With fuel prices rising, subcompact cars, or \u201cminicars,\u201d are becoming more popular, and new models are introduced regularly. But how do those very small and very light vehicles fare in auto accidents? According to a recent report by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), perhaps not so well. <\/p>\n
The IIHS recently subjected 11 popular minicar models to its toughest crash test, and just one protected its crash test dummies well enough to earn a rating of \u201cacceptable.\u201d To be sure, the IIHS tests \u2014 especially the small overlap front crash test \u2014 are very strenuous.<\/p>\n
In the federal government’s frontal crash test, the car strikes a rigid barrier, fully head-on, at 35 mph. The IIHS moderate overlap front crash test sends each car into a deformable barrier at 40 mph, with just 40 percent of the vehicle’s front end (on the driver’s side) absorbing the impact. This concentrates the force of (more…)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With fuel prices rising, subcompact cars, or \u201cminicars,\u201d are becoming more popular, and new models are introduced regularly. But how do those very small and very light vehicles fare in auto accidents? According to a recent report by the Insurance…<\/span><\/p>\n