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Originally Posted by JCL
Most of the ratings are based on collisions betwen vehicles of equal weights, not fixed objects. Many of the ratings don't apply to crashes into fixed objects, or crashes that don't follow the precise trajectory prescribed in the test protocol. All of them are just numbers.
So, we have consensus on what happens when they hit. Now, how likely are they to hit? Does a vehicle that is half the size present half the target? How about agility, and the chance to avoid the collision?
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What I meant to express is that out in the real driving world (especially in the US) there are many large vehicles on the road and if you are driving a Smart the only real chance you have of being the heavier vehicle in a crash is if you hit a motorcycle. That means that if you are by chance in an accident, the weight of the other vehicle will most likely come into play. Seeing as the Smart weighs less than 2,000 pounds, there is a very good chance the other vehicle will come close to doubling its weight. Becasue the Smart is so much lighter than the typical car on the American road, I would like to see how the Smart performs in a crash with say a vehicle weighing at least 3,500 pounds. I would venture to say that it's safety ratings would go way down, whereas the BMW's would not if it were hit by the average car on the road.
I agree that the size of the Smart makes it less of a target, thus maybe helping it avoid some collisions, but motorcycles are even smaller and people get hit on those every day. The small size of the Smart may also be a safety hazard as some people may not even see the car because of it's size. It may not even fill up an X6's blindspot.
Some small, nimble objects can avoid certain situations easier, but have you ever seen what happens when a linebacker gets a good shot on a tiny halfback?
BMW=linebacker and Smart=halfback.