks for the insight anyway.

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety

About IIHS