It is just usual that when a small car crash with a big car, the smaller one get pressed hard – or so we thought.
In the standard crash test, vehicles with the same weight are being stimulted to collide with each other. However, the most recent ADAC test made four smaller vehicles crash into a vehicle as big as a lower end midsized car. Surprisingly, it showed that the smart car despite being the lightest and smallest vehicle, can avoid the most common injury – the life threatening injury in the chest.
According to Daimler’s website, they attribute the crash test success to these safety concepts:
The tridion safety cell protects its occupants like the hard shell around a nut. Its structure is additionally reinforced with high-strength and ultra-high-strength steel at strategically important points (more than 50 percent).
The tridion safety cell’s longitudinal and transverse members activate the crumple zone of the other vehicle involved in the accident and distribute the impact energy evenly over the car’s body.
And in case of a collision, the wheels also take on the function of crumple zones. When this happens, the front wheels are supported by the side members.
The rear-mounted engine enables a larger crumple zone at the front and acts as a shock-absorbing unit that absorbs the impact energy in a rebound.
Thanks to the sandwich-type construction of the tridion safety cell, the passengers are usually somewhat above the direct danger zone in the event of a side impact. Further, in the case of a side impact, the other vehicle almost always hits an axle that can absorb impact energy due to the relatively short wheelbase.
All interior trims have been optimised to prevent injuries to occupants. And the soft foam-backed lower instrument panel (knee pad) offers protection for the passengers’ knees and lower legs.
The door structure is reinforced by high-strength sheet metal at
key points.
Other standard safety features in the smart fortwo are ESP with ABS and brake assist (BAS), wide track width, seat belts with belt tensioner and belt-force limiter, safety seats with integral seat belts, airbags.
Indeed, Bild newspaper’s comment ring true “only smart is smart.”
Source: Daimler
