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Fiat 500 crash test

When the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety crashed a 2012 Fiat 500, the little car got the best scores in all categories. It's a safe car, then, right?

"If safety is a priority, you should avoid the smallest cars," advises Russ Rader, spokesperson for IIHS. "Weight counts. Smaller, lighter cars are safer than they used to be, but all things being equal, people riding in bigger, heavier vehicles get more protection in crashes."

That's why, despite its near-perfect crash-test score, the Fiat 500 is No. 1 on Insure.com's list of worst vehicles for protecting passengers from injuries. In an accident with a larger object, the Fiat's safety cage and array of air bags do what they can to protect passenges, but like eggs in a coffee can, the passengers get thrown about and smashed up.

If the Fiat 500 is like a coffee can, then a fullsize GMC pickup (which tops the website's list of vehicles best at protecting passengers) would be a 50-gallon barrel. In a collision between the two, the barrel of eggs will win every time. The GMC Sierra 1500 is rated best at protecting passengers by Insure.com, but IIHS rated it just average in the side impact test and marginal in the roof strength test. Second place on Insure.com's best list is the Porsche Cayenne, which has not been tested by IIHS. The third through fifth place spots go to the GMC Yukon, Sierra 2500 and Terrain.

The listings are the result of Insure.com's analysis of personal injury protection and medical payment claims which affect what car owners are charged for insurance.

Check out videos of the IIHS crash test of the Fiat 500 as well as the 2009 GMC Sierra 1500 below.

Continue reading Fiat 500 least safe vehicle to drive according to insurance website [w/video]

Fiat 500 least safe vehicle to drive according to insurance website [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 30 Jan 2013 13:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Despite numerous positive crash test results and assurances from both manufacturers and safety organizations, we still hear people say they'll never trade their bank-safe SUV for one of those little tin cans on wheels. This makes some people wonder what it would take to change folks' minds about automotive safety.

A first-hand account from Nick Chambers, an admitted greenie who blogs for gas2.0.org, slammed his Yaris into a dirt embankment then rolled it three times. He not only lived, but walked away from his crumpled Toyota with little more than a bump and a really sore neck. He also admits that before his little off-road excursion in the Yaris, he wasn't completely sold on small car safety. But now he says, "Yes. Yes I would trust my family to a small fuel-efficient car, and I'm miraculously alive and mostly uninjured... so no, it's not a death trap."

[Source: gas2.0 via Instapundit]

Green car advocate proves first hand how small cars aren't deathtraps originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The European New Car Assessment Program (E-NCAP), which is sort of the EU equivalent to our own NHTSA or IIHS, recently tested the European version of the Chevy Aveo and found it to be severely lacking in occupant protection during 64 kmh (40 mph) frontal impacts. The risk is especially great to the driver, as the E-NCAP tests showed the Aveo's steering wheel may cause severe chest injury.

The Aveo received two stars and a strike through in the category of Adult Occupant Protection, the strike through indicating there is a high risk for life-threatening injury. It should be noted that crash testing in Europe is done a bit differently than here in the U.S., despite E-NCAP sharing a star rating system with the NHTSA. The differences are too deep to delve into here, but you can check out a full explanation of the E-NCAP test procedures here.

The 2006 Chevy Aveo received an exemplary frontal impact rating of 5 stars from the NHTSA, so we'll be very interested to see if the North American version of the 2007 Chevy Aveo fares as poorly in our own crash tests as it did in the E-NCAP test..

[Thanks to Sergio Sanchez for the tip]

[warning: link leads to pdf]

Chevy Aveo performs poorly in European crash test originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 27 Feb 2006 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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